Commencement Day

Good Morning! Today is the day when I will don my cap and gown, and march across Franklin Field as a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. In preparation for my grad school graduation, I've been ruminating on my graduations from high school and college. I think because of the way I grew up, I was still very much a kid when I graduated from college. It goes without saying that I was a kid when I graduated from high school. I had just turned 18 two days before the ceremony. I guess this is my first graduation in which I see myself as an adult, and that is a pretty exciting thing!

Now, I'm not usually a nervous sleeper. I can sleep through anything: test anxiety, thunderstorms, noisy neighbors, etc. But for some reason, I could not fall asleep last night, and when I finally did, I woke up in the middle of the night. I woke up again and was too scared to look at my phone for the time. I tried to fall back asleep for a while, then finally caved and looked at the time: 5:00 am on the nose. That's when I decided I wasn't going to get anymore sleep, so I read a little bit and finally got out of bed before my alarm (which never happens) to meet the day head on.

There is something nice about being the first one out of bed in the morning. I've been getting ready for the day at a nice, leisurely pace, all while enjoying some of my favorite tunes. I've been bopping around from playlist to playlist, and I thought I would share them. These are all thanks to Spotify!

Rise & Shine Playlist

Who Run the World? Girls. Playlist

Feelin' Good Playlist

Have a Great Day! Playlist

I will be taking a lot of pictures today, and I'll be sure to share once I get the chance!

Scratch!

Never heard of Scratch? It's a friendly way to introduce yourself to coding. CODING is kind of this scary term that I used to associate with people who sit at computes in dark rooms, plotting how to take over something. This is quite inaccurate, as you probably already know. Coding is something that kids can do at school, which is why we learned about Scratch at a seminar about science and technology.

I love science and technology, but loving them doesn't make them easier for me. They're the subjects I struggle with the most, because I have had years of building up mental road blocks for myself. I got a lot better this year, thanks to NancyLee (our program director and Science instructor), but I did not know what to expect out of this science and technology seminar.

What I got was a whole lot of fun and satisfaction!

scratch.mit.edu

Basically, here is a game that I made in which the unicorn has to spell my name. Every time it touches a letter, the unicorn grows, makes a chomping sound, and the letters disappear. Oh, and you get a point. It took me a long time to make it, but it was so fun to share with my classmates!

If you're at all interested in coding or bringing coding to your classroom, I highly recommend Scratch or Scratch Jr. if your students aren't reading yet. 

Happy Coding!

- Rachel

p.s. one more day til graduation! 

Fishing

My Grandpa was a great fisher. When I was a little kid - I'm not sure how old -  he took me fishing, along with my cousin and uncle. I'm sure my Grandpa did his best to explain fishing to me, but I still had no idea what I was doing. I picked up the pole and did that dramatic swing back that I saw people do in movies when they fished. As I swung the pole forward into the water, it caught on something: my uncle's pants.

As I'm knee-deep in the job search, I think about my attempt at fishing and can't help but feel like a little kid again. The job search feels a lot like fishing. My resume and experience is the bait, and email and phone calls are my pole. Whenever I get a bite, or even a nibble, I reel it in like crazy, following up, walking the fine line between persistent and annoying. It's not easy to fish, either literally or metaphorically.

But I'm assuming when you finally catch something, it feels pretty great. I think I am in the early stages of catching something. I reached out to a principal this week at a school that I heard good things about, and I was invited to an Open House for interested teacher candidates. It was set up like a rotating interview session, and I was invited in to teach a demonstration lesson next week. It's actually going to be on birthday! It is sort of hard to write this on my blog, because if it doesn't go well, there will be a lot of disappointment and embarrassment, but I'm supposed to be documenting my experiences as a TEP student, and this is what all of my experiences have been leading toward!

Wish me luck.

Graduation Musings

Graduation is so close I can almost taste the overheating and exhaustion. 

Kidding (sort of). I'm really looking forward to graduation, but there are a lot of annoying things that come along with it. For example, are my family members going to find parking? Will I be extremely hot if I wear this dress under my robes? Sandals are comfortable, but will they look nice enough? Are we going to make it to the restaurant in time for our reservation? Are the kids in my family going to be totally bored during the ceremony? Stuff like that. There are worse things to worry about, but they come along with the graduation territory.

It seems like a lot of my younger Facebook friends have been graduating from college this year. I know a lot of people who are the age of my best friend's little brothers. A lot of them are so sad to be graduating! I never felt that way. Even though I grew up down the street from the college I eventually graduated from, I was more excited than sad to be leaving college.

I was a transfer student to my school, Lebanon Valley College (LVC), so I think that had something to do with it. I always felt like being a transfer student set me apart from my classmates. My best friends in college were my two roommates, who were also transfer students, one from Millersville, one from West Chester. I spent my sophomore and junior years at LVC, but I was barely around during my senior year. I was student teaching in the fall semester, which meant I was only on campus one day a week for class, and I commuted from home that semester, so I was kind of removed from the social scene. In the spring semester, I had to unenroll from LVC so that I could study abroad at a program that was not affiliated with my school. I wanted to go to Rome, but the only study abroad program my school sponsored was in Perugia. So, I went abroad in the home stretch before graduation. When everyone else was soaking up every last college experience, I was doing something completely different in another country. When I got back home, I was suffering from some reverse culture shock, some serious Rome-sickness, and the sort of sad realization that I had spent four months making amazing new friends who now lived nowhere near me. It was TOTALLY worth it and I would not change anything, but it changed my relationship with LVC. It was the name stamped on my diploma, but I wasn't too upset about leaving it. I think I got an amazing education, and I'm proud to be an alum of LVC. But graduation meant that I was ready for the next step, and at that point in my life, I was so ready to leave and go on to the next phase in my life.

That phase turned out to be Philly! I tell James that I grew up when I moved to Philly. Moving away from home, working with City Year, meeting James…it all changed me and made me who I am today. If I hadn't come here, I definitely would not be graduating from Penn with my Masters degree.  

Again, I'm not really sad about graduating. There are certain things I will miss about being in school, like having a wonderful learning community and supportive professors, but just how I knew that great things awaited me after graduation from college, I know that the next phase is waiting for me now. Next year I'll be a classroom teacher, and I'll also be getting married. How can I be sad when I know what's waiting on the other side? 

 

5 - 7 - 15

My students and I have been going to Science class at the Academy of Natural Sciences on the Parkway, studying paleontology and preparing for a day-long fossil dig in Delaware. Today was the day, we packed ourselves on a school bus, and headed for the First State. I was armed with sunscreen, packed lunches, and a first aid kit. The trip went off without a hitch and I think I found some cool fossils! I'll admit that I was sort of tired from being in the sun, and was ready when we headed back to school. Field trips were definitely better as a child. They are sometimes a logistical nightmare to the teachers who organize them, but in the end, they are totally worth it if the kids get a lot out of them. I think my students had a great time.



Tonight is the eve of my last day of school. I got to write tomorrow's schedule on the board - one last time - and it's a doozy! We are having a Goodbye Circle at 9:15, where we will eat donuts and each kid will get to say goodbye to me. I hope I don't tear up! At 10:30, James is coming to school, so that the 2nd graders can present their "Country Study" to us. The kids have been working in pairs to study a country of their choosing. They are trying to convince us which country we should go to for our honeymoon. It's been a really fun process! A lot of kids were coming up to me throughout the process of working on it, asking me if I liked the beach, if I wanted to go hiking, etc. I hope they're not expecting James and I to pick one right away! We certainly wouldn't do that anyway, in case it made some kids feel like it was a contest that required a winner.

It's hard to believe that it's all coming to a close so quickly. It feels like slamming on the brakes while driving. After tomorrow, it's one week of wrap-up classes and events, then GRADUATION!!!

Pretty much sums it up. 

5 - 5 - 15

Does anyone remember this show? As an adult looking back at this show I'm thinking, "What's with the stereotyped characters?"also, "Spinelli looks like a modern day hipster." But when I was a kid watching it, I'm pretty sure I was thinking, "I wanna be at this school," because recess is the best. Recess is why some kids come to school. Recess is what breaks up the sometimes monotonous day, both for kids, and for teachers.  

Recess is an important time to kids, and if they're lucky, the adults around them will validate that importance by giving them ample freedom and space to spend recess how they want to. Sure, there are always going to be rules, but they should only be enforced to protect children's safety. For example, it would be ridiculous to have a "No running" rule at recess. But it's understanding to have a "No carrying other children on your back rule." 

Most public school teachers I know do not do their own recess duties; instead, their school has NTAs, or Noon Time Aids, who supervise recess. At the private school I'm student teaching at this semester, teachers supervise their kids' recess. It's really an invaluable experience. Sure, it's missed time to prepare or plan, but I have learned a lot about my students by spending time with them at recess. That's where I learn the things that don't always come up in the classroom, but can sometimes be the most important things. So, here are 5 thoughts I've had while on recess duty.

1

I CAN'T WAIT TO GO INSIDE.

Remember this past winter? Yeah, while you were all warm and cozy somewhere, probably sitting by a fire, I was outside on recess duty because our kids go out in any weather. There were lots of snow pants involved for the kids, but I don't have adult sized snow pants, and my onesie pajamas are inappropriate for school. There have also been days when I just. wasn't. feeling. it. and I couldn't wait to get inside. Those days were few and far between, thankfully, but I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a thought I've had during recess.

2

I LOVE THESE KIDS!

Some kids are so stinking adorable. Whether they're learning how to do a cartwheel for the first time, and they excitedly call you over to watch them flop on their face, or they're playing an imaginary game that sounds a lot like the plot of a Star Wars movie…recess is when I got to see a whole other side of my kids, and most of the time, all it did was make me love them more than I already did. 

3

CAN I EAT RIGHT NOW?

This is mostly a thought I've had during morning recess, which strikes at 10:00, which I used to call "10:00 Snack Time" when I worked with City Year. 10:00 is like my second breakfast/elevensies in the Hobbit world. I get sooooooo hungry, and it's hard to monitor students for thirty minutes with an angry, empty belly. One time I snuck a granola bar out to recess, but I felt bad because I think it's a rule that you can't have food on our recess field. Whoops. I swear I only did it that one time...

4

IF I HAVE TO MEDIATE ONE MORE ARGUMENT I'M GOING TO LOSE IT

Thankfully, the school I'm at right now uses Responsive Classroom, which is all about maintaining a strong social-emotional curriculum in your classroom, right along with your academic curriculum. Mediating conflicts is something that can happen a lot at recess. It's a wonderful thing to do, because it's much better than the alternative, which is an adult yelling and doling out a meaningless consequence but ignoring what may have caused the conflict in the first place. 

5

ARE KIDS BETTER THAN ADULTS?

I'm amazed at the creativity that comes out of my kids during recess. The games they invent, the way they play together, how they problem solve, how thoughtful they are…it makes me start to wonder if childhood is where we're at our best, and then we only get more boring as adults. There is never a dull moment when it comes to kids, especially kids at recess. 

5 - 4 - 15

Happy May! Specifically, happy May 4th, the day the internet explodes with this perfect Star Wars joke: 

By the way, I'm so excited for the new Stars Wars movie, even though I'm skeptical about how it will turn out. But that's neither here nor there.

______________________________________________________

This is my last week of student teaching. It's sad, but true. Next week at this time, I will not be sitting in an empty classroom while my 2nd graders are out having fun at recess. While it's hard to say goodbye to children who you come to know and love, it comes with the territory of student teaching. I've done this before, so I know the motions to go through. 

You start by dropping subtle hints to kids about which field trips you will or will not be around for, which units you'll be there to see, etc. "No, I won't be able to go to _______ with you, because I'm only here until May 8th!" The more calmly you say this, the better the kids take the news. They get attached as much as you do. Then, a few weeks before the actual last day, you make sure to say that your final week is coming up. On Friday, during our weekly ritual of Roses and Thorns, I told everyone that I had a rosy thorn: I was sad to leave next Friday, but happy because I've had such a good experience at this school. This was my most formal announcement, as it was said to the whole class, but it shouldn't have been anyone's first time hearing that information. 

This week, I'm focusing on writing notes to my kids, and finding nice, simple gifts for my Classroom Mentor and the Assistant Teacher I work with. Stay tuned on that, it's only Monday.

______________________________________________________

Speaking of Mondays - *cough* the worst day of the week *cough* - here are three things that are helping me wind down after a busy year. 

1. READING!

That's right, I'm reading for pleasure for what feels like the first time in a long time! The other day while I was baby sitting, I picked up a book in my sister's house and got hooked. The book is called The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. All I will say is that I started it on Saturday afternoon, and it's been hard to put it down for things like eating and sleeping. 

2. ANIMALS!

Yeah, here's your typical Buzzfeed article with pictures of cute animals. Sometimes you just need them. 

3. DAY DREAMING!

One of my college classmates, Laura, keeps an incredible travel blog called Roam and Golightly. It's a beautiful website full of stunning photos and great writing about art, travel, and local adventure. Laura makes everything look beautiful, exciting, and as if I've never seen it before. Check it out! 

That's about it for now. Tune in tomorrow! I am trying to write a post each day this week, in honor of my last week of student teaching.

Best,

Rachel 

Summers Off/On

My Dad has been teaching for over 30 years. He has no plans to retire anytime soon because, as he puts it, he loves his job and is able to keep doing it, so why stop? You go, Dad. Anyway, I don't know what it is about teachers, but they seem to amass a lot of novelty mugs. One mug that I remember seeing when I was a kid was a pure white mug with a few words on it:

3 Reasons To Love Teaching:

June

July

August

That's exactly how it looked on the mug. I can see it in my mind's eye. It took me a while to get the joke behind this mug, but rest assured, I get it now. There is this idea that teachers have the summer months "off." I have to tell you that everyday over the summer break, my Dad wakes up at his normal time (4:45 am), bikes into school, updates his curriculum and does other teacher stuff, and then bikes home. I've never seen my Dad have a summer off, and I know a lot of other teachers who spend their summers tutoring, teaching summer school, or working part-time or full-time summer jobs to supplement their income. When I was growing up, it was not uncommon to go to Hershey Park (a local attraction where I'm from) and run into a couple of my teachers working around the Park. 

So you may be wondering what I have planned for this summer. First and foremost, I have a road trip planned to meet my future in-laws, as well as a family trip to the beach planned, but I also have some big school plans for the summer!

Goal #1:

Plan for the first six weeks of school with the help of my friends Paula Denton and Roxann Kriete. This book is part of the Responsive Classroom Model. The idea of Responsive Classroom is that the social-emotional curriculum of your classroom is just as important as the academic curriculum. This book is an amazing guide to structure the routines and procedures you want to put in place in the early days of the school year. Once I find out where and what grade I will be teaching, I want to hit the ground running with planning.  

Goal #2:

Hit up every Yard Sale I possible can to collect books and things for my classroom! I want my classroom to be a warm and welcoming place, and that means putting some extra, personal touches in the room. I have no idea what this might look like, but I know that I will be on the look out for inexpensive things that may present themselves at neighborhood yard sales. You never know what you will find!

Goal #3:

Brush up on my science skills. When I took all my methods classes last semester, I was definitely most nervous for Science Methods. I think science is the subject that I have the least natural capabilities for, which meant that growing up, I sort of hated it. I now take a more Growth Mindset approach to the subject and know that as long as I work hard at it and persist, I will be a competent science teacher. I also know that I could use some extra help. I'm a member of the National Science Teachers Association and as such, I have access to a lot of online resources and magazines they send me in the mail. Since I'm so busy, those magazines usually end up in a pile of unread things. But! This summer I plan on catching up on all things science-y so I can be extra-prepared for the school year. 

Goal #4:

Plan our wedding. I know that this isn't technically about school, but what do you think is going to suffer if our wedding isn't planned by the time the school year starts? Yeah, that would be my sanity, and my sanity is key to being a good teacher. If I get major wedding things out of the way over the summer, then I won't have to worry about them in September and early/mid October, when I will be teaching full-time. I might as well write some sub-plans for October 30th, because I definitely won't be in school that day…

Goal #5: 

Take care of myself. This speaks for itself. I need to be in a good place when I head into that classroom because my future students deserve the best I can give them!

  

Moving Slowly

Student - "I just hate math."

     Rachel – "Why do you feel that way?"

Student – "I just don’t like it. It’s hard."

     Rachel – "It’s hard…"

Student – "I’m really slow at it."

     Rachel – "Oh, you’re slow at it. Did you know that being slow at something doesn’t mean you’re bad at it?"


This is an excerpt from a conversation I had with a student last week. It's serving as an artifact for my Term V project. What do I mean by artifact? Here's what my assignment description says:

The artifacts are an integral part of your presentation. They are the evidence on which your case (your argument) is built. Examples of artifacts you might use include: student work, lesson plans, journal or blog entries, field notes, excerpts from course papers, meaningful photographs, transcripts of conversations, very brief audio/video clips and notes from meetings or lectures.

In my Term V assignment, I'm trying to argue that when teaching students, it is important to 1) give them tasks that are authentic and meaningful, 2) differentiate instruction to provide students multiple avenues to access the information, and 3) emphasize a growth mindset so that all students can feel successful. 

Phew. Just writing that took me about five minutes. I'm having a really hard time working on my Term V assignment. I'm not sure if it's because I have no idea what I'm doing or because I have a serious case of cabin fever. Either way, I'm moving slowly and getting frustrated with myself.

It's ironic that I was able to counsel a student on her feelings about being slow at math, when I'm in a similar situation now. If I could take my own advice, I would acknowledge that yes, I am working slowly, but that doesn't necessarily mean I am doing a bad job.

Okay, so I guess I can get back to work now!

Life Lately.

I'M GETTING MARRIED!

Just had to get that out of the way. Just two short weeks ago my boyfriend James popped the question, and ever since then I've been totally 100% on top of my school work because planning a wedding in six months is not hard at all.

"Sike, naw," as my students like to say.

We decided to get married sooner rather than later, so we're getting married in Philly on Halloween! It's super exciting, and James has done a lot of the heavy lifting to lock down the church, reception venue, caterer, and photographer, but there is still a lot to do which is why I spent a few hours last Sunday designing our Save the Dates instead of updating this blog or, oh yeah, DOING MY TERM FIVE ASSIGNMENT.

The Term Five assignment is my Portfolio, the culminating project at the end of my grad school career. I graduate on May 16th, which is less than a month away. It's hard to believe that I'm working on my last assignment for Penn when I can easily cast my memory back to when I was working on my first one! One year programs are intense, but even now, as I sit here at my desk which is super organized because I have a bad case of stress-cleaning, I wouldn't have it any other way. I feel extremely prepared to have my own classroom, and I am so proud of how much I've learned and how far I've come in such a short time! So let's ignore Term Five for now, since I'm sure I'll write another post about it once it's over, and let's focus on the fun stuff. Job searching!

My job search has been focused on two areas of the state: Philadelphia and south-central PA. Let's talk about Philly first. I have wanted to teach in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) since I moved here, so I have actively been pursuing a job with the SDP. I started the online job application in late February; the application was very lengthy. A week later, I scheduled a phone interview. After the phone interview, I had to wait a couple of weeks for them to send me the final stage of the application, which was an online activity about reading and interpreting student data. Hopefully within the next week I will hear back about whether or not I make it into the final pool of candidates. Once that happens, principals across the city will be able to see my resume and decide whether or not they want to invite me in for a site-selection interview. Throughout the process I just described, I also attended two principal/candidate meet and greets at the SDP's headquarters. I was really nervous at the first one and probably didn't put myself out there as much as I should, but I tried to make up for it at the second meet and greet. After the meet and greet, I sent out emails to principals and teachers I met who worked at schools I was really interested in. I heard back from one school, and I spoke with their Director of Operations yesterday as a sort of pre-site selection interview conversation. I was nervous, but I think it went well (fingers crossed!). I'm debating whether or not to attend a third meet and greet. I probably should, but we'll see how things go this week. I'm also looking at some districts that are in the Philly area, though I haven't yet applied to them.

The other area of the state I've been focusing on is south-central PA, which is where most of my family lives. I check job postings for school districts in this area, and that's about it. If James ends up getting a job in that area of the state (before I get a job in this area of the state), then I will be putting more energy into applying.

To close out, let me try something new:

Looking forward to: Finishing Term Five, hearing back about job interviews, and graduating!
Looking at: Pictures of wedding dresses and cats on the internet.
Listening to: Matt & Kim, Beirut, the Beatles, and Spotify's "Intense Studying" playlist.
Listening for: The ice cream truck to roll down the street, because it's spring time now and that means ice cream cones whenever I want!

- Rachel

Teacher Must-Haves

Want to be a teacher? There are some things you're going to need. Here are, in my opinion, some teacher must-haves.

• Good shoes - Hey, have you heard? Teachers stand/walk/jog/run around a lot. It all starts with what's on your feet. I recently got a pair of Dansko clogs. They are pricey, but they feel so good when you're on your feet all day! Unfortunately I don't know enough about men's shoes to make a recommendation there. I will say that my dad has been a teacher for 30+ years and he has been wearing the same loafers my whole life. So maybe we should all invest in a pair of loafers!

• Water bottle - I don't want to say all teachers talk a lot, because I think the students' voices should be heard more than the teacher's voice - BUT, it is hard on the voice to get 20+ kids' attention all at once. There's also yelling that occurs on the recess yard (but not in the classroom!!!). Even if we didn't talk a lot as teachers, staying hydrated is just an important thing to do for your own health. For the environment's sake, go green and invest in a nice water bottle. I'm pretty anti-plastic bottles. Ever read "Bottlemania"?

• Whistle - Two words: recess duty.

• Morning/Evening soundtrack - Whether you prefer the dulcet tones of NPR in the morning, or if you just like the awkward silence of the Market-Frankford Line, make sure you have some type of morning soundtrack to listen to. I grew up with NPR and classical music in the car (which I love), but it doesn't exactly pump me up for a demanding day of teaching. I prefer fast-paced songs in the morning, and quieter, more reflective songs at the close of the day. Unless I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and then I reverse it. 

• Tissues - Kids and runny noses go together, and teachers should always be prepared! 

• Lots of phone memory - You never know when you're going to want to photograph or record a great lesson or pieces of student work. It's important to document what the students are doing, both for your benefit and your kids' benefit. Pictures of your kids writing or completing projects make more authentic room decorations than store-bought posters. Keep your phone memory free to accommodate any pictures or videos. 

• Hand sanitizer - Obviously it's no replacement for the good old fashioned soap and water routine, but it can't hurt to have some hand sanitizer in your classroom, on your keys, etc. 

• Happy Place - Sometimes you're going to want to leave school before the day is over, or you'll want to leave your classroom while your kids are still in it. Don't do it! It's not safe for the kids, and you might get fired. Instead, have a Happy Place you can go to. This Happy Place could be a mental recess (e.g. "Remember that one time I got a massage? It was the best feeling ever.") or it could be a corner of your classroom or a step or two outside your classroom that is designed for this purpose. My Happy Place is the water fountain. I'm a pretty well-hydrated person (see previous point about water bottles), so I visit the water fountain at least once a day. It's a nice chance to clear my head and just not say or do anything but fill up my water bottle. 

…and last, but certainly, not least:

• Snacks - Most elementary school kids eat snack at the midpoint between when school stars and when lunch is served. My first few days of school, it was hard to watch my kids dig into carrots or Animal Crackers and not think, "Oh my goodness, I am starving." Having a granola bar or quick snack food is very important. Keep your blood sugar at a healthy level and bring a snack to school! 

That's all for now. When I remember ten more things that I think are "Must-Haves" I'll write another post like this! 

- Rachel 

What's a Two-Week Takeover?

Two-week takeover (n.) - ten schools day during which a student-teacher takes on full teaching responsibilities; a tiring, yet very fun experience.

ex: I've been in bed at 9:00 every night since my two-week takeover started. 

One week down, one more to go! My two-week takeover is off to a great start. Here's a little glimpse at  what I've been doing:

• KWL Chart - What we KNOW, what we WONDER and what we LEARNED all find a place to live on this simple graphic organizers. To start out my thematic unit on play, I worked with my students to fill out a KWL chart. We've been referring to it over the course of the week and adding to it as we see fit.

• Voices in the Park - I mentioned this book in a previous blog post. I read it aloud to my students and gave them three different writing prompts to choose from. The prompts all related to the role of play in the book. It went well, but I'm not sure the kids really enjoyed the book as much as I thought they would. 

• Estrellita se despide de su isla/Estrellita Says Goodbye to Her Island - Also mentioned this book before. I brushed off my Italian skills and tried to apply them to reading this bilingual Spanish and English book. My friend Mike helped me out a LOT! I did my best with the pronunciation, and it must have worked because the kids LOVED this book. They really delved deeply into discussing Estrellita's experiences in saying goodbye to her homeland. I also asked a series of questions in which I asked them to imagine that Estrellita was going to be a new student in our classroom. They empathized with her and talked about ways they could make her feel welcome. It was great.

• Venn Diagram activity/Google Street View - Playgrounds look different depending on where you are. Using Google Street view, we examined the play area at a public school in North Philly and compared it to our own playground using a Venn Diagram. The students were really curious about the school's play area and even asked if we could take a field trip there! 

• 4 Corners/Debate - Best. Lesson. Ever. I am so proud of this one. I started out by pointing out four signs that were hung around our room (Agree, Strongly Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree). I read three statements and the kids moved silently to the sign that matched their opinion. My statements were: 1) When I play, I feel like grownups are always telling me what I can and can't do; 2) I like to play in ways that grownups don't always understand; and 3) We don't need teachers with us at recess. The students' opinions were extremely interesting. After that, I showed them two videos of an adventure playground in Wales called "The Land." They were HOOKED! After we talked about what we observed in the videos, I explained that we were going to debate the safety issues of adventure playgrounds. It was entirely student led. I told them that I didn't want to call on students, so we were going to run the debate like a Quaker meeting: we sat in silence and if you felt like you had something to say, then you stood up and said it. A lot of the time five or six kids would stand up at a time, but I didn't say anything. They worked it out themselves. One kid would start to talk and the others would sit down. There may have been a few disgruntled sighs, but really they did a fantastic job. They were so engaged and had wonderful things to say. 

So that's what I've been up to! I feel like I'm living from one hour to the next. I have everything planned out, but I'm always trying to stay one step ahead of the game, making sure that I'm planning for things to go wrong and keeping one eye on the clock. It's been exhausting, but I'm loving it. 

- Rachel 

p.s. I made it through two rounds of interviews with the School District of Philadelphia! Fingers crossed. 

Catching Up

Happy Saturday! I'm sorry so much time has passed since my last post. My kids went on Spring Break last week, which meant that the week leading up to the break was jam packed. Since then, I've been trying to simultaneously relax and put the finishing touches on my thematic unit, which I start teaching on Tuesday! My unit, which is about play and the role it plays in kids' lives, is pretty much ready to go. 

I haven't written my final two lesson plans, and that's for a couple different reasons. I want to leave some space for "emergent curriculum." Usually emergent curriculum means that the teacher doesn't necessarily start off with a lesson plan, rather they listen and observe to see what students are interested in and then plan around that. I'm not experienced enough to craft my whole unit around an emergent idea, but I figured leaving some space at the end of my unit (which isn't until the second week of April) would be reasonable. Also, I haven't written my final two lesson plans because I'm really curious to see how the lessons I have written actually pan out. It is going to be a really challenging couple of weeks, but it's a challenge I'm looking forward to. I can't believe I wrote a unit and now I get to teach it! I feel like I wrote a play that's about to be performed. I'll be updating this blog with my progress (I promise!).

On a completely unrelated note, I just saw "The Theory of Everything" and thought it was really good! If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. The score for the movie is beautiful and I think they do a really good job of tying it into the story. 

I'll leave you with this:

Picture Book Collection

Do you have a favorite picture book? I don't remember being too crazy about Dr. Seuss when I was a kid, and for some reason those are the only picture books I really remember. When I got to Penn, one of the first classes I took was called Children's Literature. We read a variety of chapter books and graphic novels, but we also learned about many different picture books. I took picture books for granted! There are many picture books that can serve a wide range of audiences, not just young elementary school kids. I have a relatively small library of picture books on my book shelf, but the ones I do have are very special books that I think will transition well between grades. I wanted to share some of my favorites and some of the books I will be reading to my students very soon.

Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne

Told from four different perspectives, Voices in the Park is absolutely packed with material. It has art history references, symbolic imagery, multiple perspectives, socioeconomic class differences…to name a few. It's about a mother who takes her son and their dog to the park, and a father who takes his daughter and their dog to the park. I'm using this in my thematic unit on play because the two kids end up playing together and crossing the barrier between them that their parents can't. 

The Dumpster Diver by Janet S. Wong

The Dumpster Diver is an awesome book about upcycling and community. It tells the story of a group of kids who live in an apartment building in New York City. Every Saturday one of their neighbors puts on a scuba suit so he can transform into the Dumpster Diver! He goes through their building's dumpster, looking for trash that he can transform into all sorts of strange inventions. The illustrations are amazing. David Roberts also illustrated two other pictures that I love: Iggy Peck, Architect and Rosie Revere, Engineer. 

Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran

This is going to be a pretty important book during my thematic unit on play. Roxaboxen is a land invented by children in a desert town. They made roads, built houses, and had two competing ice cream shops (like any self-respecting place should)! The amazing this about this book is that Roxaboxen is a real place the author's grandmother and her friends invented when they were young children. I'm using this book to spark my students' imaginations into designing their own playscape in our classroom.

Some additional titles for you:

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech (author of Walk Two Moons, which is also amazing, though not a picture book)

The Dark by Lemony Snicket

Mama's Saris by Pooja Makhijani

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

Estrellita Says Goodbye to Her Island/Estrellita se despide de su isla by Samuel Caraballo

Thank you, Snow Days!

I owe a lot to the weather. Thanks to having two snow days this week (Thursday and Friday), I am finished with my Term IV assignment! It was stressing me out to no end, so it feels great to have it done! My Term IV assignment included a written explanation of the context and rationale for a two-week long thematic unit, as well as three sample lesson plans from the unit and various other planning charts and graphs that we used to help us plan. In retrospect, I think it's been the most fun assignment to complete, probably because it was so personal. I got to pick my unit topic (play) and come up with performances of understanding to go along with it. I've learned so much in the process of planning this unit, and I think that play is going to be one of my favorite topics of teacher research for many years to come!

If you're interested in learning about some of the topics I'll be covering in my unit, I recommend you read up on Adventure Playgrounds (here too) and watch this trailer. My students are going to learn about adventure playgrounds, and have a debate about the safety issues that surround them. We're even going to build one in our classroom (no fire or saws allowed, though).

I'm also happy to say that I was at an information session this morning for the Teacher Education Program, and I think there were some awesome future-teachers there! Meeting potential applicants and getting to talk with them about the TEP is one of the best parts about being a Graduate Assistant. Despite how it may have sounded in my last blog post (I was stressed!), I love the TEP and being at Penn has been life-changing.

On that note, enjoy some snowy pictures!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Ugh. It hasn't exactly been the best week around here. But let's start on a happy note...

The Good: 
Last weekend was my sister's baby shower, which was so wonderful! I headed home Friday after a long day of class and work, and while every train out of Philly was delayed due to inclement weather, mine left on time. Woohoo! I got home, helped set up for the party, wrote a paper that was due at midnight (turned in at 11:30 pm!), went to sleep, woke up, threw the party, and was preparing to come back to Philly on Saturday night. Mother Nature had other plans for me. It snowed in earnest pretty much all day, and roads were really bad by the time the party ended. There was no way I was catching a train back to Philly when we could barely drive a car down our street. Thankfully, my sister Steph was in town from Delaware and she got snowed in too! Steph and I live pretty close to each other, but thanks to having opposite schedules and lots of obligations, we don't get to see each other as much as we'd like. It was so much fun to get snowed in together! My parents were happy to have us home as well. The four of us actually carried out a pretty awesome prank together…

For Christmas this year, my Mom got an 8-foot tall inflatable Santa Claus. A few years ago, in the middle of October, my Mom's best friend put a giant inflatable snowman in our front yard, just for fun. Ever since then, my Mom has been trying to prank someone else with a large inflatable. The snow gave us the perfect excuse. My oldest sister, Jen, lives a few blocks away from my parents' house, so around 8 pm, my Mom, Dad, Steph, and I trekked over to her house with flashlights, an extension cord, and the inflatable Santa. Here's what happened:

Hilarious, right?! It was so much fun…I'm only sad that I didn't get to see my sister or her family's reactions when they saw the giant Santa the next day. I'm sure it was priceless. Anyway, I headed back to Philly the next morning, got to do some work, then stayed up waaaay too late watching the Oscars at one of my friend's apartment. 

The Bad:

Then it was Monday morning. I was tired when I got to school, but I stayed up really late on Sunday night (the Oscars only happen once a year!), so I didn't think much of it. Some of my students were sniffling and coughing, but that's pretty much the norm during winter. Then Tuesday happened, and I started to feel pretty terrible. Two of our kids were out sick, which is a big deal. I taught a Math lesson and it was okay, but I felt like I missed a lot of points that i wanted to make. Thankfully my teacher chimed in to fill in the missing pieces, but I felt a little out of it. I headed to my evening class which consisted of a panel of principals. They spoke to us for two hours about their schools, what they're looking for in teachers, and what we can do as candidates to market ourselves and get ahead in the job application process. This is when the nervousness set in. Here's a peek into what I was thinking during that session:

How can I possibly think about what I will say during an interview when I haven't even finished a job application yet? And how can I possibly think about finishing a job application when I haven't even finished my Term IV assignment (which is due next Friday)? And how can I possibly think about finishing my Term IV assignment when I feel like I am coming down with the flu and I have lesson plans to write for tomorrow and I need to update my blog and my apartment is a mess and I've needed to make a dentist appointment for like a month and I have things I need to do for church, and I want to keep in touch with my family and friends and, and, and?!?! 

The Ugly:

Needless to say, when I got home on Tuesday night, I was not a pretty sight. After venting to James and crying quite a bit, I emailed my Classroom Mentor and told her I would have to miss school on Wednesday on account of not feeling well. I slept for 11 and a half hours that night! Staying home and resting did me a lot of good, and while I wasn't feeling great, I thought I was getting better. I went to school on Thursday and was there for about an hour when my CM said I should just go home and rest. Friday morning I went to the Urban Ethnography Forum for two really interesting sessions, then came home and put in about four hours of work on Term IV assignment. Four Modern Family episodes later, the week finally came to a close. 

The Point: 

So now it's Saturday and I feel like I've learned a lot in the past week. I need to stay well-rested and healthy. I need to be patient with myself and take one thing at a time. I'm not doing this whole grad school thing perfectly, but that's okay.

Stay happy and healthy, everyone.

- Rachel 

Happy 100th Day of School!

You heard it right, today was the 100th Day of School, at least for my current school. I'm not sure is the SDP is on a different day, but I am 100% sure about this (get it?). We celebrated with 100 themed math activities such as:

• Coming up with a 100 ways to get to 100 
• Making a design out of 100 pattern blocks
• Building a card house out of 100 cards
• Racing to 100, which is a game you use with a die. Work with a partner and take turns rolling and adding the numbers up. Whoever rolls to 100 first wins!
• Making a tower out of 100 things
• Making a list of 10 things you can do for 100 seconds (and proving it by actually doing it!)

It was a really fun day. Here are two pictures of the aftermath.

 

The group on the left (blue poster) was the only group to truly come up with 100 ways to get to 100! It was a pretty challenging task for these kids. The groups that persevered were the ones who realized that they could make a pattern of 1+99, 2+98, 3+97, etc, etc...

I can't tell if there are 100 pattern blocks on that table, or if the students just didn't want to clean up…hmmm.

In other news, my reign as Person of the Week is over. It was actually a relief to bring my things home. It was really strange having some of my belongings, as well as pictures of myself, on display in the room. My worlds collided! Here's what my display looked like:

The picture in middle on the bottom is actually a picture of me from when I was in 2nd grade. My kids really got a kick out of that. 

I'm pretty exhausted today despite the fact that this was a 2-day long school week for me. Presidents Day on Monday in addition to our second Snow Day on Tuesday meant that I only got to student teach yesterday and today. I start student teaching five days a week in March. I can't wait, though I know the first week will feel very long! I haven't student taught full time since college and I remember how tired I used to feel. But now that I think of it, that's sort of what grad school has felt like the whole time, so maybe I'll be okay! 

Happy Almost-Friday and Happy 100th Day of School!

Person of the Week

Every Tuesday, a different student is highlighted in a 30-minute block of time called "Person of the Week." The child can bring in 15-20 family photos, something handmade, their favorite stuffed animal, any awards they've won, things they collect, etc. This week, I got to be Person of the Week! It was fun to pick out some of my favorite things to bring in to my classroom, but when it came time for me to present, I was actually a little nervous! Here's what I brought in:

• 15 pictures of me with my family
• the first needlepoint project I finished on my own
• 3 of my favorite CDs (Beirut, Beirut, and Beirut - mostly because I don't own a lot of CDs!)
• an Ohio State logo (because I like their football team)
• 4  keychains (I collect them)
• a mug with an R on it (to symbolize my love of tea and hot chocolate)
• my awesome Sonic Screwdriver (Doctor Who reference!)
• a little journal that looks like a TARDIS (DOCTOR WHO!)
• an award my boss gave me last year while I was working for City Year

I described each object that I brought in, then handed it to one of two helpers, who displayed my items on the carpet we were all sitting around. After I talked about everything, everyone got to ask one question, unless they wanted to pass. If you choose to pass, you get the option to come up with a question after everyone else has gone, or you can phone a friend, and call on someone else to ask a question for you. I got questions about how old I was in certain pictures, where I was from, how old my cat was when she died…I was surprised by the specificity of some of the questions! One of my brothers is in a wheelchair, and a student asked what happened to him, which I thought was really thoughtful. 

I forgot to take a picture of my Person of the Week display, but I will take one on Tuesday and post it. As for tomorrow, it's Presidents Day! Woohoo! I will hopefully spend the day being extremely productive. 

On a completely unrelated note, I've been really into the Japanese version of "Let it Go" from Frozen. My brother-in-law introduced me to this multi-lingual version of the song and asked me which singer I liked best. I was taken with Takako Matsu's voice. Her tone is so clear and beautiful! You should listen for yourself here. 

The multi-lingual video is great and everything, but there weren't any African or Indian languages in it! I wasn't the only one to notice: 

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-01-24/no-room-african-or-indian-languages-disney-s-multilingual-version-let-it-go

I was really disappointed when I went on youtube and searched "let it go african language" and found a video called "Let it Go (Africanized Tribal Cover)." The main singer is a young White girl, and she spends most of the music video surround by a little choir of seemingly White children with tribal paint on their face. It didn't rub me the right way at all, even though the little girl's voice is beautiful. *sigh*

On that note, I'll sign off. Stay warm! 

Little Kids vs. Big Kids

Thursday at my school is ice cream day. After the kids have eaten their main meal, every kid gets an ice cream cone/cup or a popsicle of some sort. Last Thursday, the dessert was a vanilla ice cream cone, but the ice cream had blue food coloring in it. One minute, each kid was unwrapping their dessert, and the next I was looking out at a sea of blue chins, blue mustaches, and even blue hair. It was so adorable!

Yesterday, my class celebrated Valentines Day by having Pajama Day. Three kids in the grade came to school in onesies, while the rest wore more typical, matching-set pajamas. Again, it was so adorable! When our kids arrived yesterday morning, my Classroom Mentor said, "I could never say 'no' to my kids when they were like this," meaning, "These kids are gonna walk all over us today because they look so stinking cute." They didn't, of course, but it was a really fun and hectic day.

I think 2nd graders are mysterious. I have seen evidence of very deep thinking from some of my students. Some are definitely more articulate than others, but even the ones who struggle to capture their ideas with words, are showing evidence of deep thought. Sometimes they act like "big kids" who are too cool for school, mostly when older students are around, but then they get their hands on some blue ice cream or they come to school in pajamas and they are instantly back to being "little kids." So how do you define a "big kid" or a "little kid?" I ask because I'm trying to place 2nd graders on the spectrum that is elementary school. In some ways, I think that 2nd graders are the fine line between the "little kids" and the "big kids." They're the little-big kids.

When I think back on being in 2nd grade, two experiences come to mind. The first is that I accidentally called my teacher "Mommy." Only one other person heard me, but he was a good sport about it, and instead of blabbing to everyone about it, he and I simply had a good laugh. The second thing I remember is that we had a class wide spelling bee. I was standing next to a new girl who is now one of my best friends, and she had to spell the word "different." She spelled it correctly and promptly leaned back against the board and started fanning herself as if she were going to pass out. Hilarious.

Do you have any funny 2nd grade stories? How do you define "little kids" and "big kids?"
And most importantly: do you own a onesie?  

"You do all sorts of strange things when you're a teacher."

This week I got to introduce my students to multiplication. It was so fun, but I was really nervous! Building the bridge between addition and multiplication is a big step for kids. In my mind, if you do the wrong thing, you could end up with a kid who can spout off facts and solve multiplication problems with an algorithm, yet has no conceptual understanding of what multiplication is.

So how do you introduce multiplication to 2nd graders? My teacher uses curriculum from Everyday Math, so I followed the book, but made my own adjustments as I saw fit. I started with this problem:

Jane bought 3 packs of gum. Each pack has 5 pieces of gum in it. How many pieces of gum did Jane buy? 

Each child had a clipboard with a blank piece of paper on it. I told them to find the answer any way they wanted to. Some of them made 3 sets of 5 tally marks, some of them counted by 5s, some of them wrote 3 x 5 = 15, and some of them wrote 3 + 5 = 8. I facilitated an open strategy sharing in which kids got to describe how they solved the problem. I represented their ideas on the board and then introduced them to the fact that they could solve this problem through multiplication.

What I love about multiplication is that it moves kids from dealing with single objects to dealing with groups of objects. It's kind of like a magic trick. If you need to buy 100 packs of gum, you could either add 5 + 5 + 5 until the cows come home, or you could multiply 5 x 100.

To give them a visual way of representing multiplication, I taught a different lesson on arrays. Arrays are rectangular arrangement of objects in rows and columns. I went back to the problem about Jane's packs of gum, and we made a 3 by 5 array to find the answer another way. After the students did some number stories in their workbooks (number stories = less threatening way of saying word problem), I put a bunch of different objects on the carpet that were arrays. I brought in a cupcake holder, an egg carton, a box of paint, and a chess board. Using these objects, and their imagination, they filled in some blank arrays and came up with their own multiplication problems.

After the lesson, I was talking with my Classroom Mentor about how it went. I told her that I really wanted to bring in an egg carton, but I still had a few eggs in it. I moved the eggs to a padded tupperware container and voila! I had an egg carton. She laughed and said, "You do all sorts of strange things when you're a teacher."

After writing this, I realize that the first strange thing I did was empty my egg container for the sake of a math lesson. The second strange thing I did was gleefully write a blog post about how much fun it is to teach multiplication. Ah well!

The February Blues

I find February to be the right hook of wintertime. It's short, but it packs a punch. All I want to do is sleep, watch Modern Family (who doesn't?), eat, drink some tea…and then sleep some more.  

Since I'm student teaching 4 days a week this semester, I'm not able to work in the Financial Aid office at GSE. I kind of miss working there! I got to spend a few hours a week away from homework, speak to students on the phone, do some filing, and get to know how GSE runs behind the scenes. To make up for the hours of work I'm not able to do this semester, I need to work some weekend events this Spring. I'm working for 4 hours on Friday and 9 hours on Saturday. I'm a person who values their weekend time, so I'm more than a little bummed out about this arrangement. However, I accepted this graduate assistantship knowing that there would be some sacrifices involved, and I know that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks in this situation. I don't have to do those hours every week. Just a few! I will survive.

Complaints like these make me feel like I've gone soft since I stopped working for City Year. When I was working for City Year, I was getting around 5-6 hours of sleep a night, commuting on SEPTA for 2 hours a day, and working 50 hours a week. Of course the biggest difference between City Year life and grad school life is the homework. I had virtually nothing to do at home when I was in City Year. Regardless, I think that I felt more stressed while I was doing City Year than I do now. I'm trying to remember what I did during the last two winters to get through the February Blues, but I'm drawing a blank. Here are two funny things, so that I can at least end this post on a high note:

Courtesy of the Internet:

An Unlined Accident

Several months ago, I popped into the Penn Bookstore at 36th and Walnut to buy a notebook. I really like Moleskine notebooks for some reason, and the bookstore has a wide variety. I remember being in a rush, so I grabbed a pack of three notebooks and headed out. When I got home, I realized that the notebooks I bought were missing something very important…lines! Bah!

Maybe this is making me sound really square, but I like writing on lines. I wasn't too thrilled when I started writing in my unlined notebooks, but they grew on me rather quickly. They opened me up to taking notes in a new way. I've become a big fan of idea webs, which is convenient because I had one due this past week as part of my Term IV assignment. 

The goal of Term IV is to create an integrated unit centered around a specific topic of our choosing. I originally wanted to write a unit on architecture, because I noticed that my 2nd graders LOVE building. Unfortunately, I know pretty much nothing about architecture, and some of the topics I was interested in teaching were already covered in a Social Studies unit on homes that took place earlier in the year. During a great conversation with my Penn Mentor, she suggested a unit on play. Play! This topic spoke to me much more than architecture. I couldn't wait to make my idea web for it. Check it out:

It's a start! 

Spring Semester?

I've always had a hard time calling this time of year the start of the "Spring Semester." Most days are gray and freezing, and spring feels a long way off. I've been back in school for two weeks, and I guess I'm just still adjusting to my new routine.

On January 5th I started student teaching at a new school with a different age group. This semester I'm in an independent school with 2nd graders. My Classroom Mentor (the teacher who is supervising me) is an alum of the Teacher Ed program, and she is wonderful. I've had two great Classroom Mentors thus far. Same goes for my Penn Mentors. Last semester my Penn Mentor was a retired teacher with many years of experience teaching in the School District of Philadelphia. This semester, my Penn Mentor is also an alum on the TEP, though younger, still working, and with more experience in independent schools. She actually taught for some years at the school I am currently student teaching in. Overall, I feel surrounded by experts and highly supported, just like last semester.

So, let's talk about what's changed.

I am a product of an independent school. I went to a K-12 Catholic school in Central PA. It wasn't exactly prestigious, but I think I got a phenomenal education, mostly because of the committed teachers I was fortunate to have - one of whom was my Dad! There are many independent schools in the Philadelphia area, some of which are very prestigious and very expensive. They range from charter schools to Quaker schools to Catholic schools to preparatory schools. Some have their noses higher in the air than others if you know what I mean. I don't want to give too much away about the school I am at now. All I will say is that I definitely have some students who are coming from extremely privileged backgrounds and that is a completely new ball game for me. How do you react when a 2nd grader tells you that he got an iPhone 6 for Christmas? Or how about when one tells you that they found it rather boring to swim with dolphins in Cancun last year but that this year it was much more fun?

Yeah.

I will be the first to admit that I myself am a privileged individual. I'm a white woman with a variety of educational experiences and opportunities both behind me and ahead of me. My parents' careers are not high-paying, but I have wanted for nothing my whole life and I continue to be financially stable even while being in graduate school. But I have never encountered this much wealth. It's overwhelming to me, and when I stop to think about it, it makes me a little queasy.

Two years ago I was working at a public school in East Germantown. If you drove west on Germantown Avenue, you would be in a completely different part of the world from where my students lived and went to school. The school I was at was tiny and definitely neglected by the District. There were some days when my students would need to take tissues to the bathroom because there was no toilet paper. Lunches were the opposite of nutritious. The recess yard featured broken glass, litter, and emptied dime bags. These are the sensory memories I'm left with from that school. I loved the students and teachers I worked with, but the setting was deplorable. It has now been turned into a charter school and as far as I know, it is a completely new environment.

Again, I don't want to describe my current student teaching placement in much detail, but imagine a beautiful building with many educational resources, functioning facilities, nutritious meals, etc, etc.

How can two extremes exist within the same city? One publicly funded institution that was a "failing" school, and one independent institution that is sending 100% of its students to college each year.

I'm not really interested in teaching in independent schools. I've always been committed to high-need urban schools, but I'm gaining new insight in my current placement, and for that I am grateful. I'm being challenged in new ways, and the more I am challenged, the more I grow. Just in time for spring!