My students are awesome

Although my 4th period class is trying to kill me.

My theory is that they're so hungry, since 4th is right before lunch, that they can't focus due to lack of nutrition. They're also pretty chatty, but they're not nearly as chatty as 1st period. I think all of my 1st period students are only capable of breathing if they're talking. If they stay quiet for too long they might all perish from oxygen deprivation. 2nd period is perfect, except for the 3 gentlemen who sit poliety in class and do absolutely nothing unless I'm standing next to them.

IlovemyjobIlovemyjobIlovemyjobIlovemyjob

Actually, I DO love my job. All of the behavior I see in my classes is pretty typical of teenagers. And while I certainly do correct inappropriate behavior, I can't get too mad that teenagers act like teenagers. It would be like getting upset at a 2 year old for throwing a tantrum. That's what they DO. They're just still learning. Getting mad is pretty much useless.

But my purpose in writing this blog wasn't to discuss my student's inability to shut up. It was to highlight how wonderful they are. Here's the proof:

(BTW, this is partner work, they have to do this on their own next week. Using the GRR model, it took 3 days to get to this place. But I'm quite happy with "this place")

Friar Lawrence describes the sunrise and how it's similar to a drunkard's vision when he says "and fleckled darkness like a drunkard reels" (2.3.3). This simile foreshadows events in the play because it implies that something dark is going to happen yet with something light shining out of it. The simile demonstrates how the ending of the feud is similar to the light dimly shinning through the dark that is the death of Romeo and Juliet.

Friar Lawrence describes the sunrise and the darkness filled with spots of light when he says "and fleckled darkness like a drunkard reels" (2.3.3). This simile foreshadows future events in the play because he's trying to say that even in the dark, there will always be light (hope). The simile demonstrates how even when Romeo & Juliet die, there is will always be hope for both families.

 Friar Lawrence describes the sunlight barely coming out at dawn when he says "and fleckled darkness like a drunkard reels" (2.3.3). This simile demonstrates tragedy in the play becuase the long hatred between the two families will be disturbed by the new love of Romeo and Juliet. The simile foreshadows tragedy because the sunrise represents the possibility of a new thing coming out of the darkness.

These are, obviously, not perfect. But they're a really wonderful start. Students are starting to really THINK about what this poetic language means, not just what it describes. So the three days to get here was worth it.

Why I don't spank

I read something on Facebook today about spanking. The gist of it is that kids who got spanked survived, and kids "these days" who were never spanked are rude and disrespectful.

I must vehemently disagree.

****Stop here if you don't want to read my thoughts on spanking, this entire post is dedicated to how I feel about spanking. It is not indented to criticize any specific person. This post was sparked by something specific, but these thoughts have long been ruminating in my brain. I do not think that parents who spank are bad parents. But I do think that spanking itself is not good. So read or skip.****

I was never spanked. I am not some sort of hooligan who spits in the face of authority. I am confident and outspoken. I am thoughtful yet assertive. I am respectful but not deferential.

And I will not spank my kids.

I work with kids from a variety of backgrounds. Some who have been spanked. Some who have been beaten. Some whose parents used non-physical forms of discipline, and some whose parents used zero discipline.

You know which kids are the best behaved? The ones whose parents used non-physical forms of discipline.

You know which kids are the worst behaved? The ones who are spanked/hit/beaten AND the ones who are not disciplined at all.

You know how I know this? Because I have conversations with my students, especially those who are trouble makers, about what goes on at home.

Overwhelming consensus from students: Spanking and hitting doesn't make us behave, it just makes us do things behind our parent's back.

More than just this, spanking is illogical. We are our children's greatest role models. We are the biggest influence on their lives, their development, their future. They will, for better or worse, model their behaviors and their relationships after the ones we present to them. So why would we make hitting an acceptable behavior? When is it ever ok to hit an adult? When do we ever hit our friends? When is it ok to hit our spouses or partners?

The answer is that - it's not. So why is it ok to hit a child? Especially a child who doesn't know all the rules. A child who is still figuring out how the world works. A child who, oftentimes, doesn't really understand WHY their behavior is bad.

They stole a toy from a friend or a candy from a store. They yelled at a parent. They drew on the wall. They're still figuring out WHY these things are not acceptable. They need to be told WHY. They need to understand that stealing a toy from a friend makes their friend sad. They need to know that stealing candy from a store is wrong because that candy doesn't belong to them - they didn't pay for it. They need to know that it's not acceptable to yell or be disrespectful toward parents and authority figures. They need to be reminded that coloring is for paper, not walls.

And they need to be told this multiple times because they are children and don't exactly have phenomenal long term or short term memory. They need to be reminded because they're trying to learn 1,000 things a day and lessons need to be repeated.

Then they need to practice. Practice using their words "Lily, can I play with that please?" "Mommy, can I please have a candy bar?" "Daddy, I don't want to wear that shirt." "Grandma, I'm sorry for coloring on the wall."

Give them words. Make them use them. Make them repeat them.

And then give natural consequences. And spanking is NOT a natural consequence. Make them clean up the mess. Or apologize to a friend. Or get a toy put up if it can't be shared... etc.

But what, exactly, does spanking serve to do other than make them angry and sad and confused? And what, exactly, does it teach them?

Hitting is a terrible teaching tool. It's ineffective in the classroom. Hitting doesn't help teachers teach, it doesn't help kids learn.

We are our children's greatest teachers. Their first teachers. And if you don't trust your child's teacher, a trained professional, to hit - then why would you trust yourself? No one trains you to be a parent. There's no guide or instructional manuel.

I just honestly don't understand the logic behind spanking.

There are those that lament "kids these days" and blame it on a lack of spanking. News Flash: kids these days to more volunteer work, care more about the environment, & are more accepting of diversity than any modern generation before them. There's nothing "wrong" with kids these days.

But there is something wrong when there's a lack of discipline in a home. The absence of spanking shouldn't equal the absence of discipline. Because discipline - consequences of inappropriate behavior and rewards for appropriate behavior - is important in teaching kids boundaries, social norms and expectations, and how not to be a jerk. (I could couch that in positive language "how to be kind" but I feel like "how not to be a jerk" is more accurate).

My kids test me. My kids throw tantrums. They misbehave.

My students test me (especially 6th period). They misbehave.

You know what works best to get my kids and my students to do what I want? Positive rewards for positive behavior. And to TALK to them. A 1-1 with my 9th grader works better than anything else I've ever tried in the classroom. A 1-1 with my son who just finished throwing and epic tantrum works well too.

And yes, I have to repeat the lesson. But unless you learned Calculus in a day, you need lessons repeated as well. We all do.

Things English Teachers Notice

Or ECE teachers... or speech therapists...

Before I became a teacher - especially a teacher who works with long-term English Language Learners - there are few things I may have never noticed about my children's language development that I now find both fascinating and wonderful.

Penelope has become ever increasingly articulate. She discusses past events with (mostly) proper past tense (i.e. adding the 'ed' ending, she has some irregular verbs down, but not all), present events with present tense (sometimes confusing verb forms - like "I has" instead of "I have"), and future events with future tense (i.e. 'ing' endings).

She also has a significant number of her books memorized, so she "reads" them to us at night, which is both fun and absolutely adorable. I'll have to try and videotape it tomorrow.

She's also become more logical. She can see cause & effect (well, not all the time), and is getting better at solving problems - both simple and complex. She can spell some simple words, so Bryan and I have to be quick when we spell-talk. She's got her name down pat, can write it and spell it verbally. She can also spell "happy" and most of "birthday" (can you tell we have a lot of family with fall birthdays?). She's amazingly creative, draws free-hand recognizable objects and is almost as good coloring within the lines as I am.

I'm really looking forward to when she starts Kinder... I wish they would let her start next year, since I think she's ready. I've even gone over the new Kinder Common Core standards and she's got many of them down already. I know she's going to love school!!

Surprisingly enough, or perhaps, unsurprisingly (if you work in Education),  there are some striking similarities in what my daughter can do with language and what my students can do with language...

And the more I notice the similarities between my preschooler and my students, the more I am filled with both sadness and resolve. Resolve because I want to do everything I can to prepare my students for life outside of high school - not just college or the workforce, but also to buy homes, cars, or start businesses. And sadness because my almost 4 year old has a better command of proper tenses than some of my 16 year old students.

There are a lot of reasons why my long term ELL students struggle so much with grammar. The English language has some pretty weird grammar rules; it is one of the hardest languages to learn (no, really - check out this link!). Many of my ELL students only speak English at school, which limits the amount of practice they get (and, if you're one of those who say their parents should just "learn English already", please refer to the above link - then go live in Poland and learn how to speak Polish without access to language classes... if you're not willing to do that, then stop the nonsensical demands on people who don't have the resources to gain a full command of the language YOU can barely speak.)

ANYWAY, another reason many of my students do not have mastery of English is because we do not have the resources in place to really address language gaps. Teachers work as hard as they can, with the resources they have, to be as effective as possible. It isn't easy. It IS getting better though - a lot of the training I've received in the last year & change has made me a much more effective teacher, especially when it comes to addressing gaps in language acquisition.

I could go on - because there are many more factors that contribute to the language gaps between my ELL students and my English only students (although, to be honest, I see significant language deficiencies in many of my EO students. This is also due to a number of complex factors).

Regardless of how you slice it, there is a large number of children in California (and in the US) who will graduate from high schools with significant language gaps that will likely be detrimental to their economic prospects. And these gaps will likely be repeated in their own children.

No time, you get this

Things are i.n.s.a.n.e. in the Rodgers household.

Mostly because I don't think I really grasped just how many meetings teachers are required to attend. There are even more your first year (although heaven forbid you become Dept Chair b/c you have a crazy # of meetings then). I literally have meetings twice a week. At least. Some at lunch, some afterschool. Today I had two. Tomorrow I have one. Tomorrow is also Back To School Night. Friday I have one. Oh! I forgot, I have two tomorrow since I have one before school AND at lunch.

Now, approx 25% of these meetings are my fault... i.e. I called them. And it's because I'm meeting with counselors/intervention specialists/SPED aids/students to work with those who are falling behind. I know, it's only week 3 (4?) but there are a few students who already need to play catch up. I want that to happen NOW instead of December 1st. So I bring a bit of this on myself.

The rest of the meetings are required but MOST of them are productive. So at least something is being accomplished or I'm discussing events/information that is relevant/directly impacts my teaching practice or my students. So thank goodness for those kinds of meetings... because I've been in useless meetings and they make me want to pull out my hair.

In kid-related news, I have decided that our children are geniuses. GENIUSES. Griffin can point to #s 1-9. He also has about 10 signs and 3 spoken words. And other than the fact that he's still not sleeping through the night and can throw a tantrum which can be seen from space, he's the sweetest boy child I have ever known. I'm totally unbiased.

I'm actually pretty impressed with his number recognition skills. I need to work on letters.

Penelope recites books from memory. Not joking. If she's NOT reading by her 4th birthday I'll be shocked. I wouldn't be surprised if she read much sooner than that. She can't throw a ball (she throws it behind her) but she'll read very early. Since she is my child, no one should be surprised. Bryan might argue that I still cannot throw a ball. (He'd be wrong. I can throw. Just not accurately or with any distance.)

Let's see... what else?

Poe has taken to saying "be careful with my body" when she is being roughhoused (is that a form of that word? Is it a verb or noun? Meh, whatever). It's pretty funny. I've taken to saying it as well, it's a good phrase.

Weaning is going ok. We nurse once a day - usually at 4am. I'm hoping that soon we'll give that one up (because hopefully he'll soon be sleeping at 4am). He's getting better with sleep as long as I'm NOT the one to put him to bed. Stinker.

Daycare is going well, the kids still like Stephanie and she's been teaching them Spanish and phonics. I'm glad it's working out... just one less thing to worry about.

Bryan is still working, the house is good, we're all ok. We had a fever scare last week that landed us in the ER but everyone is better. I turn 30 in 13-ish days (eep!) and will hopefully spend the weekend before my birthday on the beach.

More later. Maybe. Probably. I've been neglecting the blog and haven't been posting as often in some of my forums. I will be giving at least one up, I just don't have the time... and when I do have downtime I really need to spend it sleeping or spending as much time with B and the kids as I can. From what I have heard from many experienced teachers is that you need to find balance or else you burn out quickly. I'd like to retire as a teacher so I need to start pacing myself.

I'll start next week. Next week is better for that. M'kay?

Day One: Check

I survived day 1.

And it actually went pretty well. There were some pitchy spots, but nothing went wrong and by the third class I had my rhythm down and was much more comfortable and had a lot more fun. The kids did too, the first day is always a combination of fear and boredom for a lot of students - especially Freshmen. And I have A LOT of Freshman.

I haven't decided if this means our Principal likes me or hates me ;)

Moving around wasn't fun, but it worked as well as it could have. I have a few things to add to my rolling cart to make things a bit easier and it helps that the teachers I share classrooms with are all great to work with. We all teach 9th grade English at some point in our days, so we're working on closely pacing our classrooms and using similar materials so that we can maximize our time and energy (among other things). Our school is really big on PLCs (professional learning communities) and I am embracing the collaboration. It's great to have common pacing and curriculum guides so that we're a more cohesive department and all of our students needs are met. I was lucky enough to have worked at a PLC based school for my student teaching as well. In fact, my mentor teachers at ML are so super collaborative that they've offered to share materials with me even though I'm not on their site. They are teh awesome.

So yes, day one is complete.

Day two and day three are going to be pretty standard across the board and (unfortunately) not very exciting. Procedures need to be explained and mandatory testing needs to be done so we can get it out of the way and move on to the fun stuff. Next week should be much more exciting for the students - and for myself - as I get to delve into the short stories and start teaching lessons with GRR & CM (Gradual Release of Responsibility and Constructing Meaning). I'll get fully trained in both this year, but I've gotten the teaser training and some plans. It's pretty great stuff - google it if you want to know more.

I'll try and post more about each specific class later... but I have some organizational stuff to do and I'd love to get to bed before 10. Even though this is a short school week, it's a busy one!

Oh, and the kids start daycare on Friday - next week we're full time, but our first day is Friday. We were lucky enough to find a home daycare run by someone I really, really like. I got a great vibe from her and I think the kids will do well. Her set-up isn't ideal (apartment complex) but Bryan, the kids, and I all liked her, she's bilingual (which I LOVE), and the kids will interact with children their own age and a bit older. It's not set up like a preschool, but that will come eventually. Poe will actually be in preschool next year so that will be another fun hunt.

I do want to write a post on weaning since I'm thinking about starting that process. I have some seriously conflicting feelings that all seem to depend on which way the wind is blowing. Seriously. I love breastfeeding, but this weaning business sucks.

The First Day of School

Is tomorrow. Although if you're reading this on Facebook then it already happened since FB doesn't usually update the blog feature quickly. Anyway. For me, as I type this, the first day of school is tomorrow.

My mom asked me if I was excited. I don't know if that's the right word. Overwhelmed isn't the right word either. My Principal is excited. I know a few teachers who are overwhelmed and one who is slightly terrified.

Me? I feel... purposeful. I'm a good teacher, one day I'd like to be a great teacher. I work at it, I adjust, I get feedback, I am flexible, I am organized, I apparently love the comma. I have been presented with a challenge that has been complicated by sharing three rooms instead of just having one classroom. But I've done that before, so it's not like I can't handle the logistics.

I can do this. I'm just ready.

Well, except for my seating charts... and definite textbook check-out days for LAD B... and emergency sub plans... and Monday warm-ups... and...

But tomorrow? Yeah, I got this.

So I'm ready. Prepared. Focused.

Excited? Not really. I'm not unexcited. I think, perhaps, in order to get to the emotion of excited you have to be able to have all the details in place or be able to ignore or gloss over the details - which is difficult for me to do. So I don't really get excited very often, I just get busy organizing or planning.

Speaking of which, I need to organize my briefcase & pack my lunch so I have less to do in the morning. Since the remote hook-up to the student database is currently glitchy on my end, I need to get in early and mess with my seating charts... and double check to make sure my copies are in my box. And and and...

Being a teacher is a lot like being a mom. You're never really done.

A long overdue post

It's been awhile since my last post. We were all sick, it was finals week, and I've started seriously working on Griffin's "yearbook". Penelope had one at her 1st birthday party and everyone had a chance to sign it. It was a lot of fun to make and will hopefully be something she'll treasure - so G gets one too.

Once I'm done I'll post the link so people can comment before I have it printed.

Here's a quick recap on everything that has happened this week.

1. Griffin is crawling!!! It's been a few days, maybe a half a week. He's getting better and better... I have some video of his first crawling attempts and will hopefully be able to post it sometime next week.

2. G is also pulling himself up on everything that is remotely sturdy enough. So tables, couches, pant legs, etc. He's also stood up unsupported for about a second or two. So cruising is not that far in our future - neither is walking. I would not be at all surprised if Griffin walks before Penelope did, but he might take his time. We'll see. I'm not exactly rushing walking. I'm just happy he's crawling.

3. I'm done with student teaching! I need to get the paperwork in to do the sub-thing for San Juan and update my resume so I can start looking for full-time (or heck, even part-time) teaching gigs. There are a few more administrative things I need to do before I have my credential, but I am done with the hard part. I still have to write my thesis before I have my Masters, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, I still have BITSA once I'm a full time teacher. Really looking forward to that one.

I have very mixed feelings about the end of my student teaching tenure. I am happy that I'm finished since it means that I'm that much closer to getting my own classroom, but I am very sad to be leaving my students and Mira Loma. I really enjoyed working at ML, the staff and my mentor teachers were wonderful to work with. I will also miss nearly ALL of my students. Even the more rambunctious ones :)

4. Mom and I start tap classes Monday. I'm happy to be getting out the house and doing something to stay active. I'm also happy to be doing something with my mom, I really love spending time with her.

You know, that's all I can think of. I'm sure there's 1,000 things more that have happened since my last post. Oh, the kids are better. So that's good.

Teething and nursing OR Why no one is getting any sleep.

Teething continues. And this time around it's no picnic. Not like teething was a picnic with Penelope, but it wasn't quite the clusterf**k it is this time around.

Maybe clusterf**k isn't the right word. But I can't think of anything better right now.

Griffin's sleep is crap. He's constantly got something in his mouth. I've been bitten four times already tonight (and not on my hand, he likes to use milk-producing parts of me as a teether). Last night Bryan took him so I could get some sleep, I've been waking up with monster headaches in the morning and I needed to get at least a solid six hours. The boys stayed up until G fell asleep at 11:20 and he thankfully slept until almost 5. The night before G was up at least 4 times to nurse and was very restless, it wasn't fun for either one of us.

I think that part of it is my supply. While I've been lucky to nurse this long I think my supply is starting to dry up. I still have milk, but we need to supplement more and more with formula. Part of this is also that G is getting bigger and just needs more food, but my supply can't keep up either way. It's a little sad, but not unexpected. I really hope that at the very least I'll still be able to nurse him overnight. But then again I really hope he starts sleeping through the night soon. Like tonight.

I'm pumping while at work - on my prep period - and it sucks. I hate it. I have 1,000 other things I would really like to use my prep period for, one of which is observations of other classrooms. It's part of what student teaching is all about - observing more teachers will only help me improve my own teaching practice. But when I have to take 15 minutes out of prep to pump it makes observations difficult. I also have grading and planning I could use the time for, but those I can do outside of school so they're less of a priority.

There is one good thing about pumping. It guarantees that at least once a day I get time completely to myself. I can read a little, I can listen to music, I can (sort of) relax. And while I think of my kids all the time, it gives me an opportunity to really stop and think about what they're doing.

Because while I love teaching, I love my kids more - and I miss them during the day.

But my student teaching gig is going well. There are frustrating days and moments, but those just happen anyway. And the more proficient I become at classroom management and planning the less frustrating things get. I haven't yet taught a lesson I think is 'perfect', everything could use a little tweaking and improvement. Not to say that I haven't had some great days, because I have. But I learn a lot about how to improve even from the great days. The day I stop trying to improve my teaching practice is the day I need to stop teaching.

It is time consuming though. We're constantly busy. Between my student teaching, my coursework, Bryan's job, and Bryan's school (plus everything else kid-related) we don't have a lot of downtime. We juggle so much that a fair amount has been put on the back burner. Things like vacuuming and laundry... and date night. Since G is still breastfed at night we haven't had a kid sleepover at my parents in quite awhile. So Bryan and I haven't been out together since... well, I can't remember when. November is our next scheduled date, for the opening of Harry Potter. Although since that falls on a Wednesday night we may not be able to make the midnight showing - I have to teach the next day. We'll see.

I also neglected to blog about turning 29, but since it's just a warm-up to 30 we really didn't do a whole lot to celebrate it. I'm more excited about the kids' birthdays than mine. 29, big whoop.

I do have other things that I've been meaning to blog about, like parenting decisions (we've decided not to circumcise Griffin for a variety of reasons), thoughts on my credentialing program, lawyers (and why we've decided not to sue my former employers), and the fact that we're contemplating moving out of CA once I have my credential (anyone in other states know of a school district that's hiring English teachers?).

I will try to blog soon. The operative word is try. I have a couple of TPAs due, lesson plans to write, papers to grade, and babies to parent. This list is obviously not in order of importance :)

Oh! Penelope got her first black eye today. She was trying to grab something out of reach and smacked her head into the "table" (i.e. TV tray) we have next to the couch. It's not super dark, but it's noticeable. I will attempt to locate our camera to document this latest "first".

AND Griffin is sitting up on his own. Only for 10 seconds or so, but still.

Sleep... and teething

Griffin's sleep is wacky. His napping is inconsistent and lately he's been waking up 4-5 times during the night to nurse. This is not cool.

I blame teething. He has one tooth and #2 is just below the surface. I'm hoping that it will break through sometime this weekend so we can get back to a somewhat normal night schedule for the week. Things are only going to get busier in our lives, so it would be nice if we were able to get a decent amount of sleep.

So that's really all I have to say on sleep and teething. There's really not much more to it. I want more sleep and teething sucks.

Things have been busy since I started student teaching, but we've gotten into a rhythm and I think we've all adjusted well. Poe is a tad clingier since I stopped spending all day every day with her, but that's to be expected. Both kids love spending time with my Dad so I'm so very thankful that he's available to watch them while I'm teaching and Bryan is working. I do really miss spending time with the kids, and all of our mommy and baby friends, but I also enjoy teaching. Hopefully once my student teaching is over I'll be able to find a (paying) job teaching in the area. Although Bryan and I haven't ruled out moving out of Sac or our of Cali.

I'm at Mira Loma High School right now, and it's great. I have 2 classes of Sophomores and 3 of Freshman. So far I'm teaching full time in 3 of my 5 classes and will soon be teaching full time in all 5. Each class is different and its been interesting to see how a year in grade level, the time of day, and class size all affect student behaviors. I have one class that can be very difficult, but as the semester progresses they're starting to settle down. My classroom management skills have vastly improved since the beginning of the semester but I still have work to do. I honestly don't think a classroom teacher ever stops learning and improving when it comes to both teaching techniques and classroom management. Well, maybe some do, but not the really effective teachers.

Back to School Night is next week and I think I'm more nervous about meeting parents than I was about the first day of school!

This next week should be a good one though. I have some fun stuff planned for my Sophomores (well, stuff I think is fun) and I'm feeling really good about my schedule for my 6th period Freshman. I owe them candy for behaving themselves for an entire week (best $25 I ever spent) and last week was hopefully a turning point for that class. We'll see, but I'm optimistic about the rest of the semester.

Once we start Romeo & Juliet with the Freshman I'll be teaching all 5 classes (plus I have a seminar class, TPAs to complete, and a Thesis to start/finish) so I'll be even busier. In a way I'm glad I'm taking all this on while the kids are young, but it's also sad to miss so much of the little everyday milestones.

Oh well, in the long run finishing my Masters and Credential will be what's best for this family so it's worth it.

And Bryan starts his core coursework soon (no more undergrad stuff!). He's got a 3.8 GPA right now and just finished Math. It will be really nice when we're both done with school and have time to spend it together - we really don't see each other much. We'll have to do something nice for our anniversary - 3 years! We've done quite a lot in three years ;)

Ok, time for bed. Must sleep while I can since I'm sure G-man will be up at least 3 times tonight.

Teacher Observations...

Tomorrow I go to my high school Alma Mater and observe a classroom for the day. I'm excited!