Posts Tagged ‘school’

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The First Week of School: A Teacher’s Perspective

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

I have a confession to make.  I love the start of school.  I have been teaching for over 12 years now and still it gets me excited.  Trust me – the only thing that tops the first week of school is Christmas.

One of the great things about teaching is that every day you have a clean slate.  A chance to take stock of what went well and what went badly and make a plan to do better and be better for the students.  April touched on this in her post “I care too much to get involved”

The first day of school is really about New Beginnings and I want to jump straight in and get to know my class.  I spend a lot of time facilitating discussions between the students and some time is spent completing specific tasks.

I don’t spend much time teaching ‘curriculum’ during those first couple of days.  It is more important for me to see how the new group works together. I also want to know how the students listen and complete my instructions.  I spend time teaching my students the routines and expectations in my classroom.  This involves plenty of discussions, modelling of expectations and practice.

Photo by:  Phoney Nickle

From the class perspective, this is incredibly successful.  Within a couple of days, we are working as a team.  The students know what they can expect from me and I know what they are capable of achieving.

But from the parents point of view, this first week can be confusing.  Some parents want to see ‘stuff’.  They want to see homework or exercise books already filled with notes and answers.  I do send home information packs and notes explaining what I am trying to achieve in the first few days, but still parents are concerned.

I get that!  Some parents probably think that this strategy sets the tone for the rest of the school year in a negative way. They believe that from the first day of school, I encourage play and fun rather than rigorous learning.

I believe that by putting in the time at the beginning of the school year to get my class working and supporting each other, I can create a better working culture in the classroom.  I know that by implementing good work habits from the beginning, students will then apply them throughout the year.

So if you hear your child come home from school in the first couple of days saying that they are hardly doing any work, don’t be alarmed.  The teacher is doing plenty of teaching!  He or she is just preparing the class for the year ahead.

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Posted in Ainslie Hunter | 10 Comments »

Would you want your child to become a teacher?

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

I have 2 kids and will soon have a third. I was talking to another friend of mine about what we want our kids to become when they grow up. In India, Engineer, Doctor, or lawyer are popular choices. Now it has shifted to computers, coding, etc. In my previous post, The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I talked about my family background and the abundance of teachers. Teachers are, for the most part, respected. I remember getting up when the teacher entered the class to wish them and thanking him/her when he/she left.

Fast forward, 20 years later (I think its 20, if its more, I don’t want to think about it!), I am very happy to find myself back in Education and affecting change. As my friend and I were talking, I began to wonder if I’d like my children to become teachers.

I was very surprised to find myself really thinking hard about it! Perhaps because I know too much? This should have been an easy answer.

Pros:

  • It is an extremely satisfying job. At the end of the day, when you see a student succeed and move past their limit, it is a proud moment.
  • You only have to work 9 months out of a year.
  • It is fun to interact with children.

Cons:

  • With the current resource and budget cuts, it is harder for a teacher to do their jobs.
  • The pay is not good.
  • Even though it seems you have work only 9 months out of a year, a teacher’s work never ends. You’re always working on the next lesson plan, grading, etc.
  • Lack of professional development and the ability to move things forward. Due to resource cut backs, professional development has been another area that has been hit.
  • There is a lot of stress. As a teacher, one has to balance a lot of expectations.

I am sure there are more pros that I can think of right now. It seems like the negatives outweigh the positives for a teacher. If, purely based on my very rudimentary analysis, one were to arrive at a conclusion, it would be that as a parent, we would not like our kids to become a teacher. I have a lot of friends that are educators, my family is in Education. Why is it though that on paper the prospects for the job are dismal?

I look forward to our #PTChat tomorrow at 9 p.m. EST and hope to add more Pros.

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Image Credit: http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/11/16-22/teacher.jpg

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Posted in Aparna Vashisht, Parent Perspectives | 3 Comments »

In Pursuit of Order

Friday, July 16th, 2010

I have a confession to make. My daughter is more organized than me. How can that be? She is not even 3.

Was I just lucky enough to get a daughter like this or have I somehow trained her?

I doubt it! It has very little to do with me. You see she goes to a Montessori Day Care Centre where a sense of order and structure is very important.

Sensitive period for order starts from birth and peaks at 18 months to 2.5 years and prolongs to age five. This is characterized by a desire for consistency and repetition. There exists a passionate love for established routines and is when a child may seem disturbed by disorder. The “terrible twos” are often exaggerated reactions to small disruptions in order that is not perceived by adults. The environment therefore must be carefully ordered with a place for everything and with carefully established ground rules. It is also important to have external order as order in their environment where there is an appropriate place for everything as this helps the child also establish their internal order.

Daily Montessori

My daughter thrives in the Montessori environment because of her intense need for structure and routine. In fact, she has been known to ‘take the class’ of 16 toddlers and repeat the morning routine to the entire class from the morning song to the story to the music lesson. She feels safe because she knows what is going to happen next. The same happens at home and at her Grandparents Farm. She can feel comfortable in every activity because of the established routine.

Image credit: horizontal.integration

But as a parent sometimes this need for routine is painful. Because my husband and I don’t realise we have even established a routine.

Example : As a joke my husband stepped on Dusty’s towel on the way to the shower. She thought it was great fun so asked him to do it again the next night. Bam! New shower routine was created without us realising. It took about 2 weeks to break this ‘routine’.

From the time Dusty wakes up until she goes to bed she experiences constant routines. We as a family have created routines and order for so many activities – the way we brush her teeth, how we get her lunch ready, the way we say goodbye, the afternoon routine and the bed routine. And those routines help us function successfully as a family. They help her feel safe and also develop her independence.

Summer holidays are great! A chance to unwind and relax and forget all about the hustle and bustle of getting ready for school, and rushing home to get dinner started and homework completed. But all children, not just toddlers, need a sense of order and routine.

So when you start thinking about buying new school supplies and new school clothes also think about what routines need to be put in place so your children, or students, have a successful start to the year.

By Ainslie Hunter. For more information on choosing pre-schools, see How to Choose a Pre-School.

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Posted in Ainslie Hunter, Schools, pre-schools | 3 Comments »

A Wish for Single Moms

Monday, May 10th, 2010
 
My wish for every single mother is to be treated with respect and less judgment throughout the year, especially at school.
 
When my youngest was in kindergarten, I took my daughter to a classmate’s birthday party. Other than a brief “hello” introduction to a few parents, I was left completely alone for hours. I was not part of any clique. I wasn’t a mom who got to know the other moms because I worked and couldn’t participate in the morning “read to your kids” activity. I was an outcast, and I felt like one.
 
I wish that no single mom has to ever feel that way again.
 
I wish that no teacher tells a single mom, “your child was SO disappointed you didn’t come to [fill in the blank school event].” I’ve missed one event in my oldest daughter’s 9 years of school. She has never forgotten it, I have never forgotten it. I don’t need anyone to tell me to feel guilty about it; I already do.
 
I wish that no teacher tries to make a single mom feel guilty, but rather reassures our children that we absolutely love them, and they are absolutely worthy of our love; sometimes, things just don’t work out the way we want.
I wish that TV shows and films would stop portraying single moms as unfit mothers, either because of substance abuse or loneliness. I wish that the focus of every single mom character wasn’t about finding a husband/male role model substitute for our children. I wish that “single” didn’t mean that we are somehow un-whole people in the eyes of popular culture.
 
I wish that married moms would stop using the phrase “single parent” to describe the few days that their husband is out of town on business. Single parent often means there is no partner, co-parenting or otherwise; many single moms have been doing it alone since conception/adoption/in-vitro. Single parenting means that you are the sole decision-maker for absolutely everything; from bedtime to discipline to balancing the checkbook. It’s not just about having another body there to help with dinner or homework, it’s about having the sole responsibility of raising these human beings.
 
Single parenting is also about the joy of parenting, and the singular pride in knowing you’ve done it all alone. No child is perfect, ours aren’t either, but that doesn’t necessarily mean my children need pity, either. They are wiser than their years in some ways, but in others, they find just as much happiness in running across a field as any child. My wish for single moms is that their children are appreciated and loved for being exactly who they are.
 

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Posted in April McCaffery, Parent Perspectives | No Comments »

Are Kids Bored in Schools?

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

 

One of the saddest parts of my job as an educator is seeing a student who is bored with school, because this means they are usually bored with learning. Many parents are familiar with the tantrum, "I don't want to go to school!" or are familiar with their children pretending to be sick to miss school. Unfortunately, in schools around the world many children experience a teaching method called drilling. This is where the student is drilled with facts and later grilled for the answers. No one really learns effectively through this method. Instead, schools should aim to engage students and motivate children to become lifelong learners. How does a school effectively do this?

This past Wednesday on the #PTCHAT educators, parents, principals, and other stakeholders gathered to discuss how to help kids enjoy learning. Dr. Richard Selznick, @DrSelz, a child psychologist and author of The Shut Down Learner – Helping Your Academically Discouraged Child joined us. Dr. Selznick was kind enough to give away two copies of this book to participants.


Image provided by www.wordle.net

Here were some of the great ideas shared:

Parentella: Welcome everyone to #ptchat tonight!We're being joined by @DrSelz, author of "The Shutdown Learner" www.shutdownlearner.com
musingsfromme: @Parentella My oldest once complained that she was tired of learning abt butterflies, frogs each year.
inspired_clsrm: I'd like to think that we teachers do our best not to allow that to happen – hands on, being creative, that's what it's really about
KerryHawk02: What it comes to preventing student boredom: engagement? OR entertainment? We are educators, not entertainers.
DrSelz: right, I think we should watch trap of thinking school should always be fun and entertaining. it puts too much pressure on teachers.
mbcampbell360: @Parentella I feel that school will be boring as long as we teach to a set curriculum. Need to allow students room to explore interests
Parentella: @KerryHawk02 Why not both? Can learning not also be entertaining?
fiteach: It is sad to say, but it is hard to keep all kids engaged all the time, especially with so many different needs and learning styles.
cybraryman1: Parents and teachers have to work together to motivate their children/students
DrSelz: One of my big complaints is the overuse of deadening worksheets. I see kids drowning in them.
inspired_clsrm: @DrSelz I can see that. I am amazed at how much paper is used in classrooms. (I am guilty sometimes.) busy work – yuck
mjgormans: The more ownership in education we give to students, the more engagement, less boredom… STEM PBL good tools
tonnet: I'd love to hear your answers, speaking as a parent. RT @KerryHawk02 What is the role of parents in preventing boredom?
ADDSarah: @KerryHawk02 if nothing else, parents can advocate to child's teachers that a child is not challenged in class.
DrSelz: I think part of the issue is that kids are getting bombarded by entertainment. everything else seems "boring" to them."
DrSelz: @KerryHawk02 By "junk" I mean worksheet after worksheet that is over their heads and means nothing to them.
mswhatsyourname: I've seen plenty of bored children in classrooms lately. The culprit? Nothing but worksheets.
judiehaynes: Many times parents will tell teacher that their child is "bored" and that's why he is not doing the work.
ibeemi: @cybraryman1 Unfortunately teachers are pressured by standardized testing etc. that it takes away from how they should be teaching.
graingered: Worksheets don't grow dendrites- Marcia Tate… the definitive word on uselessness of worksheets
Parentella: Have you ever asked YOUR students for feedback? Asked for suggestions to make the courses "better"?
teachingwthsoul: I have two boys. They were frequently bored in school. Both are gifted. There teachers struggled to keep them engaged
ashmountain: Co-op learning strategies where the teacher is more of a facilitator & kids are motivatd & accountable are great. Takes teaching & practising processes
DrSelz: zone of proximal development being mentioned is very important. Not enough talking about independent, instruction, and frustration levels.
mswhatsyourname: I've also noticed a lot of absolute silence in classrooms. Whatever happened to discussion?
readtoday: @KerryHawk02 I completely agree. Blogging is a very nice introduction to web-based technologies
DrSelz: I have to run, but I want to thank everyone for making this a very stimulating conversation!! No boredom here!!!
 

Parentella was created to solve the issue of parent and educator communication at elementary, middle school and high school levels. As part of this mission, we are hosting weekly #PTCHAT discussions to encourage a productive dialogue between parents and educators. We hope you will join us Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST.


You may also want to join Parentella on Facebook to keep updated.  We invite you to propose questions for the next topic on March 17th. View the entire transcript here.


If you are new to following hashtag discussions, you may want to check out this video tutorial on using Tweetdeck for hashtag discussions.


by Shelly Terrell

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Posted in PTChat/EdChat, Shelly Terrell | No Comments »

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