You have to let them spill the food

This is a Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers. 

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.


_________

"If you want your child to learn to take his dishes to the sink after eating, 

you have to expect him to drop the plate, spill the milk, and slop the food, first."

Not sure this is the precise quote.
Not even sure who provided me this wisdom.
However, I find it profound.

This is how one becomes more competent - by making mistakes. I know this.

For me, it is the trickiest part of being a lead teacher, working alongside a beginning teacher. Mid-year, under our "gradual release" plan, my beginning teacher is taking the lead almost two full days a week - leading the children to and from the classroom, reading books aloud, planning centers activities and small groups, resolving children's conflicts, and more.

I am stepping back, as best I can,
reminding myself that

she's going to drop the plate,

and that's okay.

Think of all the 'rookie' mistakes we do as beginning teachers, learning to lead a class:

• doggedly follow lesson plans rather than shifting to meet what the student needs;
• under-plan lessons, and unsure what to do to fill the bonus time that remains;
• take a bathroom break even though a small crisis is brewing in the classroom; 
• gather materials for a lesson after the lesson has begun;
• begin reading a book before all the children are paying attention;
• become focused on one child at the expense of many others;
• lead lines down the hall and to the playground, oblivious to what is happening at the end of the line;
• talk at students rather than converse with students;
• miss opportunities to instigate children's engagement;
• unable or uncertain as to how to move away from one part of room in order to meet some unexpected need in another part of the room;
• solve children's conflicts for them rather than coach the children to listen to one another and resolve the issue themselves;
• become hyper-focused on all the negative behaviors that children are doing;
• get defensive when more is expected, because it feels as if you are already doing so much.

As lead teacher,
it is essential to see each of these (and many more) as the 'rookie' mistakes that they are,

with no malevolence intended.

I spend a lot of time trying to identify those 'chunks' that went well, to help her build on these. I remind myself that she simply cannot see the full picture yet, and, in time, she will.

It is important to let go, let mistakes happen, watch things fall apart, and trust that they can be put back together again.

It would definitely be easier to do it myself - but that is not the point, is it?

This is a huge challenge for me, staying patient as I coach the beginning teacher through these teachable moments. I want to be the calm voice that says, 

"I see you tried....next, you will...."

It is a work in progress.

Expect things to get a little messy

This is a Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers. 

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.





_________


My centers time is such a delightful mess.
Really.



I love how the children get deep into everything.

We need these and these and these.

We need this and this and this and this and this.

The children begin playing in one place and move on to another,

taking materials with them as they go,

dress ups to the blocks,

dolls to the writing center,

science materials to the dress ups,

around and around and around the room they go.

We need these and these and these.

We need this and this and this and this and this.

Twenty minutes into centers and the room is 

in total disarray

but there is a beautiful hum.

So many blocks,
let's build houses for ourselves,
let's build roads,
let's build an animal world,
let's make ramps,
let's play together.

We need these and these and these.

We need this and this and this and this and this.

Let's go off by ourselves

and make believe

I'll drive, and 

you be in the backseat with the baby

We'll go to the doctor's,

We should stop at the store and buy those.

We'll play together.

We need these and these and these.

We need this and this and this and this and this.

We need it all.

Let's play together.

What if we played basketball?

This is a Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers. 

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.


_________

My slice is basically two photos from today at school....

Our outdoor playtime was filled with cries of  "I'm too cold, Ms. Ingram!" and I decided to cut short our adventures outside. However, I knew the children needed more movement. Yes, we have entered the time of year when I am searching for ways to have gross motor play indoors.

I wondered if we could engineer a basketball hoop out of a cardboard box? I knew that we could use all the soft, small balls that we already have on hand for our balls and ramps exploration as our "basketballs." 

The children and I went to look for scrap cardboard in the Art room, and our wonderful Art teacher Ms. McNeil had the "insides" of a box that was just perfect. It had a large perforated circle design, because it once held something round (a new globe? a new saucepan? a ball?). 

There wasn't much to engineer. We simply taped around the edges and then duct-taped the box to the wall! So simple, so fast, so perfect. 

Children played 'basketball' throughout centers, getting so much exercise! Indoors! Back and forth they went, shooting baskets, running after balls, visiting another center to explore something different, racing back to play more basketball. Around and around and around.

My laugh of the morning - one little girl coming over to join me at the block center, throwing herself on the floor, and gasping the words, "Oh, I am just so tired from all that basketball!" A few minutes later, she was back shooting baskets.

Fun times!

Our first day back

This is a Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers. 

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.



______________________________

Happy New Year!
Let me share the things that made me smile on our first day back after winter break (which was yesterday) - how about 16 for 2016?

1. How much I fidgeted all night long, in anticipation, excited and nervous. Oh, how many times I looked at that clock! Why does this still happen to me after all these years of teaching?
2. Seeing the bright sun after two weeks of rain and clouds.
3. Finding uneaten chocolates in my teacher's cabinet at school.
4. My Teaching Resident sharing new pictures books she had found for the children - she was thinking like a teacher over break!
5. Big hugs and smiles from the children, happy to be back at school. 
6. Seeing families so, so, so happy to drop their children off after two weeks of togetherness - everyone with big smiles. Routine is great for all of us, no matter what our ages.
7. Watching individual kids find their friends and start playing. How excited the children were to be back together in their classroom!
8. The children laughing at my improvised "Happy New Year" song to the Happy Birthday tune, squealing "That's not how it goes!"
9. Hearing everyone's favorite memory from winter break (perhaps my favorite - one little boy said 'Mac and Cheese'. Loved it!)
10. Making a big batch of purple gak with delighted children
11. Both the Art teacher and I forgetting who was in each Art group - and me having no recall of where I kept the list. Mush for brains after two weeks away!
12. Building many block homes for toy animals
13. Children creating dress-ups from our cloth collection, making capes, dresses, head coverings, more
14. Reading Peter and the Wolf to a captive audience of preschoolers 
15. The children jumping and running in the leaves alongside the playground. 
16. Children wrestling in the leaves despite the cold!

Wrestling in the leaves

Lots of running and jumping

Happy New Year!