The Teaching Must Go On!

We started school on August 1, 2012. Earlier than ever before and on August 15, 2012 I had a fever of 102.5.  I had had the chills and just thought the a/c had finally kicked on or that the temperature outside had dropped.  But after my assistant told me that I was "beet red" I decided that either my blood pressure was sky high or I had a fever. 

After a visit to the school nurse, she confirmed 
that I had a fever and that it 
was 102.5 and immediately 
she said, "You have to leave school." 
I was devastated. Not only was I sick and didn't know it, but I was not liking the fact that I had to leave. We were making such great progress... we had been having a great lesson and was continuing to have the students engaged after lunch. They really wanted to know about the "Tortoise and the Hare." 

When I came back from the nurse, I told my assistant about the temperature and that I would be leaving. The sadness I had on my face must have been obvious. Even the students were getting confused as I tried to not get too close so I wouldn't infect them with whatever was going on with me.

I had lesson plans for the entire week already done and in the folder. But having to show them, explain them and get emails and other things done so I could exit the building didn't get transmitted as well as I would have liked. 

After visiting the doctor later in the afternoon, he concluded, after tests and a chest x-ray that I had walking pneumonia and needed immediate and strong antibiotics along with complete bed rest. I was not to go back to work until Monday. He told me the fever probably wouldn't be under control until Saturday or Sunday. This was Wednesday afternoon -- two entire days without seeing my kids? We had been clicking along and they were so engaged that you just felt everyone one was learning and enjoying the lessons as well. We had been having a fun and they were engaged in the material so much they were generating questions they hadn't been able to pose before. It was truly great and now I already feel the loss. 

There are five things I have learned through this process: 

1. Plan, plan, plan.  I had the week already planned in detail for what we were to be doing. The materials had been assembled and were in folders and ready to go. We didn't lose much momentum. Be sure to plan when the students are absent as well. Each student has a folder where their papers are placed when they are absent, or with speech-language, or OT/PT, so be sure to help them plan for their outage, too. 

2. Be ready for anything. My old project management days taught me to always think of risks and interruptions and to have contingency when those risks become reality.  When you are going to be out of the classroom unexpectedly, then your sub or co-teacher, or assistant should know what the contingency plans are and what to do and how to do it.

3. Practice.  Just like emergency personnel have dry runs of practicing what to do in an emergency, and we as educators practice fire drills, tornado drills, etc. You should practice with your students on what to do, what is expected and how to react, if you are suddenly taken from the classroom. This is the same as any other drill or routine and should be taught, practiced and learned. It is the unexpected change that leaves many people (students included) concerned, worried, and feeling ill about the change. The better prepared they are for change, the better it can be managed. 



4. Get the students involved in missing fellow students, teachers, assistants, or anyone they come in contact with in their schedule. They need to realize that sudden as well as planned absences are a part of normal life. They can write letters, make get well cards, draw pictures of what they believe you are doing out of school and these can be used when you return to show that you too missed them as much as they missed you. 


5. Make over them when you return. Don't let the opportunity to brag on them be missed because you are back and the "normalcy" of the daily routine has been re-established. Take a few minutes during the day to acknowledge how well they reacted to your absence, how well they completed their work while you were out, out well mannered and behaved they were for the substitute. Even if things didn't go as well as you would have like, find positive things to offer your praise. The praise you give them will help them to continue to be more and more independent and feel that even though you are not there, the process of learning must continue. If they understand what the steps of the learning process are, then they are better equipped to continue the process whether you are in the room or not. 

I'm happy to be back to the classroom and last week we completed a fully engaging week. On Friday we all celebrated the fact that no one was out sick, no one was missing from the routine, and we looked back to see each and every success we had as a class and as individuals.  We celebrated that teaching and learning had occurred just like we practiced. 

Education Rethink: What Does It Mean to be a Great Teacher? (Ten Idea...

I found this great posting from John T. Spence at Education Rethink:

Education Rethink: What Does It Mean to be a Great Teacher? (Ten Idea...: I'm trying to make sense out of my first three days of teaching sixth grade. I can tell that I didn't do enough with my monolingual students...

Musings about the first full week of school.

 

This was our first full week in the classroom.     The students are awesome. Of course I'm partial. While the excitement of a new classroom (we moved down the hall to have a bathroom), the excitement of seeing our friends and in making new ones will wear down to routine; everyone one of my students worked so hard this week to meet the expectations I sat before them. As I look back over the week two areas stand out:  

Summer retention:  After working on pre-assessments to document their current level of understanding for basic Kindergarten and First Grade materials I have been please at the ones who have retained what they learned during the five months I was with them at the end of the last school year. I'm fortunate in that I was able to assess the same students I taught, so I could reflect on what was retained, which lessons seemed to work and then couple that with the home life of the individual during the summer. Those new First Graders not only retained their basic Kindergarten knowledge, but also their behavior routines. I was pleased to see that we can now build upon that base for this school year. 

Summer loss: We worked on alphabet retention, numeracy, socialization and other IEP goals all the students last school year. At the end of the school year I did an assessment with them before school ended in order to document their level of understanding at that time. When we did the same assessment at the beginning of this school year, the students with loss, had regressed to the point of where they were when I first took over the classroom. I was sad, for them and for me. I had failed them somehow by not moving that learning into long term memory. My fellow educators tells me that there is always some regression in the summer ("we all forget what we don't use"), but I don't like lumping people into generalities. Each of my students (like yours) is unique and different. They learn at different paces, different levels, and use different processing methods. 

So, what do I do with this new knowledge? As any first year teacher should do, you turn to educators that you can trust (keyword) and seek advice, counsel, as well as read up on teaching methods and strategies you can use with each learner to help them to advance.

 That's why I've been up early on a Saturday morning pouring over my Professional Learning Network of individuals from around the world, to help me put specific arrows in my quiver in order to help each student advance this year.  I’m reviewing techniques, strategies, and thinking hard about how each individual learns so that my assistant and I can maximize the time we have to help each to not only advance, but to place the teaching into long term memory and use it for the higher level of cognition that will be required as they move through life.

While the classroom behavior is positive and the students understand that we have to "first work" and then "reward," I must up the expectations on myself first and then with each of my students.

Okay, I have some work to do and I’m ready for the challenge.

 |D|

Set Clear Goals and Challenge the Intellect!

Clear goals and intellectual challenge – Effective teachers set high standards for students. They also articulate clear goals/standards. Students should know up front what they will learn and what they will be expected to do. You may choose to write goals/standards on the board or on a PowerPoint.  Also remember hearing statements at least three times, usually moves it to our long term memory.  State the goal/standard and the beginning of the lesson, halfway through reference it, and then again during your closure. 

Lights Off means Go!

The beginning of school includes such teaching as routines and procedures, but don't get frustrated when the students don't catch on as quickly as you would like. Remember some of them haven't practiced for a "fire" drill since the end of last term. They forget exactly what to do or what it means. Some of them catch on quickly. Some not so quick. Today was the day to teach the new kindergarten students about fire drills. We watch a short video, then we practiced. We read a social story, and then we practice. We talked it through step-by-step, and then we practice. We rewarded those who were successful in the procedure with Skittles and we practice, and practiced and practiced.

After going through it over and over I still had one little boy that would not or could not understand exactly why were doing the line up, the walking out, and the funny noise I was making to try to emulate the sound of the fire alarm. No amount of coaxing, bribery, or other systems seem to help him to understand that he needed to move from his activity, to line up and to follow us out of the building.

Finally, one of the other boys, who had enough of the procedure training, looked at him and said, "Hey, get up and let's go! You don't want to ever be left behind in this dark room!"  With that he looked at me, then at the boy, got up and moved to the line. From the next two practices he did just fine.

I asked the other young man why he thought that his speech helped his friend move so quickly. "Oh," he said, "he's afraid of the dark. So when you turn out the lights to leave the room, he will always go with us."

I had forgotten that sometimes our boys and girls need to be motivated by something as simple as a light switch turning to "off" to indicate that we are done, we are leaving, and that you need to follow the rest of us out the door. From that point on, when we had a fire drill, we lined up, turn off the lights and left the building with everyone ready to go.  No one wanted to be left in the dark.