The Median Sib

Being a teacher is an evolving process. Throughout each school year, each day and each lesson teachers change as they determine what is working, what is not working, what strategy needs tweaking here, and what practice needs a different twist there. In making changes, I’ve found that it’s best to start with one or two changes, give myself time to learn them well and fine-tune them, and then add another component. That keeps the changes manageable and gives me time to make the new skills or methods my own.

Two years ago, in my last year as a classroom teacher, I made the resolution that I would read aloud to my fifth graders every day - regardless of how much content I had to cover, regardless of any other responsibilities and activities. I put the read-aloud time in my schedule, and I stuck to it without fail. Some might feel that children of that age are too old for read alouds. I learned differently when I was taking a grad course in reading. Our professor read aloud to us at the beginning of every class session (Thanks, Dr. Bertrand at MTSU), and we’d get so involved in the story that we’d plead with her to read another chapter before getting into the lecture for the day (Well, maybe postponing the lecture was a factor in our desire for hearing more of the story, too.) That was a couple years ago, and I was in my fifties. You just don’t get too old for read-alouds!

Over the course of that last year with my fifth graders, I read aloud dozens of books - Frindle, The Tale of Despereaux, The Sixth Grade Nickname Game, The Lion’s Paw, Edward the Emu, Pink and Say, to name a few. Some books took us two or three weeks to finish, and sometimes I’d read a picture book that we’d finish in one day. The children looked forward to the read aloud time, and so did I. I didn’t question them about the text, but I encouraged the children to ask their own questions as we discussed each book.

My students’ TCAP reading scores improved that year. How much did the read-aloud time affect their scores? I don’t know. There’s no way to measure it. I worked very hard in other ways, too. However, I believe that reading aloud to my students each day had a positive impact on their interest in and enjoyment of reading. And I believe that positive impact ultimately improved their test scores. Improving test scores wasn’t my goal, though. (Shhhh! Don’t tell that to the head honchos of the school system!) I wanted my students to learn to love books and reading as much as I do.

The current school year is my second as a reading specialist. Last year was my “adjusting to a new job” year. For me, it was a new school, a new faculty, a new community, and new children. I worked at developing a good relationship with the faculty, learning about the school and community and getting to know the children. It was a good year, and I felt I made a positive difference in reading achievement.

At the beginning of the current school year, I selected two resolutions for my work with children: (1) I would read aloud to each of my reading groups each day - something for the pure enjoyment of listening to great literature; and (2) Each child would keep a journal that he/she would have time to write in during class, and I would write a response to each entry.

So how’s it going with my two resolutions? So far, so good. I work both with groups of struggling readers and groups of high achievers. Children from both groups look forward to reading the comments I’ve written in their journals, and as time has passed, many have begun writing more and more to me. Occasionally I suggest topics or questions they can address in their journals, but most of the time the children write about their weekend or about their pets or their families, sometimes they want to share something good, exciting, or sad that has happened to them - just whatever is on their minds at the time. My written responses are always directed at the content of what they’ve written - not about spelling or grammar or other such things. We deal with that at other times.

The read-aloud time is working out well, too. I have several thousand of my own books in my classroom (Yes, it’s true - that’s not a typo! I single-handedly support at least one Barnes and Noble employee!), and the children I work with can check out 3 - 5 books at a time from me. Children are starting to recommend books for the read aloud, and they’re beginning to request that I re-read their favorites. I select books that lend themselves to whatever the lesson is about that day, but the primary criteria for the read-aloud is that the book is quality literature.

There are other changes I’m working on to improve my teaching. However, those are my two primary ones - the ones that are do-or-die - for this school year. At the end of the year, I’ll check my students’ reading scores on the various assessments. Will my students experience dramatic growth? I don’t know. I can already determine that these two changes have enhanced the children’s enjoyment of reading and writing, and consequently their enjoyment of school. And that’s my ultimate goal.

My brother, Terrell, has started a blog, Alone on a Limb. He came up with the name for his blog because he’s the sole Democrat in a family of Republicans. We love him anyway. Actually, his heartfelt beliefs and his perseverance in sticking to what he believes are part of why I’ve always admired and looked up to him. I learned a long time ago, though, not to discuss politics with him. No good can come out of that! Despite his leftist leanings, his blog is great reading, and I’m thrilled to add another “must-read” to my list of blogs.

My mother’s blog, Ruthlace, is another one I check every day. She has started writing about her memories of growing up in the 1930’s. I LOVE reading about her life during that time.

Because there are a number of teachers who read The Median Sib regularly, I will share excellent education related blogs whenever I find them. Tonight, as a wind-down from Thanksgiving festivities, I surfed through some blogs and found some gems.

I found Jenny D., who is a doctoral candidate in education and public policy. One post, It’s About Teaching Teachers, compared Japanese teacher preparation and training with that of American teachers. Although professional learning is a priority with my particular school system, it is not as high a priority as it apparently is in Japan.

Jenny D. also discusses progress on her dissertation - something that makes me particularly envious since I got sidetracked at the beginning of my dissertation and wasn’t able to get back to it until too many years had gone by for my courses to count. I completed all the coursework, the written and oral qualifying exams…even the first chapter . . .but no dissertation. I dislike being an ABD, but I can’t re-write my history.

Following a link in Jenny D.’s blog, I found (a)musings of a grad student by Rebecca Goetz, a doctoral candidate at Harvard. She had an article, “Do Not Fear The Blog” in The Chronicle of Higher Education that was particularly interesting to me. I liked her use of the word “metablogging.” It’s great reading for anyone who likes to metablog…and since I think and ponder and re-think everything I do connected with my blog, I definitely metablog!

Rebecca’s blog led me to New Kid On The Hallway, which led me to two ABD blogs. Since I have no plausible means of getting out of being an ABD without starting all over (something that’s not appealing at the age of 56), the titles of these two blogs caught my eye - ABD: Almost Bloody Done and ABD Mom. I enjoyed them both and will return often to keep up with their progress.

I was about to click back to my blog from ABD Mom, when Eating An Elephant caught my eye in the blogroll. I knew what it was about before I even looked at the blog. I clicked on over to look at it and found a whole LIST of ABD blogs.

So my reading is determined for the next few days. I’ll read all the ABD stuff and feel envious and will look at various schools again to see if I can’t convince someone to accept at least SOME of my 11-year old credits. But they won’t - because I’ve already tried, and I just don’t have the heart to start all over on it. I’ll enjoy, though, reading about the struggles and triumphs of other doctoral candidates.

This evening I got a phone call from my daughter, Stinkeroo, who was en route from Tennessee to Georgia to visit with her in-laws for Thanksgiving. She was traveling by herself with Sweet Stuff and Sunshine because my son-in-law had to stay later for work. He was about three hours behind them on the trip. Near Birmingham the traffic on the interstate came to a standstill. About that time Sunshine started complaining of a stomach ache. During our phone conversation, Sunshine started throwing up, and the phone call ended. They were stuck in traffic that wasn’t moving at all, the next exit was over two miles away, it was dark, and the two year-old was vomiting repeatedly in the back seat. Not a good situation. I awaited anxiously for a call telling me everything was okay.

About 20 minutes later my phone rang again. “Mom, don’t hang up the phone. I’m at an awful gas station - it’s the only one here, and I’m trying to get the kids cleaned up, and it’s dark and spooky here. I’m going to put the phone down, but don’t hang up!” Then she set the phone down. Minutes passed. It was a bad connection. I heard a few seconds of the children and my daughter talking - loudly, and then a few seconds of silence. Noise. Silence. Noise. Silence.

She was back on the phone. “Are you still there?” Yes, I’m still there. “Keep holding on. I’m setting the phone down again.” I stayed on the line, but after a few minutes the signal was lost. I called back - no answer. I was outside (to hopefully get a better signal) pacing up and down the driveway.

Stinkeroo is 30 years old. She’s mature and responsible and I have enormous confidence in her. But she was by herself with two children, one of whom was throwing up and they were in an area of Birmingham that she described as spooky. I didn’t even know WHAT area of Birmingham. If I needed to contact someone to help her, my only information was that she was at a “spooky” gas station right off I-65 near Birmingham. My heart was pounding.

Everything ended all right. She got the girls cleaned up enough to get back in the car and travel the remaining three hours to their destination. However, the experience reminded me yet again that parents never stop parenting. Stinkeroo may be a grown-up, but she’s still my little girl.

An education/teaching website that I’ve found that I really enjoy and learn from is The Education Wonks. Each week the site hosts the Carnival of Education where educators can submit education related posts for consideration. It’s a great way to keep informed about the opinions, thoughts and ideas of other educators. After reading through the entries for this week’s Carnival, I feel encouraged that others feel the way I do, I learned more about why others might feel differently, and I also feel challenged by some new thinking.

I just discovered that Beth has started a new blog, Merry Merry Christmas. I LOVE IT! Beth started off her blog discussing the issue of separation of church and state and how that is being misinterpreted for Christmas and other holidays (Note: the word holiday came from HOLY day, as Ruth just told me!)

I read an article about the consequences of NCLB in The Super’s Blog. It provides a to-the-point example of what’s happening in today’s schools.

Sweet Stuff and Sunshine spent the night with me Saturday so their mom and dad could celebrate the anniversary of their first date. Some people will celebrate anything to get a free night to go out to dinner and get grandma to babysit. I’m just kidding because that’s not true. I called and asked to babysit because I love being with the girls. It is so heart-warming and gratifying to me for them to walk in my door and come running to hug me and then to hurry their parents out the door so they can start their evening with Grandma Carol. I love it!

We did all the grandmother-granddaughter things like water painting, playing with blocks, doing puzzles, reading books, and then snuggling up with their special fleece blankets on the sofa and watching Dora the Explorer and Roly Poly Olie with a bowl of popcorn.

Bedtime came, and I gave them their baths and got them into their pajamas. I keep a jar of “Udderly Smooth Udder Cream” next to my bed to put on my hands each night before I go to sleep. The girls love that stuff! Everytime they visit, they head straight to my bedside table to get some of the cream for their hands. We have almost a ritual for after they’ve had baths at my house. After bathing, they love to very seriously smooth the udder cream on their arms and legs. The more, the better.

Once they were satisfied with the amount of lotion they had rubbed on themselves, I tucked them into their sleeping bags on the floor next to my bed. Alas, they weren’t ready for bed. Giggles, talking, requests for some milk.

So we got up, had some ice cream and read some more books. Finally they wound down and were tired. I tucked them into their sleeping bags again. Sunshine snuggled into her Wiggles sleeping bag with her favorie toy Ducky, and Sweet Stuff into her Dora the Explorer sleeping bag with her Cabbie. We said a bedtime prayer, I turned out the light, got into bed, and said goodnight. Less than a minute passed. Sunshine was standing beside my bed.

“You want to sleep up here?” I asked. She nodded. I lifted her up and put her in bed next to me. She immediately curled up beside me.

Quickly, Sweet Stuff was in the bed with us, too. There is nothing quite as sweet as the soft cuddliness of two precious little girls. Within two minutes they were both sound asleep. I just lay there and smiled at the perfect tenderness of the moment. I am pleased that they are secure enough with me that they can let their mom and dad leave and have a good time staying with me.

They remained in my bed for awhile, but after an hour or so (when I knew they were sound asleep), I picked each of them up in turn and put them back in their sleeping bags. Despite their sweetness, I knew I couldn’t sleep well with them in the bed with me.

Early the next morning they awakened. I made waffles for Sweet Stuff and pancakes for Sunshine. We got dressed and played until their mommy and daddy arrived.

It was simply a perfect grandma-granddaughter time, and I thank God for times like that.

Sunday evening before I went to bed, I opened my jar of Udderly Smooth and saw the numerous little indentations in the surface of the cream where their small fingers had dipped repeatedly into the jar the night before, and I just smiled. Life doesn’t get any better.

This was sent to me by my friend Peggy in Louisiana. Hope you enjoy it.

‘Twas the Night Before Katrina (cajun style)

‘Twas de night before Katrina, when all tru da state
Not a gas pump was pumpin’, Not a store open late
All da plywood was hung on de windows wit care
Knowing dat a hurricane, Soon would be dere
Da chilren were ready wit deir flashlight in hand
While rain bands from da hurricane covered over our lan
And Mom wit her Mag-lite, and me wit my cap
Has jus filled da battub for flushing our crap
When out on de lawn, there arose such a clatter
I sprang from da closet to see what was de matter
The trees on da terrace, and de neighbor’s roof torn
We feared we’d be dyin’ in dis terrible storm
Wit a little wind gus, so lively and quick
I membered quite clearly our walls was not brick
More rapid than Eagles, her courses they changed!
And she whistled and wafted and surged all the same.
Off shingles! Off sidings! Off rooftops! Off power!
Down trees! Down fences! Down trailers! Down towers!
On da street of New Orleans, she continued to maul,
Screaming Blow away! Blow away! Blow away all!
As da wind ripped and tossed da debris tru de sky,
I peeked out the shutters at the cars floatin’ by.
So go to the attic my family did do,
With a portable radio and some batteries too.
And den in a twinkling, I heard on da set,
The end was not coming for a few hours yet!
As I calmed down da kids and was turning around
Tru de window it came with a huge crashing sound
A tree branch it was all covered in soot
De wind blew it smack-dab on top of my foot!
A bundle of twigs now lay in a stack
And my Livin’ Room looked like it was under attack.
De wind how it howled, de storm very scary,
Myself and my family were all too unwary.
Da dangers of hurricanes are serious ya know,
Dey are taken for granted as Betsy did show.
Wit da winds dying down and da danger beneath,
I noticed my tool shed was missing its sheath
So I grabbed my last tarp, and nailed it on down,
Den I got in my car and drove into town.
Da traffic was awful and stores had no ice,
My 5-gallon cooler would have to suffice
Generators was scarce, not one left in town,
Dere was trees on the roads and power lines down.
FEMA was ready wit people to work,
Electrical companies came in from New York.
I sprang to da car, and gave my family a whistle,
Den away we all went like a Tomahawk missile!
You could hear us exclaim as we drove out of sight,
“The heck wit dis place, Texas seem just right!”
~Author unknown~

Last week I wrote about driving past a Pizza Hut with the following sign out front:

I’m having a grand time reading the blogs of other teachers. Darren at Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher, wrote THIS post about what teachers really do during all those breaks from teaching. If you’re a teacher (and even if you’re not), you’ll enjoy it.

I received the following in an email. I thought it was a great metaphor (or would it be an analogy? Or something else? Joan or Tim, tell me what it is, please!). Whatever it is, I liked it and so I’m posting it here. Maybe you’ll enjoy it, too.

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him.

It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastors visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead. Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting.

The Pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it. As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday.”

We live in a world today, which tries to say too much with too little. Consequently, few listen. Sometimes the best sermons are the ones left unspoken.

I found a blog I hadn’t read before, Number 2 Pencil witten by Kimberly. It contained some great reading along with some great teaching links. There was one post, in particular, that I enjoyed. It contained a comment by Kimberly’s fiance that was hilarious because I’ve had a similar experience.

So I looked at the links on Kimberly’s blogroll and selected one to click. I read some of that blog, liked it and blogrolled it. Clicked a link from that next blog, read some of it and blogrolled it…etc. This went on for awhile. I added a bunch of new blogs to my blogroll. Once you get started blogrolling, it’s hard to stop because you don’t want to forget how to get to a blog you like.

It’s amazing how many great blogs there are out there - and also how many pointless ones. I enjoy finding the great ones.