I have no issue saying that I don't know everything. This has been a HUGE turn around for me. I don't know everything. There are a few people I consider mentors. Some by design and others by default.
One was a manager I had. I wouldn't consider him a mentor at the time, but his words were helpful. Granted I don't think he managed me to success, but that's neither here nor there.
After a sales meeting he pulled me aside. We discussed my progress and the last thing I remember him saying was,
"Get out there and push somethings around. You're a young guy and you should push more and make things happen." Again, I didn't take it to heart when he said it, but later I thought about it. I really am not pushing stuff around like I could. I'm not forcing things to happen and seeing results.
I'm teaching and organizing my class. I'm rocking and rolling, but I'm not seeing the results I expect. I need to push somethings around. There has to be a result that equals the kind of effort I'm putting into it.
So this week I'm going to push and I'm going to push HARD. I have to get these babies excited about learning and exploring. They have to see that this is worth it.
On to another topic. I've been practicing taking off from Friday evening to Saturday evening. It's some good ol' Jason time. Not sure why more people don't practice this self-regulated margin. I feel recharged and I'm ready for another great week of pushing and bow ties.
In years past I just couldn't find a solution to the pencil drama in my class.
1. Let kids sharpen pencils at all. -13 bow ties!
2. Sharpen pencils only at key times. A little better idea, but still only 2 bow ties.
3. I sharpen a glut of pencils and kids swap them out as needed. This worked, but it still resulted in a lot of pencils being used and kids destroying them. 4.5 bow ties.
4. Let students use their own personal pencil sharpeners. Back to -4 bow ties. Plus the floor was a MESS!
This year I started the year off with a caddy on each table with all the supplies the kids might need for the day. In there are 5 good sharp pencils. So far this has been a great idea. The kids don't feel like they have to horde the pencils, becuase I gave them to them. No one sharpens pencils. No mess on the floor and most all all zero down time for pencil disputes. I have one little one ask to sharpen her pencil. I asked her why when there are 3 right in front of her.
At the end of the day the Table Manager brings me all pencils and I swap them out for new ones. So far I've only had to do a mass pencil sharpening 1 time. That was mainly because I'm used to sharpening at the end of the day. I keep the dull ones in a cup for sharpening later. My table managers are reliable enough I may just let them do the swapping out at the end of the day themselves. We'll see.
A lot of credit has to go to going over the routines with the kids. They know what to do and usually they want to do right. So far, thankfully I've not lost much time with the pencil demon. Now if I could figure out how to improve the handwriting! I call it foot writing cause it looks like they write with their toes. What do you do to fix this problem?
If you know me or follow my blog you know I'm not very organized. I want to be. However, BEING has alluded me to years. Last year I was buried in paper work. I honestly can't say I know what happened to it all, but I can tell you my inner tree hugger is silently crying.
In order to save a tree or two and to keep my sanity I did something different this year. To my surprise so far it's been a 10 bow tie idea! I have the students keep the "Red Number Journal" for all class work and the "Blue Number Journal" for all their homework assignments that require them to write or what not.
I'm not sure, but I certainly feel I've used a lot less paper.
I was able to check homework today in less than 3 minutes where as before I'd have to hunt down papers and the such.
The kids have a great note system whenever we go back over their journals and put a sticky for key info.
The kids can get to work quickly in the morning. No searching for paper or writing sheets. Just go to the next empty page, date and start.
Whenever I have parent conferences I know I can quickly put my hands on ALL the kids class and homework in less than a minute.
I feel as if the class moves better and flows easily. Translation...less stress.
Most teachers waste these composition books. During pre-planning I sent my helpers to find as many partially used comp books as they could. We neatly tore out the used pages and slapped a sticker over the name. I'm pretty sure I have almost 50+ recycled journals ready for duty.
Not sure where I got this idea. I don't think it qualifies as a true interactive notebook,but I will give Pinterest credit either way. The teachers on my hall used to have 3 journals. 1 for Reading, Math, Social Studies and Science. That made me even crazier, cause I know most of the students didn't use them fully. Plus the kids didn't have a good place in my room to put their stuff so instant insanity. This year, thankfully I have a much better system and I see it working.
One day I will report that I've found a great way to do my lessons in advance. Yeah, right. Anyone have any good suggestions on what to do with lesson planning so not to have to do them Sunday night?
Tomorrow I must talk about what I did to defeat the ugly "Mr. Whitaker can I sharpen my pencil" monster.
I'm sure all teachers know about Formal Observations. For all the rest of you it's the time when your administration stops by your room for 30-60 minutes and evaluates your teaching. For some it's pretty stressful. For others it's just another day in the classroom.
No matter how you deal with the evaluation there is a factor you can't control, students. They may do exactly like they do any other day OR they may do exactly as they do any other day. As a teacher there is no worse feeling as watching your evaluation start to fade away as little Johnny and Sally stage a coup.
So here's my question; how do you prepare your class for the observation? There seems to be 3 schools of thought.
1) Tell them that this is an observation for THEM and that they administration wants to see that each of them is ready for X grade next year. Point out that they need to be on their very best behavior to show Mr./Ms. Principal that they're ready for the next grade.
2) Tell them that this observation is for you the teacher and it could bode well or bad for you if the kids don't do their best.
3) Just let the chips fall where they will. Don't make a big deal out of it. Act as if this is a surprise to you and pray the shock will remain through the entire session.
I can see the merit and the ill with all three of these tactics. I'll tell you what I did when I see how it goes tomorrow.
In the mean time let me go workout so I can relax and be ready for show time.
This week was so draining. I don't want to drone on and on about how this week was a BEAST. You don't want to hear that.
What I will say is this, no question this week built my faith. I have been working on building margin in my life. Even with this week beating me up I didn't get to my limits. I know this week coming, I'm going to be pushed more than last week. Thankfully, I've already planned for it and I feel grace to do it. I can see that consistent on going improvement will yield huge results.
To give balance I've found it really tough to plan/think LONG term about my lessons and class learning. I talked about in in my Avengers post aout making the lessons catchy to get the kids excited about the next lesson. I've had some success in my re-growing veggies lessons in science, but not so much in my other lessons. Just need to work on this for sure.
I have an evaluation this week and I feel good about it. I picked up some great skills at a workshop a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully, I've been kicking it hard so Monday will be the best teaching anyone has seen cause I've been doling out the best daily.
Crossfit this week was strong. I didn't make it to Crossfit South Cobb everyday, but I was able to sneak into Basement Crossfit and keep my goals in line. I've been juicing well. It's not hard now at all. I'm down nearly 13 pounds. I hope to be able to plant our garden next week or the following week.
I'm heart broken for the parents, communities and children of CT.
I'm not interested in prayer in schools.
What?! Every Christian with a bible is ranting "God has been removed from schools and that's why we're...." Yes, I've heard that argument and I've even made it a couple of times. However it's wrong and it's not very smart. There is a talk show host who went as far as to say the reason this horrible event happened is because God has been taken out of schools.
What most people are asking for is a teacher-lead, school-lead time of prayer during a time of the day. 30 seconds during announcements, before lunch or something like that.
Putting prayer in school is opening a box to so many other things that teachers will have to tend to. I'm surprised no one has said it. We're already, Parents, Coaches, Advisers, Counselors, Teachers, Nurses and Referees. Now you want us to be Pastors, Priests and Rabbis?
Let me just wave a magic wand and "put prayer in school". Can't you see/hear all the howls from some parents because "you prayed in Jesus' name, we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit".
...or You prayed in the NIV, but we only accept the KJV.
How about this one, ...We're Southern Baptist and you're a Mormon teacher, What Jesus are you talking about?
These are just a few, a very small few complaints out of the bag of insane complaints we'd hear. Let's not even talk about the fact that now America is a sort of kind of Christian. So many assume we're talking about praying to the Judeo-Christian God. Ok, but what about when America becomes a majority non-Christian nation? Think you'll be ok with us praying to another god that you don't think is God?
Ok, people, we're tasked with such a weighty chore that adding one more layer is going to only add more strain to the profession. I challenge that there isn't one profession that has so much heaped on it from all sides as teaching. If you know of one, please let me know.
For quite some time teaching has been the surrogate parent of the community. I know a lot of folk aren't going to like this, but you're welcome to comment. We've become EVERYTHING to these kids and it's made really, seriously...LAZY PARENTS. Yes, I did call most of us lazy. We drop our children off at school with very little and want a college bound, scholar in return. This might be shocking, but it's not going to happen. Neither is prayer in school.
If you want prayer in school send Prayers to school. Send kids who cherish the honor of speaking to an ever loving, God. Drop off a child who are confident in themselves, because they know that no matter what they're accepted by God and that He thinks they're pretty neat. Send students who much rather quote Be Attitudes than cop and attitude. We'd welcome students who rather than pick on each other and name call understand that everybody needs love and acceptance and they've found that in God. How do we get that, Jason?
This is going to REALLY make some people mad, so feel free to log off. In order to get the kind of student I'm talking about many parents need to parent and pastor their OWN kids. You're going to have to put prayer, God and all that in your home. Put it in your heart and in your kids hearts. I can tell you that the Love of God is absent from my community. I can see it in the words my kids use with each other and adults. It's obvious in the MIA status of support at home. I as a teacher am not going to do it for you. Sorry, but it ain't going to happen. What I will do is pray silently that you get a clue that these are your kids, your future and that you need to make the most of it.
I choose to make my wife and my faith a center of our girls' growth. If you don't that's on you. I simply believe it's much easier for you to raise your child than for your child's teacher or school to do it for you.
I year ago I read a book called "Quitter". The short premise of the book is that we as people are doing to much. We need to start quitting things that we're not going to be excellent at so we can focus in on those few things that make us stand out. *I never said I was a book reviewer. I just like books a lot
So this week I made a list of things I quit.
I quit making sorry excuses for being lazy.
Oh, yeah, not wanting to be original. I gave that up, too.
I quit giving myself permission to not be a really good teacher.
No reason to come to me with gossip. I quit that as well.
Oh, you want me to bend over backwards to please you? Snap, I just quit that.
I take my life far more seriously than I did a few years ago before I quit being a pitiful dad and husband.
I quit beating myself up when I don't do something perfect. Hey, I'm moving aren't I?
I quit NOT doing a budget. This flying by the seat of my pants is for the birds! Going back to doing a regular budget every month.
I quit thinking that each of my students come fro backgrounds like mine or my own kids. They need a lot more TLC than I may require.
Being that I have a house full of little girls, I quit focusing on the boys behavioral issues over the girls attention issues.
Yeah, that yelling thing. I gave that up, too.
I'm a contract employee with sarcasm, but I'm planning on dropping my 2 week off soon.
I've almost finished reading and re reading Og Mandino's 10 scrolls from the Greatest Salesman in the World. Each day for a month I've read the small chapter 3 times. I'm on 8 and I have 2 more chapters to recite. It's been really helpful. Might start over again just because it's been such a habit.
I also need to come up with a seriously fun activity for Friday. I want to tie in all the concepts we did this week and make it LIVE! Let me process that for a minute.
Been at Crossfit South Cobb a lot more. The first part of the school year was beating me up, but I got in the habit and I was in there 4 times this week. I feel so much better and I think it's showing in my mental game. I have a lot more to do on my physical game, but my mind and heart are in the right place.
I've been talking to a few of my teacher buds who've shared with me some sad news. Many of them are meeting parents of students in their class for the first time DURING AWARDS DAY or End of the Year parties. That's just sad. Many express that they've reached out to them, called them, left messages, but they've never met the parents. That is until the end of the year.
I have another friend who told me that she has a child in her room that really requires a lot of Love and Grace. He's a handful. Come to find out that he has a sister in a lower grade and she's a jewel. Here's the kicker, the mom has volunteered in the sister's room as recently as this week! Never has she done so for the brother. SHE'S BEEN IN THE BUILDING WHEN MY FRIEND HAS CALLED HER ABOUT HER SON'S BEHAVIOR. Amazing.
Now, I'm not calling for the OverDue parents that over due everything. They fuss and cuss about everything under the sun about their child. Such that you start to think this is a personal issue for the parent rather than the student. I mean the kid did miss 8 questions o the spelling test. A grade of "B" is the right call. Moving on.
I'm sure any parent would be all over if their kid got into Harvard or some IVY league school on a full scholarship. There'd be a bus carry all the family members who'd show up when that same student became a doctor. You know like I know that if a student signed on with a professional sports team they'd have to have a security guard to protect them from all the family that would come out of the woodwork. However, a 7 year old can get on the bus, ride 10 miles to school, interact with 19 or so other 7 yr olds and multiple adults, eat 2 meals, and get back on the bus a all without a parent. Then the kicker is parents not show up until they do so with flowers and balloons for awards day? SERIOUSLY?!
I can't believe that. Thankfully, I met most of my students parents at least once. I'd much rather more interaction with them, but that's another point. Being a parent isn't spectator sport. I'm not sure exactly what analogy I'd use, but I can certainly tell you that it's not drop in one time a school year. Being and Being Present are two different things all together.
Rant concluded. Jason steps down off his soap box to enjoy Day 99 of the Burpee challenge. Working my crossfit plan. I need to improve my eating, but that's certainly another post.
To many this is a Starbucks cup with pencils in it. To my students is the Cornucopia in the Hunger Games. Everyday it's a battle for pencils. You'd honestly think there was a competition to see who could use up the most pencils in a day.
My Pencil policy is this:
I sharpen about 20 or so pencils in the AM. The kids are welcome to trade out one of their not sharps for one of mine. If they don't have a pencil at all (often) they can take from another cup of sharp short pencils I freely give away. Multiple times during the day I sharpen the pencils in the cup so there are sharps for the dulls the kids have. The trades happen through out the day as the kids need a pencil.
Why do it like that, Whitaker?
This keeps the kids from making a game out of killing my pencil sharpener.
The personal sharpeners are a disaster! Pencil shavings are all over and they make the floor horrid!
The kids don't have to fidget with the sharpener.
The sharpener becomes a noise distraction as well as a movement issue. Sadly my students can't take the freedom of 1 person sharpening 1-2 pencils and sitting down. I'd have so many kids "needing" the sharpest pencil all day it would be craziness.
I thought this would quell the foolishness that I saw when I came into this class. But really it hasn't. Just new foolishness has arisen.
I have the black market personal sharpeners. Shavings everywhere!
Kids stealing my pencils. I give them for free just don't take 8!
Kids not even trying to bring a pencil to school. "Whitaker will take care of that for me"
Kids bringing 10 pencils and swapping all 10 out first thing in the morning, thus depleting my stash for the other students.
I know this seems so simple, but what do you all do to maintain Pencil sanity in the class?
I don't think my students listen to preaching at and droning on and on. Matter of fact I know they don't listen. They might hear, but it's 1/2 hearted at best.
All that said I had to go there today and make this statement.
"Do you realize that right now today you're better off than great grand parents or even grand parents? (Took a quick break to talk about ancestors since that was talked about earlier in the year) What do you thin I mean when I say that you're better off?"
"We have more stuff."
"We have more money."
"We have things."
"Ok, that is all true, but let's talk about something else. Since we talked about technology in reading. Do you think your grand parents when they were in 2nd grade could reach out and talk to someone in China and video chat with them?"
"No cause that stuff just started. It's new."
"Exactly! What about cell phones, email, books on CD, audio and stuff like that? Do you think they had that?"
"No."
"What do you think your greats or grands would do right now if they could be 7-8 years old and be in your seats? Write it down."
Here are two responses that show that I'm not living in vain.
"If my grandmom was in your class she'd listen a lot and do her work. She would pay attention and not be bad."
"My mom's mom would like this class. She would want to work on the computers and go to the media center. She would want to go to the reading center, too."
Teaching is a BEAST sometimes. The effort/energy to motivate the unmotivated is exhausting. The more we as parents do to help our kids see the blessedness in being able to learn the better off they'll be. If possible allowing them to meet/talk to those who don't have the same opportunities as they could be enlightening.
Felt like I didn't hit a home run today, but I did DESTROY my workout today at Crossfit South Cobb. The better I eat the better I feel. I think this grass fed thing will work out in the long run.
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