Taking a risk with technology

After two weeks in the class all alone it was sort of a risk to also incorporate technology into the class. It is an exciting time by the second week of take over and I attempted to start a Wikispace with my class. You might wonder what about. Well it is !Biografías en español! (Biographies in Spanish) Students have been working hard on their biografías. They started out just reading in groups, talking about a specific person. I developed a graphic organizer that students could use to make notes about the biographies. I modeled with the life of Cesar Chavez: Passions, Impacts (people, events that had impact on the individual), Contributions, and Legacy. Now they get to read and write about one or more individuals that they find interesting. I found it really cool that they all had different ideas for their biografías and the students that needed the extra support with one person could actually use the one they read about to use for their writing. I have continued to use the graphic organizer to develop writing lessons. Now  each student had his/her own password to work on the wiki at their own time and during our biografías time in class. I consulted with the Technology teacher and he was incredibly supportive with the project. The most exciting thing is that it is a Common Core expectation that by the 6th grade students should be exploring things like Wikispaces. We will continue to work on the writing and we will see how it all turns out!

Taking Over

Leading up to my takeover in the classroom I started teaching solo a little more. Writing some of the lesson targets for the day on the board, and writing a chunk of the parent newsletter. Then the day that I started, my hand shook so much, not being able to put up the agenda on the board. Somehow it felt like I was stepping into a territory that was not mine. All of the board suddenly felt enormous. I managed to write everything on the board and I started my day with students alone in the classroom. I thought I would not be able to manage the days in the weeks. However it turned out alright. The first week I delivered the third MSP test and by the last two days I was really teaching alone. With my CT taking the days of all the planning was not run by her and I was really the only teacher.

I was a little nervous writing the first parent letter because in a way I was making myself really responsible for the students learning. Writing my second letter all alone to parents was a much easier than the first. What I am happy about is that I was gradually able to add a little here and there about what I was teaching before I took over. It made the process a lot easier!

Even though my last day of takeover is actually over, I will continue to teach a little longer. I will finish up Biografias on the Wikispaces and math before going back to co-teaching.

First Day                                                                                                           Last official day

      

Field Trip

Two field trips in one week it was really nice to take some time out of school and learn with students about Space at the National Geographic Live Speaker Series at Benaroya Hall in Seattle with speaker Kevin Peter Hand @alienoceans. I was amazed at how engaged the crowd was with the speaker. He talked with a very full house about “The Search for Life Beyond Earth.” Then two days later students learned how to make A Choose Your Own Adventure Story. Very fun! Students made a book and called it “Clowny with a chance of Plane Crash.” I loved that writing can be so much fun. Students started to write a story with the help of several volunteers at 826 Seattle. A well hidden little place in Seattle where people volunteer their time to teach children how to write and have fun with writing. It is also a place to help students with writing homework after school.

I think that without volunteers and a well planned schedule, the trips would not have been possible. I have to say that I have learned very much from just seen what goes into planning such outings and how much one can trust that parents will be willing to lend a hand. Even without a word of English.

       

One Day at Camp

I was alone on the day students packed and boarded buses to go to camp. The parents and the students all crowded in a room was so much for me to take in all at once. However I survived the morning. I was able to get lunches ready, papers delivered, students and parents out and onto the bus. I was happy to see so many parents actually show up to volunteer for camp.

I stayed with the students the first day of camp and it was really fun. A teacher and I set up nature activities for students and then we were ready for the camp introduction. It was nice to see the different ways students interact outside of the classroom and to collaborate with teachers in a different environment too.

Persistence

I have had an interesting couple of weeks… thinking about myself as a teacher as a person and the ways that I am still learning to do some things. Such as learning from other peoples perspectives and continuing to grow taking in the good and the bad.

I came across this poem in my things and I felt it fitting for some of what I have been dealing with this past weeks.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest

house. Every morning

a new arrival.

 

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

Some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

 

Welcome and attend them all!

Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture, still,

treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

 

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

 

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

 

Welcome difficulty.

Learn the alchemy True Human

Beings know:

the moment you accept what troubles

you’ve been given, the door opens.

 

Welcome difficulty as a familiar

comrade. Joke with torment

brought by the Friend.

 

Sorrow are the rags of old clothes

and jackets that serve to cover,

and then are taken off.

That undressing,

and that beautiful

naked body

underneath,

is the sweetness

that comes

after grief.

By Jelalludin Rumi

 

Celebración de poesia

Last Friday we had a Celebración de poesíathe final presentation of poetry.  Students spent some time putting the final artistic touches to the poems. It was a very fun afternoon which ended with students reciting poetry to a classroom full of parents. It was satisfying to see so many Latino parents and English speaking parents listen to poetry in Spanish. It has always felt like a divided experience to see parents in different places. For example like when the meeting were done separately Spanish and English. However for poetry they were all together and sharing the joy of seeing their sons and daughters become confident bilingual students. Students had so much fun! I was definitely proud, and moved by what they had to say, some were silly some were very heart warming. I could see how proud the students were of their work.

  

“Let there be n…

“Let there be no doubt: a “skilled” minority person who is not also capable of critical analysis becomes the trainable, low-level functionary of the dominant society, simply the grease that keeps the institutions which orchestrate his or her oppression running smoothly. On the other hand, a critical thinker who lacks the “skills” demanded by employers and institutions of higher learning can aspire to financial and social status only within the disenfranchised underworld” Lisa Delpit, Other Peoples Children

One of my motivations to keep learning to keep questioning.  

One more reflexión

I think that my growth and understanding about being a reflective teacher through blogs has been very subtle. It is hard to be reflective and be public all at the same time.  I think that many of us at the beginning of the year in our cohort could hardly bring our selves to write enough about critical issues and to share with others what caused us frustration and joy.

Many times blogging also has been times of half thoughts, and fussy ideas emerging. Yet it has been nice to share with the cohort and other people my wonders. Like my wonders about students fascination for poetry (that I did not have at their age) or how exciting it is for a math unit to come together and see students understand. Often I have found that the responses are just what I need to push my thinking or to encourage me. However as one of us put in a blog last quarter, it is an interesting world that we enter, and the challenge might be to stay connected with so much happening.

I think that part of this growth being so public is that I have to push my thinking in ways I would not usually want to. There are ideas that I found myself grappling with such as how we want to develop our community or encourage students to participate. To articulate my thoughts and respond to others has been an interesting task. I have found however that educators are mostly going to give a helping hand and support that I would not have found, if I did not challenge myself to do so. I think that like Sonia Nieto said in her book What Keeps Teachers Going that, “To survive and grow, I have to find colleagues who share my anger, hopes, beliefs, and assumptions about students and teaching.” Blogging and tweeting are just another platform that I can continue to use to develop as educators and learners.

Poetry: Amor Maternal

This was another week of more fun doing poetry with students. At this point in their work students have started to look at the poems they like the most for their anthology, focus on a topic, and looking at different ways of exploring the topic. One day this week we had students bring an artifact that they thought was special so that they could play with emotions in poetry. My CT and I made our own poems to demonstrate, and we shared a picture as well. Mine was of my daughter playing inside of a train statue.

Amor Maternal

Es incondicional,

E incomparable,

A otros sentimientos.

 

Es una esperanza

De empezar

Nuevas tradiciones.

Días de imaginación

Donde los chucu, chucus

De estatua,

Tienen vida.

 

Donde no se puede

Volar alto

Pero si se puede

Volar muy rápido.

 

Corazón lindo

Ternura,

Azúcar pura,

Mi Mina.

 

Multiplication and Division

It sure is fun when Math Methods course work is immediately applied to a classroom. This past two weeks in math we introduced unit 7 multiplication and division to our 5^th graders. It was helpful to teach a lesson, go back to our methods class and design the unit, and then go back and teach some more.

It has been exciting to see all the ways in which students see the math problems. As we continue this unit I get to find fun ways to preview work for the next lesson.

Yesterday our worm up problem was: There are 123 students going o a field trip and I want them to be distributed evenly into four buses. How many students will be on each bus?

Students had about 3 minutes to work independently at their tables. Then they had a chance to discuss in the table groups. This was a very fun problem for students to solve because they wondered what to do with the other three students and wondered why the problem said evenly.

I went around the classroom and students said, “You can put them on top of the bus…,” “You don’t go on the field trip…,” “You can’t chop a student in half!” and “You can put one more in each bus.”(Part of the enthusiasm about the problem could have been because they are going on a field trip next week.) As the students solved the problem they wondered what to do with the remaining students. After a few more minutes of group work we started to share out different ways of solving the problem.