SOLSC 2015 #31: Do you make space?

Happy last day of the writing challenge!! Each day during March, I participated in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). My slices are primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers  website for lots more reflections on teaching.

Kudos to all the slicers this month! We did it! I have loved reading your blogs!

Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge!

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I apologize for the huge unevenness of this daily blogging. 

I realize now - 

the very habit of writing, 

leads not to perfection but to ease. 

This was my fourth year of this writing challenge, and all my butterflies were gone - 

I always knew there was something that I could write about, I knew I would post each day.

The habit of writing makes it easier to do.

While I am proud of some of my posts, 

many seemed anemic, dull, and perhaps even "stuck." 

I know my writing is far, far from perfect - 

I dared to share it with you blemishes and all. 

Here, at month's end, I am tired. But, I am not out of ideas. I feel myself still wrestling with some topics - how might I write about these?

This daily blogging has shown me the essentialness of making space to write. 

To celebrate day 31, 

let me share a moment about this very thing, 

the beauty of making space....

Each and every day, she slips over to the writing table, and works on her drawing and writing. 

As the days have slipped by, one after another, this school year,

I've watched her begin to form the letters of her name, 

to work with stencils and then move on to draw freehand, 

to make only simple shapes and soon begin adding so many more details, 

to use only a small portion of the page and now work steadily to fill it.

She knows instinctively how to be a writer.

What do I see?

patience,

steadfastness,

repetition,

imagination,

happiness,

glow,

expectance,

perseverance,

risk,

joy,

variety, 

solitude,

engagement,

dailyness,

inspiration,

tenacity,

habit.

For me, 

she is a muse. 

SOLSC 2015 #30: Have you filled a bucket?

Each day during March, I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers  website for lots more reflections on teaching. Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge. 

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I am thinking about how hard it is to speak in positives,

to note what is going well,

to emphasize what is right and good.

In light of last week's oh so difficult day, we've been on a "gentle and loving" binge in my classroom…I am enthusiastically noting every behavior that I want repeated...

To help us in this renewed quest - to help us get back on the right track - we read the awesome book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud.

We had a large glass jar at the ready at the front of our classroom and all morning we added dominoes to this jar, to show the love and caring that was happening. There were so many great deeds! Children inviting others to play, sharing toys, using kind voices, being gentle with their hands, helping to clean up…on and on…yes, the jar was overflowing.

However, sometimes I felt as if it was only me that could see the kindness. All morning, children would come up to me and say "So and so is emptying my bucket…he/she just did blah blah blah"

To which I would say -

"What loving and kind things do you want him/her to do?"

And children would stammer,

"But she, but she, but she...ah, ah, ah…"

They couldn't get themselves out of the negative trap.

How negative are the voices in their lives normally? How negatively do I speak to them normally? It was a real challenge today to turn that around…it is so easy and so instinctive for us to note what is wrong!

Just for today, just for today, just for today…and start again every tomorrow...

Accentuate the Positive

You've got to accentuate the positive

eliminate the negative, 

latch on to the affirmative,  

but don't mess with mister in-between

SOLSC 2015 #29: Can you build off of that?

Each day during March, I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers  website for lots more reflections on teaching. Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge. 

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My husband and I had a new adventure last night, attending a comedy improv competition. My colleague Ben has been taking regular classes through Washington Improv Theater and we were there to cheer him on! What a fun night! 

Wow, it takes guts to do this - to stand up in front of people and follow their cue, build on what they throw your way, and keep the humor coming fast. Yes, this is thinking 'on the spot'. Do their minds ever go blank (like my mind does sometimes!)? How do they plan for this? I sure didn't see any lapses, any frozen moments. So many fun little skits, one rapidly changing scene after another. Who is changing the scene? How do they know when to change the scene? How do they know the joke is over, enough has been said? 

I know he rehearsed with his team regularly before the competition; I'm sure that they had certain aspects of their fun routine "at the ready." 

I never get to see Ben teach - but I have no doubt that this extracurricular work embellishes his teaching...can't you see the parallels? Each and every day, we deal with the unexpected. Children, parents, colleagues, administrators throwing all sorts of unexpected things our way. Often, we have very little time to process before we begin to build on it.

Ben's comedy group advanced to round 3! The competition continues! Congrats, Ben! 

SOLSC 2015 #28: Why is it called the art of teaching?

Each day during March, I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers  website for lots more reflections on teaching. Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge. 

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Since September,

trying to help a child...

You see the growth that is needed,

how to ensure that it does?

Observe,

write things down

reflect,

speak with the child,

speak with the family,

identify what needs to be changed,

set a specific goal,

work on it directly,

intentionally change certain things, 

seek insight from colleagues,

let others observe,

tweak the environment so that success is inevitable, 

build a stronger relationship with the child,

foster trust,

build your relationship with the family,

help your team to see what you are seeing,

ask for input and suggestions,

hear feedback,

make a new plan,

reflect,

eliminate the obvious mis-steps, 

apologize when necessary,

wonder about the child,

build on strengths - the child's, yours, the teaching team, the family's

modify routines,

plan interactions with peers,

write up new plans,

increase communication,

soften your approach,

back off,

be patient,

try a little less of this,

try a little more of that,

do background research, 

find out more about it,

seek experts' advice and insight,

reflect,

work to make progress inevitable,

give the goal lots of attention,

ignore the goal,

seek the harmony of the middle,

all the while staying focused on the goal,

note the small successes, 

the incremental steps forward

repeat what works well,

keep faith in the child.

When you find yourself a little sad from the seeming lack of progress, remember those adages - 

This is why it is called the art of teaching

When the student is ready the teacher is there.

Never believe you are the last one to teach a child something.

Know that the child has her own timeline, 

the child decides,

you set up the environment,

you create her world,

making success more likely,

however,

ultimately,

the child decides.

Make peace with the possibility that you may not see growth this year.

Magically, yesterday, a huge step forward.

Progress.

It just happened.

I worked very hard to make it seem ordinary, to take it in stride.

My Teaching Assistant looked at me and said, 

"You didn't imagine it. It happened. I saw it, too. Awesome."

Ah, but we do ourselves a big disservice when we call it 'magic.'

or to say, simply,

'we were waiting for this.'

There were many, many, many small and important efforts that went into this, 

and must continue,

if this single step becomes the way forward for this child.

"So many things are done easily the moment you can do them at all.  But till then, simply impossible, like learning to swim.  There are months during which no efforts will keep you up; then comes the day and hour and minute after which, and ever after, it becomes impossible to sink.
"

C. S. Lewis 

SOLSC 2015 #27: Is it barometric pressure?

Each day during March, I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers  website for lots more reflections on teaching. Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge. 

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I am really not sure what happened. 

I blame fluctuations in the barometric pressure, as our outdoor recess was drowned out unexpectedly by pouring rain while the outside temperature rose to nearly 70, after many chilly days of winter coats. 

I am really not sure what happened.

No one got along.

We had a long, tortuous morning together,

Centers full of acrimony, an indoor recess with the large blue foam blocks that hurt my ears and made my heart sad...and we returned to our classroom for read-aloud.

"Before I begin reading, I want to see a show of hands for those who had something sad or unkind happen to them today...let's share what happened, one at a time."

And I recorded their list - and added a few of my own, asking certain children to speak up and share their sad story. 

Oh, it was ugly!

He knocked my tower down!

She said I couldn't play with her!

He drew on my clothes! 

She took my necklaces from me!

He said mean things!

She grabbed the blocks I was cleaning up!

He said I don't know how to draw!

She wouldn't give me any Magna Tiles!

He took the dice!

She said I was not her friend anymore!

He screamed in my face!

She hit me!

When it seemed as if we were beginning to hear the same sad stories over and over, I called a halt to the list and said - 

"I think we are all having many of the same sad problems, today. I am very sad, because none of these things - these behaviors - are in the Big Cats' tradition. Here, in the Big Cats, we are kind and gentle with one another. 

Let's look again at each of these things and see if we can find a kinder thing to do in its place, something we wish we had happened..."

One by one, we realized we should -

• ask if we can knock something over.
• say kind things.
• draw with markers on paper.
• gentle with other people's things.
• be kind and gentle with one another
• say "May I have that when you are done?"
• be kind and gentle with one another
• share toys with one another
• be kind and gentle with our voices
• be kind and gentle with our bodies 
• be kind and gentle with one another.

Really, that is the only rule we need to remember -

We are kind and gentle with one another.

It took a long time to have this heartfelt, emotional discussion. Much to the children's surprise I said that we had run out of time for a read-aloud before lunch...instead, we'd go right to lunch and make this a special "do over" time by talking at our tables about -

what kind and gentle things happened today?

what kind and gentle things would we do tomorrow?

In this way, we began to turn our day around.