Lately, I've had a little change of attitude. School has felt like a hobby this year. Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day, I am not exactly wishing for extended hours, but I just feel happy and renewed. I am ENJOYING what I do.
There have been a few years when I dreaded going to work each day. And I had the Sunday blues every single week. I felt bogged down more and more, as state demands grew. (and paychecks diminished)These past two weeks, as we have been "assessing" right and left, I realized what the difference is this year. I have been so busy in the past few years making sure my professional evaluations were completed on time, that I got my students grouped in the exact right ways according to DIBELS, that my class profile was filled out and all the testing portions were complete, that my other endless school "to-dos" were checked off, that I pushed the lesson planning to the end. It was what I did AFTER I worked on all the important stuff. YOU know, the stuff that comes with deadlines. I put the minors before the majors, so to speak.
Of course I have KNOWN that the children come first. I am there for them, not the paperwork. This year, my TEACHING is coming first. The state will still get what they need from me. The data will be collected, measured and I will use it as I see fit, realizing that data does not measure a whole child. Data is a number that represents a testing experience of which a number of extraneous factors must be considered. (In first grade, the factor could be a fly zooming around during the one minute timed assessment:)
I guess what I'm saying is, that I am in the process of restructuring my priorities in life. My priorites at school are those precious little six and seven year olds who come to my classroom every day and look forward to what we get to do and learn each day. They look to me to provide them with interesting learning experiences, not stressful data collection. And if I enjoy school, they enjoy school:)
Whole Brain Rule #5: KEEP YOUR DEAR TEACHER HAPPY!:)
In amongst the assessing going on, we have begun a "County Fair" theme for September. We are reading the book Charlottes' Web, learning to ask and write QUESTIONS, (as opposed to "One time, I..." comments), we are comparing fiction elements to nonfiction ones, learning some "blue ribbon" vocabulary words, learning farm animals and how to "label" parts of a farm, we are learning to discuss character point of view, and comparing/contrasting farm animals to forest animals. And of course we work in a few craftivities:)
In math we are continuing to work on number sense to 20, specifically combinations for sums of 7, 8 and 9. I am still getting used to Math Investigations. It moves a little more slowly, and is a little more "active" than what I've used in the past!
Next week we'll do some apple activities and of course, talk about Johnny Appleseed. I will do my best to post pictures soon. When the testing is finally over....
Speaking of Whole Brain...any teacher friends out there using it with good results? We've tried "Class/Yes", "Whisper/Release"(that one is my fave)"Teach", "mirror", and the "rules". I haven't had training on Whole Brain Research, but I've been watching videos and thought I'd experiment with a few techniques. I do think it helps students stay more engaged, perhaps. The kiddos really like the ten finger "Woo-hoo":)Leave me a comment if you are trying some Whole Brain techniques in your classes....
Enough of my rambling...thanks for reading:)
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