Let Them Know You.

As a new teacher, I think this is very important. Let your kids know you. I mean, truly know you. Let them see your personality. Let them know your interests and share pictures with them. Yes, it may take a little extra time, but it will be well worth it. The best part about this is that the more your open up, the more your students will open up, and I feel that this is one of the keys to helping students reach their full potential while in your classroom. Think about it like this:  If you go to a restaurant for lunch with a colleague who you don't always feel all that comfortable around and the conversation is awkward, you are probably not going to enjoy your meal or savor it the way your would if you went with a colleague who was also a friend that you could truly talk to, right? Well, I feel the same is true for learning in the classroom. Let your kids get to know you, get to know them, and they will most likely do better academically.

At the beginning of last year, I made a grab bag of "getting to know you" questions such as,  "What do you do for fun?" or "How many people are there in your family?"  For about the first month of school, we spent about 5-10 minutes each morning passing the grab bag around and having students, myself, and my co-teacher answer questions. I feel this had a lot to do with the strong sense of community that we had in our classroom throughout the year, and I feel this also helped my students to reach their fullest potential with the content presented to them.  In fact, you can even incorporate content into the getting to know your exercises. Read an "All About Me Book," and call on students to fill in the blanks as you read. Ask your students to write about themselves and then read their paper aloud. After that, have your students pair up and write about their partner. (Bingo! Getting to know each other and working on Language Arts skills at the same time!) Always include yourself in these types of activities so that students feel they are a community and YOU are a part of it.

The above picture is one of my 14 favorite students and I. I love Dr. Seuss and I love being goofy. My kids knew that meant we were going all out for Dr. Seuss's birthday! We ate green eggs, read numerous Dr. Seuss books, and wore red and white. It was a great day!

There will be bad days...

Oh yes there will be. Especially as a new teacher. I wish someone would have told me this at the beginning of last year. I began the year thinking, "How could you really have a bad day in pre-k??" However, I did find that there were bad days. There were days that I wondered why I ever wanted to become a teacher and days I wanted to just sit down and cry. And there was at least one day where I did come home and literally burst into tears.  But here's the thing: These days were NOTHING compared to the days that left me on top of the world.

Here is the honest truth. I LOVED the beginning of the year, but then those challenging days began to pop up every now and then and before I knew it, I was even considering quitting around January! But I stuck it out. I stuck it out through the days when that one kid just would NOT listen no matter what tactic I tried. I stuck it out through the challenging parent days and the challenging colleague days. Why? Because in between those days were the amazing days. There was the day when my little girl who had started the year unable to say one word in English began speaking in such clear sentences that I didn't even catch it at first, but then I realized, "Wow, I helped her to do that!" There was the day when my kids begged me to read Pete the Cat over and over again "in the silly voice" and I realized, "Wow, I have helped them to see how fun reading can be."  There was the day one mother teared up confessing to me that she feared her son may have a learning disorder until he came into my class and she saw how fast he grew. There was the end of the year when all but one of my parents begged me to move on to Kindergarten so I could teach their children again!

So, you see, I realized over my first year that there will be challenging student, parent, and colleague days. However, those days will pale in comparison to the amazing days. And then on the last day of school you will tear up looking at your class wondering how you could ever have thought of leaving them and how happy you are that you stuck it out.

Penny Kittle, author and teacher said it best in her book, Public Teaching One Kid At A Time, " There will be days when the frustrations and the distrust of the public will threaten to break you. There will be days when you realize how lucky you are to know these kids well, and you'll literally spring out of bed, eager to be in your classroom. You will meet kids who are heroic simply because they keep going amidst challenges we can hardly fathom. You will become connected to them in ways I can't explain, and when they move on, you will always miss them.  It takes great heart to be a teacher. You have to make room for hundreds of children because in many ways they never leave you."

The above picture is my prekindergarten class graduating this past year. This was one of the moments of extreme pride that made all the bad days seem non-existent.


Source
"Public Teaching One Kid At A Time" by Penny Kittle.

Language Arts ~ A Priority

There is so much to think about for new teachers. It can be quite overwhelming. As I have gone through my first year of teaching, I have come to realize that it is quite helpful and effective to organize and prioritize all of your thoughts and goals, even if it is simply in your mind's eye.

So here is my helpful tip to all of my fellow new teachers to help prioritize goals and thoughts. Don't skimp on your Language Arts instruction.  By that I mean, make Language Arts a top priority in your classroom. Students will never be able to know too much about reading and writing. And I think of it this way: if our students are able to read and write well, they will eventually be able to catch on to any other lessons or information we throw at them. In fact, the philosophy behind the Common Core State Standards is that educating for literacy is a shared responsibility across curriculums. On the K-5 level, reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language expectations are applicable to all content areas.

There has been a moving trend toward amping up the Language Arts instruction in classrooms, especially elementary classrooms. This is evident in the Common Core State Standards, which are showing that students as young as kindergarten are able and willing to become accomplished (developmentally appropriate) writers.

In a National Council for Teachers of English Language Arts journal article, there is suggestion that using the "writing workshop" approach to teaching students as young as Kindergarten has resulted in a structure to not only meet the new national standards, but to even exceed them. The writing workshop approach suggests putting down the basel readers and worksheets and replacing them with teacher-led Language Arts instruction, followed by at least a 45-minute writing period. Students are then asked to dictate their work to the teacher and/or class and share their stories. This is something that can even be done as early as the first week of Kindergarten. Of course, writing workshops must be done in a developmentally appropriate way. For example, if you choose to give a lesson on writing about what students see in the classroom on the third day of Kindergarten that is followed by a writing period where students can walk around the room and write about what they see, and then ask them to "read" their work to the class, it should be acceptable that some students may simply draw pictures or scribble while others may just jot down a few, misspelled sight words. The point is that we can start from the very beginning of elementary education and foster a genuine love, interest and talent in Language Arts, thus setting the stage for a successful academic career for our students across curriculums.

Not only will a solid Language Arts foundation set the stage for a successful academic career, it will also give students skills they will use for the rest of their lives.

The above picture is an example of a way that I incorporated reading into a lesson on the letter "C." I chose "C" books and then we read them together and looked for the letter "C." This was also a great opportunity to send the message to my students that reading is fun (I always read the Pete the Cat song in a silly voice) and that reading can always be related in some way to real life!


Source 
Kramer-Vida, L., Levitt, R., & Kelly, S.  "Kindergarten Is More Than Ready for the Common Core State Standards"  National Council for Teachers of English Journal, Language Arts.  November 2012.

If I Could Fill The World With Perfect, New Teachers...

Being a new teacher does not have to mean a timid person standing confused and all alone in a room of crazy, misbehaving children. I am not going to lie to you....teaching is definitely one of those professions where there is no replacement for experience. However, I don't believe that means you have to feel lost while you are filling the space between new and experienced. In my mind, there are a few things that one should do or really keep in mind and think about as they begin to teach that will help them to be a successful and inspirational new teacher.

1.)  Remember why you wanted to become a teacher. Write the reason or reasons down and place them in your desk drawer or even taped to the top of your desk for that matter. This will help to keep you grounded and remind you why you owe it to yourself to keep plugging along on the bad days. Most important, it will help you to be a good teacher even on the bad days.

2.) Read to your class. Seriously, read, read and read some more. If you are feeling lost or having a day where it seems like not one student is learning anything, then stop, take a break, and read. Read when you are happy too. Just read. A lot. Give your students the gift of a teacher who models a true love for reading.

3.)  Start the day with yoga. Yes, with your class. Ok, go ahead and chuckle, but don't knock it 'til you try it. And, yes, I did get my prekindergarten class of 14 to quietly and calmly do yoga for a few minutes each morning...and they LOVED it. I even put on calming music and turned the lights off. It seemed to help my students get calmed down and ready for learning after the hustle and bustle of getting ready and getting to school in the morning. If we skipped yoga, you could tell in a bad way, and the funny part is if I forgot about it, my young students reminded me. They LOVED it. Even my zombie and truck-obsessed, energy-filled pre-k boys loved it. Parents noticed a difference and asked me about it too.

4.) Teach your students kindness. Don't assume they have already been shown all types of kindness. From the frog hopping around out on the playground to their classmates to their teachers and parents, demonstrate how to be kind on a daily basis.

5.) Teach your students that it is ok to make mistakes while you are learning. Demonstrate this for them as well. When you are reading and make a mistake, stay confident and joyfully correct yourself.

6.) Follow the Common Core Standards. This is what will make sure that you are getting done what needs to be done.

7.) Have fun!

8.) Care. A lot.

Oh, And Also, HOW Do I Teach Them??

So as I talked about in my previous post, my first year of teaching began with my wondering what exactly I should be teaching my pre-k students, and luckily I had a colleague who pointed me in the direction of the Common Core State Standards. Well my next question then was, well, how exactly am I supposed to teach them? I mean, I know that we all have the visual in our mind of the teacher standing in front of the chalkboard (ok, or whiteboard...I am dating myself here) with her hair in a bun, lecturing to a classroom full of well-behaved students taking notes on lined papers. Well, but nowadays, does anybody actually use lined paper anymore? Ok, yes, maybe a little, but we all know what is fast and furiously taking over in the classroom...technology! So how was I supposed to use technology to teach and help my prekindergarten students to achieve kindergarten readiness and if I did use technology, did that mean I would have a classroom of tiny antisocial droids? Also, how could I use technology to help make sure my students were going to be ready to meet the Common Core State Standards next year in Kindergarten?

Before I tell you how I have answered these questions, I think it is pertinent for me to tell you...technology in the classroom really used to freak me out. There, I said it. I admitted it. I am a little bit like your grandmother. I miss notebooks and pens and scribbling notes furiously as a teacher speaks in front of the room. However, I knew that when I got my first teaching job, I would need to become quite comfortable with technology in the classroom. After all, our students are going to be using technology A LOT throughout their academic careers, let alone once they get into the workplace! It's just that I feared that using technology in the classroom meant less group discussions, less communication, and a movement toward a lack of classroom community.

Well it turns out that the more I research and learn, the more I realize I am not alone in my concerns, but the good news is that studies are showing the opposite to be true. It seems that students might actually be talking MORE in classrooms where technology, such as iPads, are placed. Believe it or not, iPads and the like may actually be helping to build classroom community. One study showed that students talked more about the classroom content because they were so excited about using the iPads that they were sharing ideas about the best ways to use the iPads, thus talking about and learning the classroom content being studied on the iPads at the same time.  One teacher in a study featured in a NCTE journal called "iPads as Placed Resources: Forging Community in Online and Offline Spaces," told a story about a day that she came back from lunch break to find her students had rearranged their desks into small groups and were studying together with their iPads. Even the shy, reserved students who she had worried about socially were participating. It was a revelation to her to see how the technology was bringing the students together. And that wasn't all. Barriers were being broken down between her and the students as well. The teacher felt that the students were feeling less of a hierarchy gap between  them and her as they taught her different ways to use the iPad. (Because yes, they knew things she did not know because they had been playing with their parents' iPads, iPhones, etc. since they could basically sit up!)

Technology is not only helping students and teachers to come together in a classroom community, but it is also helping students by giving them new ways to learn. In a NCTE journal article called "Our Favorite Picturebook Apps," the authors discuss various applications that can be downloaded to help students improve their literacy skills and excitement for reading. So we as new teachers can actually use technology to aid in lessons, discussions, etc. We can act as guides to help the students learn to learn with technology!

In addition to this, technology such as iPad placement in the classroom is offering more and more chances for students to experience content cross-over. And, BINGO, this is where technology in the classroom even helps us to embrace the Common Core Standards! The Common Core Standards ask us as teachers to build content crossover into the classroom. In other words, gone are the days of opening a Social Studies book, closing it, opening a Spelling book, closing it, etc. Now, we can be teaching a science unit to our students, and when Billy asks a question, we can use a search engine to research the answer together as a class, which has the possibility to build literacy or any other skill at the same time!

So, as it turns out I answered "HOW do I teach them?" quite often by saying, "with the help of technology!"


Sources 
Roswell, J., Saudeli, M., Scott, R., & Bishop, A. "iPads as Placed Resources: Forging Community in Online and Offline Spaces" National Council for Teachers of English Journal, Language Arts. May 2013.

McNair, J., Bailey, A., Day, D., & Moller, K. "Our Favorite Picturebook Apps" National Council for Teachers of English Journal, Language Arts. May 2013.

So What Do I Teach Them?

Before I became a teacher I would have thought this was an easy question with a simple answer. Then I actually got my first teaching job...a week before school was to start. I was hired on as the half-day prekindergarten teacher at our Prekindergarten through 8th grade Charter School. I remember sitting there at my desk the first day thinking to myself there were SO MANY things I wanted to teach them, but I just didn't quite know where to begin. And to be honest, I wasn't even 100% sure what I should be teaching them. I mean I knew what I wanted to teach them and I what I felt I wanted them to know, but what did they REALLY need to know. I was a career changer, so I had not received my degree in education and though I had been a substitute teacher and a teaching assistant, this was MUCH different. It was now up to me to make sure that these 14 children were prepared for kindergarten by the end of the year.

Thankfully, I was already enrolled in my first graduate elementary education courses and I also had a few amazing colleagues who helped me to get off to the right start. This might be bad to admit to a more seasoned teacher, but that was the first time I heard of the Common Core State Standards. I remember approaching the kindergarten teacher across the hall and asking her what the main things she thought were important for me to focus on to achieve kindergarten readiness in my students and she said, "Oh, well we just follow the Common Core Standards, so just have them ready for that and they should be great!" Ok, great, I thought to myself....I must find out what those are all about!

To be honest, when she said that to me, I sort of felt my stomach drop. I immediately got this idea in my head of extremely stringent, boring, blase standards that would turn my creative, fun idea of teaching into a horribly mundane task. And then once I got my Masters Degree and went on to teach elementary school, I would not have even a chance to make up my own lesson plans or decide on what books I wanted to read aloud to my class. I feared all I would be doing was plugging State Standards into my daily routine throughout the year.

Well, that is a major part of what I want to talk about. I want to give all of you new and upcoming teachers and parents the reassurance that I did not immediately have. Here is the good news: the Common Core State Standards are actually...well....pretty cool. There are not a specific set of lesson plans or books that must be read. Instead, they are actually a set of guidelines, a tool to help teachers, parents, and students know what  is expected of them. They are not at all intimidating. Actually, the are refreshing and make our jobs as new teachers easier and here is the best part....you can still have fun! You can still read the class your favorite childhood book, or create your own group work or projects.

Here are a few examples of recent things I have learned about Common Core State Standards as I begin to research them:

*  Common Core State Standards are considered building blocks for successful classrooms, but still recognize that teachers, parents, districts, and states need to be able to decide on curriculum. For example, Common Core Standards intentionally do not offer a reading list. Instead, sample texts are offered to help guide teachers.

This is interesting to me because I was under the misconception that Common Core pretty much told you every little thing you were to teach in the classroom throughout the year. Instead, I now understand it to be more of a useful guide to ensure we as teachers are educating our students in such a way that will prepare them for as bright of a future as possible.

*  Reading Standards are broken into three sections:  Literature, Reading: Informational Text, and Reading: Foundational Skills (for K-5).  These standards are designed as a staircase so that as students progress from K-12, they become prepared for college and careers.

I looked through the reading standards and found them to be quite useful and easy to read. They gave me great insight into what I should be prepared to teach my elementary students. As an added bonus, I even enjoyed looking into the Kindergarten Standards to see what my son should be ready for when he enters Kindergarten.

*  There is a large focus on the importance of reading across subject areas. Standards ensure that students are be prepared to read, write, and research across curriculum.

I found this to be very interesting because giving my students useful knowledge that they can apply to the real world is one of my main goals as a teacher, and it was great for me to see that the Standards are in line with this goal as well. After researching the Standards throughout the past week, I have gone from grimacing at the thought of them being these sort of brittle, strict rules that every teacher shutters at, to actually really liking them. In fact, so far I am thinking that I will find these Standards to be a great help as I continue on building my teaching career.

So, as you can see, the Common Core State Standards are really not as scary as one might think. And in fact, they are a great, helpful resource for us new teachers! I hope you will follow along and learn more with me as I continue to learn more about these Standards and get a better and better answer to "So what do we teach them?"

Source: www.corestandards.org

Greetings New Teacher Friends... and Parents... and Students too!

WellI hello there and welcome to Small Steps Building Big Dreams. This is my blog dedicated to my passion for Elementary Education. In particular, I am reaching out to new teachers like myself, but in reality, this blog can be enjoyed by parents, students, and teachers of all kinds. 

I recently completed (and survived) my first year of teaching. Because I have my own little one at home and am currently working on my Masters,  I am choosing to work part-time at the moment. I found the perfect position this past year as a prekindergarten teacher for the half-day program at Six Mile Charter Academy. I really did not know what to expect and in fact, I was hired just one week before school began, so I did not have all that much time to prepare. However, what I found was that once I met my students and their parents (which I should mention that I was so lucky to have an absolutely amazing group for my first year), I learned as they learned and we grew together. I fell in love with my class and was amazed at how much they were able to learn and take in. Their little minds were just begging for more and more information. That's when I knew that I absolutely always wanted to be a part of early education. When my son is older and I have earned my Masters Degree,  I plan to work full-time and would ultimately like to work in any area of elementary education, grades pre-k through 6. 

You will find that this blog is a way for me to communicate with fellow new teachers and also parents and students. I want to explore different aspects of Elementary Education and learn along with my readers, much like I learned right along with my very first class.