Time Flies... When You Have No Time!

I can't even believe it... it's week 6!

Getting in the groove of school came back far too easy. Although I was somewhat nervous to get back in the classroom, it turns out that my research, reading, thinking and even CRAFTING have all given me a big head start this year. I feel like a totally new teacher!

If I could give a new teacher one piece of advice it would be... just GET THROUGH the first year. It doesn't matter how... just get through it! The second year is a whole different experience.

Here are some things that have happened in the last 6 weeks:

1. I decorated my room... and it's adorable - I feel like the classroom finally fits ME!

The word wall! Alphabet letters made on paper plates. 

 Family tree with pictures of some of my students and their families.

Math/Calendar wall

Library corner

Behavior BINGO!! AMAZING... this might deserve its own post!

Writing pencil where kids track where they are in the writing process!

Flower clock!

2. My kids are great. They are cute, they are smart, they are kind. I am excited to see them each and every day.

3. Our classroom culture has quickly developed into a friendly, loving, intellectual environment. Students celebrate each others' successes and help each other when a fellow student is struggling.

4. Whole Brain Teaching is FANTASTIC! I've implemented several strategies and they have already helped improve class dynamics, management and ENGAGEMENT! Looking forward to learning more and using them with my kiddos.

5. I started a book lending system and it's been a huge success! Students are taking home 4 books a week in ziplock freezer bags. Each book is labeled with my name and a "book card" inside the bag lists the books included. All four books are expected to come back to me in the bag on Friday morning. What a great way to share my favorite books with my students without the hassle of a one-book-at-a-time checkout system.

A look at the library

The basket of book bags (by kids currently have them checked out for the week so they're not in here).

 Book Bag Management... the cards with the pink numbers rotate to each kids card every week.

A look at the book bag. I tried to make the selection of books inside as diverse as possible to meet the need of any/all readers in my class. 

There you have it... my top from the last 6 weeks. More to come, I promise

Classroom Crafts

Summer is more than halfway done, and although I have a LOT to do, I can't seem to tear myself away from Pinterest. In case you've been living in a hole: Pinterest is an online scrapbook of images, recipes, fashion and more. Each picture links to a website with more details on the image (i.e.: how to make what you saw in the photo or where to buy a piece of clothing).

In Pinterest, a community of educators has found an outlet for their lesson plans, behavior management strategies and crafts. Lots and lots of crafts. 

In the hours I have spent on Pinterest, I've found some really fabulous, cheap and creative ways to enrich my classroom and my teaching.

My first project was a set of bicolored popsicle sticks. At the beginning of the year I will write all my students names on them and put them in a mason jar (one jar for homeroom and one for my reading class). After pulling a stick and randomly choosing a student to answer a question/share I will turn the stick over so the other color on the stick shows. No more calling on the same kid over and over! This will make sure that all my students will be held accountable for participating in class. 

Idea borrowed from Kindertastic

My next project was a little more low key: decorating my parent communication binder and a binder of writing ideas (pictures from magazines put into sheet protectors).

My favorite project are these letters I made for my classroom word wall. How cute are these?!

Can't wait to put all these crafts to good use! More crafts coming soon!

Test Prep Yoga

After more than 5 weeks of structured test prep, state testing officially starts next week. Around the same time that test prep began I was asked by one of my school mentors if I was nervous for testing. I looked at her and replied "No... not yet, should I be?" She looked at me worriedly... "YES."

Needless to say, my antsy little second graders have been spending about an hour a day working through a structured test prep workbook (this hour has recently become 2 hours daily). Although the words "test prep" usually send anyone (regardless of their age) into a tizzy, my kids have begun to cheer "YESSSSSSSSS!!!"

Now, I'm not going to lie to you, I have bribed them. A lot.

Making test prep fun has taken every last ounce of my creativity. It started with goldfish (every time we finish a page we eat one together) and slowly progressed to giving out Easter eggs filled with a jelly bean or two to students who share their answer for a particular problem.

To work off the energy from the snacks, I sometimes mix in a little "Mr. Mark." Mr. Mark was shared with me by another TFA corps member at a workshop we had one Saturday. "It's a video game thing that you can project on the smart board," she said, "This man names Mr. Mark leads the kids on adventures where they run in place and have to jump over logs and dodge branches." Needless to say, Mr. Mark has been a BIG hit in the classroom and a great break from the never ending test prep.

Well, today, my friend Mr. Mark was unreachable. I tried and I tried but I couldn't get the video to load (please picture 27 second graders wiggling in their chair).

For those of you who know me well, you probably know I'm not afraid to be silly or make a fool of myself: especially in front of 7-8 year olds, with whom I could never fall out of favor (no matter how much I embarrass myself)! This being said, I looked at my disappointed class and said "Want to learn some yoga?" The cheers could probably be heard down the hall... who knew second graders knew what yoga was. After my attempt, they are probably only more confused.

I dimmed the lights, put on some Enya and started teaching the kids the sun salutation (note to readers - I haven't done yoga since I was in high school so my interpretation is probably inaccurate). Every student was out of their seats - their little eyes glued on me. We swung our hands up over our heads, down to our hearts and then up again. We swooped down to touch our toes, then into plank, cobra and downward dog. By the time we were finishing our second round I started to see little goofballs twirling to the music and ClassKlepto trying to do the splits. Aaaaand... that's when yoga ended...

I love my class. I love teaching.

You Have Brains in Your Head. You Have Feet in Your Shoes.

This week was our fourth official round of state testing at school. As a teacher, I feel the weight of these tests in all their forms. I have a data binder filled with this years tests results, school leadership encouraging me to "target" low-scoring students, and my own self-induced teacher test anxiety.

But the brunt of the anxiety and stress falls on my students. Behavior problems run a muck as kids feel the pressure to achieve. Kids get cry, get out of their seat, go to the bathroom for long(er) periods of time and even hide... (see picture)


All and all, this past week was just a little nuts. The testing anxiety was partially lifted when I received 4 giant boxes of supplies from my Donor's Choose project right before the kids took their Math Galileo. The kids were in awe at the large box of testing barriers (just in time!), supply buckets, intervention flash cards and other supplies. They were especially excited about the highlighters :) I told them that my friends knew all about them and wanted to give them supplies to help them do well in school... you should have SEEN the smiles! The kids feel the love! (They still talk about Ms. Gina who gave them "ALL THOSE PENCILS!")

I am still so awe-struck and grateful for all the support on this project and others. All together donor's have given almost $1,000 in donations to my classroom in the form of books and other supplies. This is in addition to the unwavering love and support I have received from family and friends near and far. I feel blessed and honored that I have gotten so much support!

The craziness continued two days post-testing. On Friday, I was about to loose my mind (go figure) and I decided to facilitate a classroom intervention. Coincidentally, Friday was Dr. Suess' birthday and "Read Across America Day." I pulled out "Oh, The Places You'll Go" from my secret teacher bookcase and read the first two pages to my students...

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to great places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

I looked at my wiggling students... "YOU decide where to go. YOUR brain makes choices and YOUR feet decide where to go. I want you to think about what Dr. Seuss is telling us.... he wants us to decide how we are going to spend our days. Let's DECIDE to make the rest of today a good day. How do you guys feel about that?"

They looked at me with their little eyes. "OKAY!" After that, it was a totally new day. We spent the rest of the afternoon making Truffula tree poems and talking about the meaning behind Dr. Suess' "The Lorax." It was a wonderful day to be a teacher... I am so proud of my students.

Young Love

Love must be in the air... or the cafeteria food? Either way, it's spreading fast.

1. "Can you BELIEVE IT?!" she said.
"What, SweetiePea?"
"MiniBieber and BlondeGirl just broke up... this is CRAZY!!"

... I looked around the room at the 30 silent kids working on their spelling worksheet... MiniBieber on one side, BlondeGirl on the other.

I couldn't help myself... "When?" I asked.
"Just NOW!" she squealed.

How do you break up with someone from across a room? With your eyes?? It was only an hour ago I had seen MiniBieber and BlondeGirl trying to hold hands on the carpet (is 2nd grade to early for a mini lesson on PDA?).

2. After Science today SweetiePea and her friend jump up off the carpet to tell MiniBieber "just so you know, BlondeGirl doesn't like you anymore."

3. TalkerPants walks up to CutieBoo during Language Arts, puts her arm around her, and says "Don't worry, BraveBoy definitely likes you."

4. The grand finale came this afternoon...

Speed walking from the copy machine to the music room, I mapped out the last details of my Science lesson in my head. We'll talk about metamorphosis and how the caterpillars are now in cocoons... blah blah blah...

I picked my kids up, and we walked around the side of the building to get inside. One of my boys (who I will call TallAndSensitive) came up to me and started chatting. TallAndSensitive has made tremendous academic progress, but what I am most proud of is his turnaround in behavior. This kid used to be a pain in my side... talking ALLLLLLL the time, cracking jokes at inopportune moments and talking back. Now... he's one of my best behaved kids. He participates, asks questions and works hard. Recently, I decided to put him next to two of my lowest students so that he could work with them... he has the patience of of a... teacher?!

Back to this afternoon... once we got to the classroom I asked everyone to go directly to the carpet so we could start our Science lesson. Instead of taking his place on a carpet square, TallAndSensitive decided to sit behind my A-frame whiteboard and sulk. While the other students were discussing caterpillars, I asked TallAndSensitve what was the matter, and if I could do anything to help him feel better.

"I'm just feeling sad," he said.
"Ok, that's totally fine bud, why don't you go over to the Keep Cool Corner and I'll come over to talk in just a second"

A few minutes later, I set my nuggets loose to write about the caterpillars in their Science notebooks. I looked around for TallAndSensitive, but didn't see him immediately. Once I got closer to the Keep Cool Corner I realized he was laying on his back with his head under a desk and his hands covering his face.

"What's the matter bud?!"
"I don't want to tell you," TallAndSensitive whined through his sobs.
"Ok well do you want to tell me when you started feeling sad?"
"...In music class."
"Ok, well do you want to tell me what happened in Music?"
"SassyPants!!"
"Ok bud... what's going on with SassyPants?"
"I can't tell YOU," he said
"Do you have a crush on her?"
"YES! And music class she went like THIS to me" - here he briefly removed his hands from his wet face to make a heart with both hands, then continued to cry.



Only 12 more days until "Friendship Day" - say a prayer.

Making a Lasting Impact

Up until very recently I don't think I fully understood the transient nature of poverty. Between the first day of school and today (almost 6 months) I have lost 4 students unexpectedly. The office pages the classroom, asks for the students to "gather their things," and come to the office. This is code for "say goodbye."

Unfortunately, I did not get any notice at all when ITeachFor left my class. He was at school on Friday and his Aunt had withdrawn the family by the following Monday. I called, but never heard anything back.

Many teachers came up to me that day, or the day after, to express their excitement (probably assuming I was feeling the same) and surprise. Even though ITeachFor's behavior escalated immensely towards the end of the second quarter (it got really bad), I still couldn't help thinking of his Aunt's tearful conversation with me the night before the first day of school when she said "please, don't give up on him." And I didn't.

One of things Teach For America discusses with all of its incoming corps members is the idea of our own "locus of control." With my students, I understand that their moves from one apartment to another and subsequently, one school to another, is outside of my control. Yet, I can't help thinking... what is my lasting impact on the students who have already left my classroom?

I sincerely hope that my impact on ITeachFor and my other students has been, and will be, a lasting one. The work continues...

A Year of Optimism

A year ago today I was sitting in a coffee shop in Sevilla, Spain, finishing up my TFA application. I had no idea what I was going to do when I graduated (all else fails - I could always move back to Spain, right?!) and although studying abroad my senior year was incredible, at that moment I felt very distant from the reality that awaited for me at home.

In the last 12 months, I have not missed a single beat. I still pinch myself sometimes thinking "How did I get here?!" Although this year has been one of tremendous change and challenges I have found myself becoming more positive and optimistic.

Everyday there are a million things that can and WILL go wrong in my classroom. When things do go wrong, I take a minute to reflect and then get over it (if you haven't yet adopted this strategy, I highly recommend it). Each day (for one reason or another) I come back refreshed, recharged and ready to try again. THAT has been the key to my success this year.

TFA sets and holds high expectation for their corps members. I know that my classroom isn't perfect but I'm EXCITED to see how it will grow and change over the final few months of the school year. I am optimistic, hopeful and eager to see my vision unfold for my students. To see trackers on the wall with visual representations of each student's individual mastery, to watch students improve their reading comprehension and fluency, and for my lowest students to catch up to their peers and be prepared for the third grade.

This year has been TURBULENT to say the least, yet I find myself happier than ever. I am blessed with 32 brilliant students, supportive colleagues, a God sent roommate, a tight knit group of new friends, warm weather (Febuary-October) and a family that feels close by even though they're miles and miles away.

One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.