"From Nothing to Something":Thank a Teacher!

The words in the title are not my words.

As I was making my way home from a loooong day that was a combination of my 5th grade babies and my hour stint as a Read Aloud volunteer, I was listening to the radio station, winding down  from a day of all children, all the time.

The question being asked of callers was, "Which teacher would you like to thank, and why?"  According to the host, the lines were lit up ever since the question was asked. Caller after caller, named a teacher that was near and dear to them. That teacher they never forgot, could never forget.

It seemed that their responses shared a common theme. Surprisingly, not one of them said that they remembered the teacher that got them to pass a standardized test. :)

I listened to callers talk about teachers. A teacher who "took them from nothing to something." The teacher that was "strict, but showed them mother-love", the multitude of teachers that would not give up on a child, even if giving up seemed to make the most sense. You could tell from the passion in their voices, that these teachers they spoke of, were not in it for summer vacation, days off, or benefits, they were in it for those kids.

It just seems that in order to make that kind of impression on a person...you know teachers have the ability to do just that.

In order to make that kind of impression on a person...these were not children calling in, these were adults.

In order to make that kind of impression on a person...where they remember not only the grade, but your full name, you had to mean something, you had to do something that stuck.

You were so much more than a teacher, you were what connected them to wherever they were headed.

I am fortunate to have taught so many years, and to be on the receiving end of visits and/or emails from former students. What a wonderful feeling to know you have touched someone's life so deeply.

I know we all don't take a child "from nothing to something.", but we make a difference. We care, we love, we matter.

Field Trippin!:Take Me Out to the Ball Game- No Educational Experience Required!

Sometimes kids just need a day out and away, an escape from
Common Core, Standardized testing, close reading, non-fiction, an escape.
Teachers need it too.
And when we are out together, having fun, it just makes for a good day!:)

sun.
fresh air.
baseball. (Have to be honest, out of 9 innings, I only saw 4 plays.)
laughter
conversation- student to student, student to teacher, teacher to parents, and teacher to my now middle school babies who attended the game as well.
movement
food - hot dogs,  Crab fries-Can you say yummy?
selfies- never saw so many selfies being taken in my life! (Ok, yeah,the teachers took one too)
real world math - "Look, Mrs.M, (pointing to scoreboard), decimals!" (LOVE it)

Discover paid for our kids to attend a Minor League baseball game. Just a day out, teachers, students, and parents chillaxing at the ball game. It was great! A chance to get to know each other away from the confines of the classroom. Nice.:)

My babies will blog about it, so that others can share in their excitement. Stuck all our pics in a Google folder, and shared it with them all. So, even if they didn't take pics, they have access to them. If they took pics, they added them.

Also, going to work on creating a Narrable of our trip.(HAVE to find the time!) We have our headphones from DonorsChoose, so it will be easy to have students record their voices.

sun
fresh air
baseball
laughter

We were field trippin, and we loved it!:)

Childhood, Where Art Thou? Why Can't Kids Be Kids?

My girls are coming in with highlights in their hair.
Highlights!
I'm not even thinking about the damage coloring can do to one's hair, it just seems to me to be one of those things you wait to do when you grow up.
You know.
Like going to the spa.
Traveling the world.
Hotel parties.
Having boyfriends and girlfriends.
Getting a mani-pedi.
Staying up all night.
Seeing R-rated movies.
Drama,drama,drama!

Our kids are doing all these things as children, and it makes me wonder what they will do when they get older.
What will they do for excitement?
If you have done all the things you wanted to do when you grew up, what do you yearn for when you grow up? What do you wish for?
Is anything left?

I know.
We want to give our kids what we didn't have.
I can see the pros and the cons of that want.

You know what I want? I want them to go outside and play.
I want them to enjoy movies appropriate for children.
I want them to have something exciting waiting for them when they "grow up."
I want them to understand that there's nothing wrong with laughing at something dorky, or singing a silly tune.
I want them to know they will be a child once.

And I just hope that no matter what goes on outside of school, they know that they can be a child, just a child, highlights and all, within our classroom walls!


photo credit: roseannadana via photopin cc
Kids: conversations

The Custodian Made Them Walk: School as a Community!

The other day I was on my way to pick up my students from Special. Our custodian, older gentleman, was speaking to two kindergartners.

He stated firmly, "Ok, now walk down the hall."

The two kindergartners looked at him, looked at me, and began walking.

He turned to me, shaking his head, and said, "They were running down the hallway!"

I said, "Good for you. They could have hurt themselves."

Another adult might  have watched those kids run, and thought, "They're not my kids."

Too often, our school is just that, a school. A place where everyone has a position, and they don't budge from it.

The custodians clean, administrators lead, lunch staff serves lunch, teachers teach etc...

But it shouldn't be that way, we should all be involved in the well-being of our students. Not just the ones in our classroom, but the students in our school.

I speak to every student I see in the hallway, even if they don't answer. Sometimes, I get a big, cheery, hello. Other times the eyes are averted, or downcast, and a squeak of a hello comes out. And then there are the times, I get no answer, but I still speak, because I consider all of the kids in the building my own.

One of my colleagues "mentors" a student in a lower grade, trying to get him to be successful. Not because she was asked, but because she saw his struggles and wanted to help.

One of our custodians is a coach, so he makes a habit of talking  to the kids while he's in the lunchroom waiting to clean up.

A parent, who don't even have kids in the school anymore, reads to students.

And forget about our secretary, she is everyone's mother!:)

I attended a union conference Saturday, and the president stated, "When I talk about the union, I'm not just talking about teachers. I am talking about custodians, lunch personnel, bus drivers, any, and, everyone who supports the schools."

"It takes a village..."(African proverb)

It does. And that's the way our schools should be, everyone, from the administrator to the custodian, should have a sense of  responsibility for the success and well-being of all our students.

I Wish I Could Clone You: A Teacher's Dream Child!

I have at least one every year.
That child  I wish I could clone.
The kid that is so sweet, respectful, polite, works hard, helpful, gets along with their peers, an absolute delight!

Sigh. I wish I could clone them.

But you know what? I would have a very boring classroom.

Each one of our students is an individual complete with their own idiosyncrasies. Love it or hate it, we have to accept them for who they are.

However, we do have the option of tweeking them. Not so much that they lose who they are, but enough so that they can be a positive influence in our classroom family.

There's nothing wrong with trying to make the disrespectful, respectful.
The needy, self-sufficient.
The slacker, a hard worker.

That's part of our job. We can't throw back the ones we don't want, and we definitely can't clone them. But we can work with what we're given, and hopefully, make a difference!


photo credit: Blue Skyz Media via photopin cc