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?
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!
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:
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:
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!
Tomorrow is my last day of student teaching with my kindergarteners. It feels strange to say it, but I have plenty of experience saying goodbye to students. I student taught when I was in college, and I had five different placements because I was working with a traveling music teacher (a middle school, a high school, and three elementary schools). I had a lot of goodbyes to make then. After that, I did two years of City Year, which meant getting to know and love two schools' worth of amazing students and saying goodbye to them when my term of service was up. My first City Year's goodbyes were the hardest goodbyes.
Tomorrow, I will be able to handle the farewells, mostly because one of my classmates is going to be student teaching there next semester. Also, I am accompanying the 3rd and 4th grade choir in their holiday concert next Tuesday, so I feel like it's not really goodbye yet. Check in next week to see how I'm feeling about it.
I have some fun things planned for tomorrow! First, I am making them a poster that is based off of a DIY holiday card I saw on Buzzfeed. It's going to have a string of lights on it (with the colored lights being painted fingerprints), and I'm going to write "Thanks for lighting up my life!" I know it's cheesy, but I like it. Then I'm going to cut it up into 25 puzzle pieces and number them. Each student will get an envelope that has their name on it. Inside the envelope will be a little note from me as well as a puzzle piece. We will count around the room and one by one the students will put the puzzle together. After they read the message on the card (or I read it to them), we're going to make a poster for their new student teacher. Part of the poster will have questions for her that they want answered (e.g. What's your favorite color? Where are you from?), and then the rest will be things they want her to know about their classroom. Hopefully the poster will ease the transition from one student teacher to the next.
In other news, Term III has been successfully handed in, and the semester is quickly coming to a close. Tomorrow is my last day of student teaching and then Thursday is my last day of class! Say hello to the last big assignment I am working on:
"Poppy" is a children's book I am writing and illustrating for my Elementary Literacy Methods course. Poppy is a soda can who is manufactured in central PA and sent to a corner store in West Philly (slightly autobiographical). Someone buys her, and drinks her, but they don't recycle her! They drop her on the ground so Poppy has to make it on her own, exploring all West Philly has to offer until someone picks her up, recycles her, and…
I honestly haven't figured out the ending yet. It's due Thursday, so hopefully I will have one by then!
If you're reading this, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I spent a lot of time with my family over break. My holiday was full of babies, boardgames, and FOOD! But, the holiday is over and it's back to reality. The reality is my Term III assignment is due on Friday the 12th at 11:59 pm!!!!
For my Term III assignment I had to come up with an overarching question about instruction. My question is:
How can I ask high-level questions to encourage discussion among a group of students? If students respond incorrectly, how can I use their answers to add to the group’s learning?
So, with that question in mind I had to plan and execute four small group lessons in each of the content areas. Now that the lessons are done (except for the science lesson I'm doing on Monday), it's time to analyze my teaching via a nifty website called Edthena, and write a bunch of lovely papers that will then be put on a beautiful website that I created on Weebly. Here are pictures of a couple of the pages on my website.
So, knowing that I have less than a week to complete this monster of an assignment is sort of freaking me out, but there are certain things I do or that I am looking forward to which help me maintain my sanity and positivity. Here they are, in no particular order.
1.
I drink tea. Lots of tea. Tea is superior to coffee for many reasons. First and foremost, it is cheaper than coffee and doesn't require any special machinery to make it! If you have a stove top or a microwave, you are ready to make tea. Also, there are caffeinated and decaffeinated options to fit your drinking desires. There is no such thing as truly caffeine-free coffee. My favorite types of tea are Pumpkin or Vanilla Chai tea for when I want a bit of caffeine, and Chamomile or Sleepy Time tea for when I want to relax. My boyfriend got to tour the Celestial Tea factory in Denver, CO and got me a pretty mug with an R on it. The tea pot and kettle were both things we inherited from former roommates.
2.
I take walks. James and I like to do Wednesday Walks. It's a little tradition that helps us escape our homework (he's also at Penn for grad school) and get out of the apartment for a little bit. And sometimes we stop at The Lil' Pop Shop which always cheers me up. I love walking to and from campus as well as to and from my placement. It's fun to try and notice new things, even after walking the same paths day after day. A little tip for walking to school: be friendly to the crossing guards! They are great to talk to in the morning.
Here's Passion Pit, who also wants you to take a walk.
3.
I practice piano. My Mom is a musician and she kindly lets me borrow her keyboard for the majority of the year. I'm a violinist and vocalist by training, but I've always loved playing the piano. Practicing helps me clear my mind, and it's also nice to work hard at something that isn't school work or my resume. I'm currently playing Christmas music and "Waltz from the Adventures of Ivan" by Aram Khachaturian." This isn't me playing, but here's a video from youtube of the piece.
4.
I play games! I am a big fan of boardgames, as is one of my aunts. Over Thanksgiving she introduced my family to a really fun game called Dabble. Everyone gets 20 tiles. When the timer starts, you flip the tiles over and try to spell 5 words with them: a 2-letter word, a 3-letter word, a 4-letter word, a 5-letter word, and a 6-letter word. It is SO fun. The picture is from a round that I was particularly proud of. Games are a great way to spend time with the people you love and get your mind off of school work! For boardgames, I love Catan and Tribond. For card games, I love Hand and Foot, Euchre, and 500.
5.
I keep holiday traditions alive! White Christmas is one of my favorite movies of all time, as well as one of my favorite Christmas movies. I make a point to watch it every year, but last year my sister and I saw it at The Rave! It was amazing to see a movie on the big screen that we grew up watching in black and white. Seeing it on the big screen is definitely a tradition that we are going to keep alive. This movie is such a big part of my family culture that when my sister got married last year, my sisters and I did the famous "Sisters" dance from the movie - blue, feathery fans and all! Eventually my whole family joined in and it wasn't just the sisters dance. If you have no idea what I'm talking about you NEED to see this movie, or just watch the clips below. The first one is the real one, and the second one is Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye's spoof. Amazing.
6.
I remember why I'm doing this. In a matter of months I am going to be a TEACHER. That makes it all worth it.
Hello! I am a current student in Penn GSE's Teacher Education Program (Elementary Strand). I'm writing this blog as part of a Graduate Assistantship with Penn GSE's Financial Aid and Admissions Office.
