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By Cheryl Vitali April 28, 2008 -- 04:23 PM
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Barbara,
You are right on topic for the types of discussions that need to be taking place. I think of the nature questions you asked and some of the have been the recent focus of Nature and Nova on PBS, yet do children watch these shows? Hopefully next year I will get my students to actively take control at home in getting their parents to watch these types of shows with their children. My special ed. students often did as I peaked their interest in the natural world with all I brought in.
I had a real interesting revelation this last week that surprised me. In researching postings with a colleague who wants to leave the regular classroom, I saw a posting for a K-5 RSP position at the only school in my district that is in walking and biking distance of my home. Being close to my work is important to me, having commuted for awhile in the beginning of my career. It was very tempting, but only briefly. In talking with another teacher that afternoon I was able to readily verbalize my feelings and realized the decision I have made this year to step back into the classroom, and first grade at that (an age I never considered when I was younger), is absolutely where I want to be right now.
I do not want to go back to the known and where my competency has been been proven even though the need is quite high. I want to go back into the classroom and apply what what I believe are best practices and see how well I can work that into the current constraints other teachers are facing. I can only begin to really advocate ideas of change and application to my colleagues and expect it to have true validity if I apply it now into what they face day to day. Maybe then I can again step out in a year or two to a different position of leadership and have their perspective more clearly in mind in a way that they can relate to. I think there is a very real possibility that I might discover how to have fun in teaching this grade despite all the barriers teachers currently have that I may not want to change out of the position and rather continue to expand what can be done with what teachers are being dealt.
I was fortunate to attend a writing workshop this week that was geared down to K and 1 yet still was encouraging pushing the envelope. I was able to take back some ideas the next day and applied them in my small groups with their writing. I was trying to get them to tackle something that is very hard for them and I am working with the lowest students in first. It really helped to break down the task so the children were not overwhelmed and were still tackling a really challenging task of a descriptive narrative essay on topic that used both factual and fictional details with a strong topic sentence and at least 3 descriptive supporting sentences (I may try to add a conclusion as well, yet this is really pushing them).
I have used my recent trip to Maui for creative purposes with them and added in our travel buddy, Phokey the California sea otter they adore. It was so cute seeing some of the students get up and look at the world map I have up and actively discuss and mention the various oceans and other details (mind you this wasn't part of what I was directing) yet they are making applications across. I always try to use books, both factional and fictional, that have a lot of natural history in them and I like to get the ocean in as we are not close to it and I want the students to get that perspective early on of a world beyond the narrow experiences many of them have had. They are learning how to make it relevant to their experiences, they were able to think about how sand feels between the toes, how the ocean wind might feel, and so on. Of course I have brought in things to help them see this including a snorkeling mask and flippers and a flip chart of fishes, and so forth. I manage to get this rich, deep, exploration into the context of their reading and writing that I align with grade level standards and set the bar at the high end of the grade level, not the low, as my objective in the long run is that this group will reach the proficiency standards of a 3 or higher in their writing sample in a few weeks, and over 16 and 18 in reading. Some may not, I am dealing with four first grades, yet I am optimistic that the majority might. Who says that it can't be interesting in the process?
Have a great Sunday,
Cheryl Vitali Reading Recovery Teacher (until June) Former RSP, future first, then?
Time to take a Sunday walk... the day beckons.. |
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Reply to Cheryl Vitali
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By Roxanne Clement April 29, 2008 -- 05:26 PM
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I have lived in my home for over 20 years and I have not truly taken full advantage of nature calling me right outside my door...until recently. I began walking with my husband two blocks to a walking path that skirts the bay and we walk for about an hour or so (or as much time as my work-a-holic nature will allow). We both agree that we had forgotten where we live and what we could do here since our kids were little and we took bike rides on weekends together. We recently took the ferry over to San Francisco, ate dinner, returned on the last ferry, and walked back home, all within a 2 1/2 hour time frame. I am really loving it......and yet....I find myself feeling guilty for time spent..."just being." Somewhere along the way I have lost that knack of "just being". I used to do this with my family every year before my Dad died...my sister's family, mine, and our Mom and Dad would rent a place in the Tahoe Keyes for a week and spend the entire time "being" together. Now, with the kids grown, and Dad gone, it isn't the same, and we haven't found a way as a family to make it work again...yet. I realize I am going to have to actively schedule this time for it to work. I have already begged off some of the walks, some of that "being" time...even stalling off finishing New Earth . I need to reclaim that time to be. I miss it. Some of the best ideas for my teaching come to me when I can be reflective. There aren't enough of those moments scheduled in my work day. I also find that in my Media Center when I step back and let the students go....when the activites are focused around questions, and even better when the focus is on their questions, that the knowledge, understandings, and meaning gained are so much deeper than I would have ever gotten from a textbook lesson. 21st century students can access information online 24/7 and through interactive websites students are learning in so many ways. I've started developing online content, gathering websites, placing them within safe online environments for further study and discussion, and establishing online space for student reflection, input, feedback, interaction, and publishing. I've started searching out online tools that will support this effort. I know that my students are more excited, participating online with me at all hours and any day of the week, asking deeper questions....it's a good start.
And....I'm going to stop right now, go home, and take that walk.
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Reply to Roxanne Clement
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