A Crayon's Point of View

The Day the Crayons Quit

           

            My students loved hearing The Day the Crayons Quit read aloud.  They also thoroughly enjoyed the short video from the books illustrator, Oliver Jeffers, and how he goes about his daily work as a picture book writer and illustrator.  The video led to some interesting forms of brainstorming.  For the first time I allowed my fourth graders to brainstorm by first drawing their picture.  They also had the option to work in the same way as Jeffers, and write their piece and draw their picture at the same time.  Many kids chose to brainstorm via drawing, and then were able to quickly write a letter from a crayon’s point of view.  A few students really liked another form of brainstorming that Oliver Jeffers discusses in his video – walking around with a notepad in hand to jot down ideas based on the world around them.  Others stuck to more traditional brainstorming methods such as quick notes, spider webs, lists, and short sentence outlining.  When I collected the papers, I also collected their brainstorming notes.  It is very interesting to look at the brainstorming and their letters side by side to see how they work through the entire writing process. 

           

            On Monday I will hand back the graded and edited drafts so the students can use their chosen crayon color to write their final copy and produce an illustration.  With it still being pretty early in the year I am mostly looking for ideas and staying on topic when it comes to grading their written work.  However, since we did a letter writing mini lesson earlier in the week when we wrote thank you letters to a student’s parent for adopting our class (donating) to our fundraiser earlier this month, I will also be grading to make sure they follow the guidelines for writing a letter.  The format of the letter will be a small portion of the grade, because I still want them to be working mainly on ideas, staying on topic, and writing coherently. 

           

            Once the students finish their final draft and illustration page, I will put all of their work in a binder that will be available in the class library for them to read during read to self time.  I will also take some time to share their writing and illustrations in a read aloud.  Before doing this I will ask to see if any students are uncomfortable with their work being read aloud.  If anyone doesn’t want me to read their page then I will just skip over it during the read aloud.  I am pondering even letting the students read their own pages of the book if they want.  If I choose to do this the students would have the option to have me read it for them or they could choose to not have their work read aloud at all. 

Looking Back and Ahead

           

            Monday will be the start of my second week having control of everything within the classroom.  The first week went over well, and the students didn’t seem to miss a beat transitioning to me teaching everything instead of just the subjects I had been teaching.  Going into the week my biggest concern for a subject was math.  I have always loved math personally, but had found it somewhat difficult to teach.  In previous field placements it was weird to me that a subject I understood so well was so difficult to teach.  When I reflected on my previous math teaching experiences I began to wonder if it was harder to teach because I understood it so well.  When I learned math concepts I usually picked them up quickly no matter how they were taught to me.  Now when I teach math I like to make sure I take some extra time in my planning to think about concepts that might be harder to grasp.  Within my math lessons I try to plan for teaching the same concepts in multiple ways, so each student has a chance to learn and completely understand the material.  My first week of having complete control of the math planning and teaching seemed to go over well, and we got through all of the material I had planned for, as well as some supplemental teaching methods for most topics.  I am glad I was able to teach the math lessons using multiple teaching practices. 

           

            As I look ahead to my next week, I see the student teaching experience going by so fast.  THERE ARE ONLY FIVE WEEKS LEFT!  I cannot believe it is going by this quickly.  While I am very excited to start my search for a career in the elementary education field I do not know how I will feel when it is over.  I know my education at Albion College has done an amazing job preparing me to have my own classroom, I am just not ready to say goodbye to my students.  So far the student teaching experience has been so rewarding and extremely reassuring that elementary education is the perfect career choice for me.  When it is over I am certain I will cry as the students leave for Thanksgiving Break.  I will have to make sure I come back to visit them when I have the chance (I have already talked to my mentor teacher about this, and she has assured me that she would love to have me visit when I can).  I will also be hoping my mentor takes a couple days off here and there (which is not very like her, as she does not take much, if any of her vacation/sick time) so I can be their substitute teacher.  I am ready to finish earning my teaching certificate, but I am not ready to leave my classroom.  I want to continue to watch these children grow throughout the year.  When I have my own class and teach all year, I know I will feel the same as summer approaches and they continue to the next grade – I will be proud of how they grew throughout the year having me as their teacher, but I will be sad to not see them every weekday morning.  Luckily when I have my own classroom my students – other than the ones that move – will remain in the same district so I will still be able to keep tabs on them, and if I am not teaching the final grade of their elementary schooling I will still be able to see them in the hallways.  With all that being said, I could not be happier with my decision to pursue a career in elementary education.  I want to make a difference in the lives of our youth and I can see almost no better way to do that than to be a teacher they can learn from and view as a positive role model.  

Taking over Everything

Taking Over

            Starting tomorrow I will be taking over complete control of the classroom for at least three weeks.  Before I started student teaching I thought this day would be a lot more nerve wrecking.  Surprisingly, I am quite calm.  There are a few things I am slightly worried about (I will get into that later on), but overall my mentor teacher has done a wonderful job preparing me for this next step toward the completion of my student teaching semester.  I’ve already been teaching most subjects on a daily basis.  Some of those lessons were ones I developed completely on my own, others were done with a little guidance from my mentor, and the rest were done similar to my substitute teaching experience – where I would be given a lesson and specific details on how to teach it, but still had to interpret the lesson plan on my own.  Having been in this classroom for seven weeks has me very comfortable with how to manage my students, and how to find ways to teach all of them. 

            I am very excited to have complete control of how to teach each lesson.  My mentor has given me ideas of how she would continue with each subject, but it is up to me to decide how I will plan and teach each lesson.  The guidance of how to carry on with each individual subject was a major relief.  My mentor could have just said, “On Monday it’s all up to you where you go.”  By giving me a little bit of guidance, it made me think this experience over the next few weeks will be similar to how I hope my first year of teaching in my own classroom will go.  For the first year (and certainly after that too – more like every year) in my own classroom it will be vital that I talk with my colleagues to learn how they use the school’s chosen curriculum.  We can then bounce ideas off of each other to come up with the best teaching practices and lessons to use in our own classrooms. 

            Students do not all learn the same, and not all teachers feel the same practices work for them or their students, so communicating and discussing with other teachers about teaching practices helps each teacher find what works for him/her and for his/her students that year.  Bouncing ideas off one another is one of my favorite ways to find the best strategies for anything in life, not just teaching.  Why work exponentially harder to figure something out on your own when you could utilize your resources (colleagues in your school, teachers you may know, friends and family, students, etc.)?  “Work smarter…not harder.” – Allan F. Mogensen

Most Anticipated Lesson Plan

            On Wednesday I will be reading a picture book titled, The Day the Crayons Quit.  This will actually be for a writing lesson.  We are still focusing on getting the students excited about writing, and this book is a way I think we can continue to do that.  The book consists of letters written to a crayon owner by each crayon on his box.  The letters state the reason the crayon is has decided to quit working for him.  After reading the story I am going to show the students this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KZu0X82l7k&feature=youtu.be. It is a short video from the author and illustrator, Oliver Jeffers.  He tells the viewers how he does his work as picture book writer and illustrator, and it is fascinating.  I will then have the students write their own story from a crayons perspective (I have yet to decide if their crayons will be quitting or saying why they love how they are being used).  Their stories will first be done in pencil, and then edited by each other, then re-edited by myself.  When they have their final draft they will write a letter in crayon and add illustrations.  I will then create a book with all of the crayon stories from my students.  The book will be kept in the class library for them to check out whenever they want.  I think using the different medium of handwriting (this time with a crayon), and writing for classroom publication will help generate excitement and enthusiasm for this piece.  I am hoping the excitement and enthusiasm will carry over into other writings they do throughout the year, and even throughout their lives. 

A few Areas of Concern

            The subject areas and lessons are a very important part of the next three weeks.  I think I have that area down pretty well, and I know where the class is headed in each subject so they are not an area I am currently worried about very much.  Remembering all of the little things that go into teaching a class on your own are what have me the most concerned.  Do I have all the copies I need for this lesson today?  How will I help absent students catch up the next day on all the important things they missed?  Did I scan that document correctly so I can use it on the projector?  Will I have time to grade everything and promptly get it back to my students so we can go over anything they might be confused about from the lesson?  Did I remember to write out the Common Core “I can…” statements on the board?  How will I adjust our schedule for an assembly?  There are so many little things to think about for each day as a teacher and I am looking forward to the challenge I will be facing.  These challenges remind me of Habit 2 of the “Five Habits of Mind”: To be curious, critically thinking risk-takers and problem-solvers.  I will have to constantly be curious and use my critical thinking skills in order to teach all of my lessons in the best way possible for my students. 

            As of right now I have my first week of plans all ready, the “I can…” statements on the chalkboard, I think I have all of the copies I need, everything that needs to be scanned for the projector has been scanned, and I think everything is in order for the first five days.  The thing I have definitely noticed throughout the past seven weeks is even though my mentor plans out each week before Monday, something always gets shifted for some reason.  I know I have to go with the flow and see how my students are doing with each lesson.  Sometimes I will be able to move forward quicker than I thought, and other times I will have to re-teach at least part of a lesson, in a new way, the following day so the students are able to completely understand it. 

Another WONDERful Week

Wonder 

I recently bought an “I read Wonder” shirt and I was so excited to wear it to school on casual Friday. 

The students were also excited when they saw what I was wearing.  They quickly started asking if we’d be reading any of the book today.  One student even added “you cannot wear an ‘I read Wonder’ shirt and not read any of the book to us today, Mr. Sharp.”  They were definitely right.  Wearing the “I read Wonder” shirt made me feel like it was necessary to take some time to read the wonderful book to my class.  Since the students worked so hard throughout the first week of the MEAP test my mentor and I decided that after lunch I would spend some extra time reading Wonder (30 minutes or so instead of the usual 10-15 minutes whenever I can find time to read it aloud).  During the time I was reading students were allowed to draw pictures about the book.  After I finished I had those who chose to draw hold their pictures up and I provided a positive comment to every student who drew a picture.  It was very interesting to see how they interpreted specific scenes of the story and to compare them with how their classmates and I saw it in our heads. 

MEAP

The MEAP test is not the most exciting time of the school year.  In fact, it is quite boring.  Once the test begins, teachers are only allowed to read the directions to the students, dismiss students to the bathroom, and hand out sharpened pencils.  We can’t read, organize our room, grade, or anything.  Which I guess makes a small amount of sense since it could be a distraction to the students taking the test, and it would be unfair as a teacher to distract them.  But that is not even what makes the MEAP test less than exciting.  The hardest part is that the students cannot do next to nothing once they finish their test.  All they can do is go back and check their answers on the current test, sit quietly, or put their head down.  These kids are 8-10 years old; sitting still is and silent for an extended period of time is one of the hardest possible things for many of them.  It does not make much sense to me.  As an educator I try to put a lot of emphasis on the importance of reading. What better time to read a book than when you cannot make noise in the classroom?  I just think that the people who decide on the rules for the MEAP test should lighten up a bit, and allow the kids to read.  It would help them be less disruptive, and it would help them learn at the same time.  Isn’t learning the point of going to school?  If the students were allowed to read they would be able to improve their reading comprehension, improve their reading fluency, learn about something knew, and it is very possible that a student that does not enjoy reading might finally pick a book they love and could potentially fall in love with reading at that very moment.   

Habit 3: To be perspective-takers, seeking out, valuing and incorporating different viewpoints and positions about learners, learning, teaching and subject matter

 

By giving my students the option to draw about the story when I was reading Wonder it gave students a way to quickly show how they see the story, as well as what they might be learning from the book.  When I read the novel aloud students are also always free to raise their hand and share something the story is making them think about.  They could share an event it reminds them of, something they have learned from the story, how the story makes them a better person, a comment on how they would feel in a situation the story is narrating, etc.  It is fun to learn what my students think about Wonder and to see how the story can have a very positive impact on how they interact with their peers. 

 

 

Hear us Roar!

“Awesome” Pep Talk

One day this past week my mentor teacher was out of the room for a meeting.  She had given me plans for what to do before taking the kids to their music class, but she figured she would be back before I had to pick the students up.  She wasn’t, and I didn’t know what she had planned for her reading lesson because it was going to be test taking practice/review that she wanted to do with the students while I observed.  So I just ad-libbed a reading lesson.

My ad-libbing began with a little pep talk.  My students are pretty well behaved in the hallway when we transition from one room to another.  However, on this day when I dropped off my students I saw a third grade class walking with their teacher, and these kids are always so quiet that the teacher didn’t even notice she had walked well ahead of them.  When I brought my students back to class I told them this story.  I also told them that the younger students shouldn’t be setting the example for how we walk in the hall, as fourth graders we need to be the role models for the students under us.  I truly think my students took this to heart because I could see immediate improvement in their hallway behavior.  I am very pleased that a quick pep talk about being leaders had such a quick and positive impact on my students. 

Following the being a leader pep talk I decided to praise my students with how awesome they are. I pointed to each individual, said their name and told them they are awesome.  We had a discussion about how we are awesome, and what we can do to be even more awesome.  We talked about how it isn’t just the students in our class that can be, and are awesome, but everyone in our school – from the students, to the teachers, to the staff and faculty, etc. – is also awesome.  The students all seemed to love this change of pace in their day, as a pep talk is not something we do often, if at all.  They also thoroughly enjoyed the praise they received just for being who they are. 

The best part about the pep talks was that I was genuine about everything I said. I know my students can be leaders and role models in many facets of school and life.  They are also all awesome people.  There are a plethora of reasons that make every person awesome.  As I continue working with my students it is great to see their awesome traits and abilities shine.  Next week I want to follow up my pep talk with this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-gQLqv9f4o.  I’ve already shown a Kid President video to my students, and I think this video will be a very inspiring video to back up my pep talk to them last week.  

Roar

The MEAP test begins on Tuesday.  The MEAP is not an exciting time for the students, nor is it exciting for the teachers.  There’s some prep we have done recently instead of our usual lessons.  The prep lessons are not as exciting.  These lessons do teach valuable skills and knowledge the students definitely need to have, but with focusing the prep on test taking it just seems to come off a little dry. 

To help remind the students of some important test taking practices one of the teachers created a video of tips to show during a kick-off assembly.  The video was set to the tune of “Roar” by Katy Perry, and had various tips such as “eat a healthy breakfast”, “get plenty of sleep”, “review your answers”, “take your time”, etc.  Along with the video a handful of teachers and student teachers choreographed a dance to go along with the song.  We dressed in all black, taped glowsticks to our clothes to create a glowstick stick figure, and we danced to the video.  The students LOVED it! It was so much fun.  When we got back to class we talked with the students, and they had actually watched the video and read the messages.  With MEAP not being the most entertaining time of the year for the students, it was awesome to do something fun for them, that would also help them remember important tips to use. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aMUgN0hZbY (I am the one in the very front, with the crazy headgear that breaks.)

 

Habit 5: To be morally, ethically-grounded deliberators, living and working with diverse individuals with integrity

 

I believe my pep talk about being awesome individuals goes very well with Habit 5.  Each student, and every person for that matter, is awesome in their own, individual way.  As a teacher it is important to find the awesomeness in each student, and to help each student use his/her awesomeness to better himself/herself.  It is hard to observe what each student can do well.  It also takes a lot of time.  By putting in the extra effort to find the positive traits of every student it will make for a much more productive school year, and will help each child grow tremendously.