Love & Logic Beyond the Classroom

True Life: Love & Logic even works when babysitting :)

My little sweetie: "Do I HAVE to eat brocoli?!?"
Me: (smiling sweetly) "Only if you want dessert!"

That's right.  Love & Logic 1, picky child 0. ;)

Book Review: The Hunger Games Trilogy

My summer goals were very simple: sleep as much as possible, start running again, and read as much as possible. I am delighted to report that I accomplished all three. (Well, at least until my stress fracture last month...but that's a different story...). I read close to 15 books this summer, and hands down the absolute best were the three books in Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games Trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and most recently Mockingjay. Since reading these three books, I have become something resembling a newly-converted religious fanatic, telling everyone I know that they just HAVE to read The Hunger Games. When I told my mom that I haven't been this emotionally invested in a book series since Harry Potter, she finally understood just how amazing the books are and just how deep is my attachment to the characters.

Collins's writing transports the reader hundreds if not thousands of years into the future to the country of Panem, the nation that has risen up from the ashes of what was once the United States. Panem is divided into 12 districts by industry, all ruled by The Capitol, a ruthless government whose primary goal is to keep its districts in submission and to prevent any possibility of democratization on behalf of its citizens. In order to remind citizens that they are permanently under the Capitol's control, the Hunger Games are held each year. 2 "tributes" between ages 12 and 18 are selected from each district to fight to the death in a televised, gladiator-like pursuit in which only one victor will be crowned. As if it's not horrifying enough to have children seized from their homes to compete in this blood bath, their families are forced to watch their children either die helplessly at the hands of other merciless tributes, or, quite possibly worse, be transformed into heartless killers and manipulated by the games themselves.

Not only are all three books incredibly gripping action stories with twists and turns around every corner, but the intense plot is also intertwined with an equally as gripping love story that grows more and more complex in each book. Collins achieves that near impossible author task of getting her readers to fall completely in love with her characters, to a point that not only did I cry when they suffered or died, but I genuinely missed them when one of the books ended. What I think might be even more impressive than that, tough, is that Collins also manages to create a character as complex as Katniss for her protagonist. Too often young adult fiction falls flat with shallow character, or characters that are too perfect. As much as I love Harry Potter, at times Harry is just a little too much of a super hero for me. I think deep down every reader, especially the YA reader, wants to see a bit of themselves in characters. Katniss is truly a human heroine. She makes selfish choices at times (although she also risks her life to save her beloved sister), she can be unforgiving and holds grudges when deeply hurt, and she struggles with making decisions just as most teens do. Who couldn't identify with the broken shell of Katniss in Mockingjay who, after losing those things closest to her in the world, lies on the couch without so much as changing clothes (much less showering)? Collins captures genuine emotions in the 3 books with a rawness that we all can relate to.

By far the best books I've read all summer, the Hunger Games books will certainly be added to my favorite books of all time. While a bit violent for my fifth graders (although the language is tame and the relationship details conveyed tastefully), I would recommend these books to grades 7-12 (and of course adults too!!). Hands down 5 stars.

What they remember

There is a saying, "People will forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel." I believe this is unbelievably true when it comes to students. I don't know why it still surprises me, but I am always partially shocked when my students don't retain information I gave them just days (or in some cases seconds) earlier. That's partly why teachers spend so much time and energy making lessons memorable and relatable. That's us saying, "PLEASE still remember this by the time ISAT tests roll around, I beg you!!!"

Anyways, I was thinking today about a couple memories I still have from elementary school. Honestly, my whole family makes fun of me for having the memory of an elephant--i remember trivial, inconsequential things from as young as age 3. I have lots of school related memories, but it's interesting when I think about why some little moments stand out in my mind years later. For example, I vividly remember how, when I lost a tooth at school in first grade, my teacher let me stand on a chair at her closet so I could see my new toothless smile in the mirror that was mounted inside her closet door. I felt so special. Also, I remember my second grade teacher who, when I told her I liked to save the stickers she put on my worksheets to put in my sticker book at home, would save me the backings off of sticker sheets so I could safely transport my stickers home. Sometimes, she would even leave a couple little stickers on the sheet for me to keep. :) what a special treat.

These are two incredibly tiny acts, but here I am, 23 years old, and I still remember. I remember how my first grade teacher understood how important it is for 7 year olds to be able to see how their smile looks minus 1 tooth RIGHT AWAY. I remember how my second grade teacher knew that a little thing like saving little sheets of coated paper could make an eight year old's whole day. And thinking about these special teacher moments, I realize more than ever that it's the little every day acts that sometimes have the biggest effects on students. Every teacher secretly hopes that she'll be the one to "save" the troubled child, or "turn around" the child with behavior problems. But really, sometimes it's those little things we do to show we care that kids remember.

Keeping this in mind, I'm going to make a special effort this week to connect on a personal level with each of my students and make them feel special, even if just in some little way.

A little too much information, thanks...

I can't believe I forgot to write about this last week, but am so glad I remembered it now. As a teacher and a talkative person in general, I am rarely speechless. But every now and then, my little kiddos say something just unexpected and bizarre enough that I need a moment to scoop my job off of the floor. This was one of them last week:

"Hey Miss Teacher, did you know I consider myself part Canadian?"
"Oh really? Why is that?"
"Oh, because my mom started being pregnant with me while she was on vacation in Canada."
Deadpan...

When I am a mother, I vow never to share any information with my children about when, where, or under what circumstances they were conceived. I feel very strongly about this.
As disturbing as that was, it made me smile. :)
You can't make this stuff up, I swear!

Mmmmm Weekends :)

Things I Love:

• Not setting the alarm 
• Laying in bed as long as possible blogging and browsing the internet
• Lesson plans & grading at Caribou--nothing like a latte and some good music to make planning a little more enjoyable
• Afternoon naps
• And most of all...3 day weekends :)

Just enjoying some relaxing with old friends this weekend...a necessary thing after 2 weeks of school down! :)

Big ouch and Big disappointment...

Ouch.  That's what I'm thinking pretty much anytime I walk these days, or am even on my feet.  Here's why...

This past summer, I rekindled a long absent relationship with running, and fell in love in a big way.  My new BFF running and I got along great for a couple months, then after a VERY painful August run, we suddenly weren't on speaking terms again.  Oh, I tried calling, writing, standing outside the window holding a radio...but running just wouldn't have it.  

Let me explain...actually, it was my right tibia that would have none of this.  And I just found out that things are a LITTLE more complicated than I had first thought...Let's recap:

• August 4th: Went for an evening run and felt a dull pain in my right inner calf almost immediately.  I chalked it up to tight muscles, and kept going.  The pain quickly worsened until at about 1 1/2 miles it was too excruiciating to continue.  In fact, I wasn't even sure if I could hobble home the quarter mile to my house...After some googling, I diagnosed myself with shin splints, threw on an ice pack, and decided to take a few days off of running.
• August 5th: Woke up with a stiff leg, and could barely get out of bed.  I honestly could barely put weight on my leg to walk, and iced it almost constantly, limping around when I had to.
• August 10th: Calf had begun to feel marginally better.  I tried doing lots of extra stretches per recommendation from friends who'd had shin splints.  I decided I was ready to try a run, but the pain came back as intensely as before, and continued throughout the day leaving me with a pitiful limp.  Looks like running was absolutely the wrong choice, and the pain did not go away.
• August 14th: Visited primary care physician, who didn't agree with my shin splints diagnosis based on location of the pain.  X-rayed leg to check for stress fracture; no fracture found.  Diagnosis: tibial muscle injury.  Treatment: ice, rest, advil.
• August 16th-20th: Pain grew less severe, but was almost constant.  I was unable to put full weight on my right leg, and continued limping.  Having started the school year by this time, the whole "rest" portion of treatment wasn't really going well, as I am on my feet running around school all day.
• August 30th:  Went back to primary care physician to beg for a referral to a physical therapist or the like.  He examined my leg (my tibia bone has a big bump all down it BTW), and said he would like to see an MRI of the leg to help identify the muscle injury.  Posible future treatment of physical therapy, depending on the MRI results. Scheduled my MRI.
• September 3rd: MRI of right tibia. (Side note: I was super nervous to have an MRI, partially because I was worried my whole body would have to be in what I dubbed the "coffin" and partly because I'm a fidgeter and worried about keeping still.  It actually turned out to be the most relaxing part of my week, no matter how pathetic that soudns!  There is nothing like laying still surrounded by pillows listening to The Beatles on headphones for an hour+...)
• September 4th: Got a call from my doctor with the results of the MRI.  Turns out they did not find a muscle injury.  They found a bone injury...bummer.  Basically it was a tibial stress fracture with no distinct line, diagnosed as a stress "injury."  On the MRI you can see an 11cm injury to the inner tibial bone, which shows up as fluid on the bone as at heals.  No running allowed for at least 5-6 weeks (on top of the 4 I had already been healing), and see the orthopedist for more conclusive answers...

You can probably imagine how I am feeling right about now...As I have a history of over-training (for that matter, over-studying, over-preparing, you get the idea...), I started this summer of running vowing not to make that mistake again.  I read books about training, selected a plan after research, and STUCK TO IT.  I took rest days and did not run 2 days in a row.  I took it easy and increased my distance SLOWLY.  In short, I did everything I was supposed to do.

Yet here I am with a sore, swollen shin, already going crazy after 5 weeks of not running, with 5 more staring me in the face.  I am not a happy girl.

I have some suspicions about what might have caused the tibia disaster of 2010, since I wasn't overtraining, the usual culprit behind this type of stress injury.   My prime suspect is the fact that I switched to motion control shoes after years of running in neutral shoes at the recommendation of my local running specialty store.  The worst part about this is that, as a new runner, I went there SPECIFICALLY because I wanted an expert opinion on which shoes work best for my feet and gait.  Maybe changing to such a dramatically different shoe wasn't the best choice...

Well, this injury obviously rules out any prospect of the 5 and 10Ks I'd been looking forward to this fall, but I am not giving up hope on Disney Princess yet.  (Partly because I already paid a ridiculous $140 registration fee...)  My half training plan is 12 weeks.  So theoretically, I could be prepared for the race without running before late November.  That's not the BEST case scenario, because it's not such a good idea to come back from an injury and jump right into a training plan, but...we'll see.

And now, it's time for more ice...

My Rotten Brother

This year I have a lot of goals for myself, but one of the biggest ones is to implement Writing Workshop instead of the more traditional writing instruction I engaged in last year.  I wrote last week about the sweet lesson I taught on the first day of school, and I am still loving it as much as I did that day.
It's been a little challenging to just change my perceptions of what a writing block SHOULD be, because during these first weeks I'm not even reading the kids' work or conducting writing conferences yet.  What I'm doing is teaching Ideas lesson after Ideas lesson, getting the kids to start a bunch of different pieces so that they will be able to go back to the ones they like later.

Anyways, my penchant for picture books is no secret.  They are one of the few reasons I ever wonder if I'm teaching the right grade...but then I remember that picture books are not just for 6 year olds.  In fact, I enjoy reading them to older kids even more because there are so many messages in the good ones that are way over the little ones' heads.  One of my absolute favorite picture book authors is Patricia Polacco.  I was first captivated by her when my sixth grader teacher read us Pink and Say, then revisited her again in college when my methods ed teacher introduced us to Thank You, Mr. Falker, a book that chokes my up every time I read it.  In fact, many of Polacco's books get me all choked up.  Part of what touches me most is that her stories are all (or almost all) inspired by memories from her childhood.  In any case, I love sharing them with children.

This week I read aloud a favorite of mine: My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother.  Anyone who knows me knows that my brothers are very special people in my life.  The three of us rarely get to spend time altogether, as not only are we all busy people, but one brother lives in Florida.  However, that doesn't change the fact that when we are together, it's nothing but fun (with some teasing thrown in of course).  They are my heroes and role models. Anyways, Redheaded Brother is a special book to me.  In the story, 'Tricia and her bother Richie do nothing but fight.  He always wants to be better from her, constantly teases her, and she feels like she will never have anything that's all her own.  Typical younger sister complex. :)  In the end of the story, Tricia has an accident at the carnival and hits her head when she falls off a carousel.  Richie ends up carrying her all the way home, then runs all the way to the doctor to bring him to her.  It's a beautiful story.

I paused half-way through the story (when Richie still seemed like a big jerk) and asked my students to raise their hand if they have a "rotten sibling" at home, or if THEY are sometimes the "rotten sibling."  I told them a story about my Rotten Older Brother from childhood.  My oldest brother used to torment me when he was left "in charge" as the babysitter when our parents went out.  I have one vivid memory of a time when I was crying from missing mom & dad, and his plan to stop me from crying was to take my precious teddy bear Fred and put him on top of the ceiling fan.  He threatened to, if I didn't stop crying, turn on the fan and chop my bear to pieces.  Obviously an effective way to stop me from crying...

Anyways, my students giggled and grinned as I dramatically told that story.  Then, during "Writing Time" I sat and wrote the rest of it.  The next day, I shared it with them and they helped me restructure it.  While certainly most of a teacher's time during Writing Workshop should be spent in conferences and helping struggling writers, don't underestimate the value of writing along with your students.  Not only does it help form those precious relationships, but it sets a wonderful example for them, and it's just plain fun.  I promised I will tell them more stories about my "Rotten Brother" (who's not rotten at all anymore!) soon.

When a conversation really does help:

After my last post, I spent the entire evening frustrated about what that student had said about me and our class. I know I promised myself I wouldn't do that anymore--allow a ten year old to get to me, and bring my emotions home to ruminate on like that--but I couldn't help it.  It wasn't the behavior that was bugging me, it was that one comment about the seating arrangement.  I had kind of a, "How dare he?" complex about it...

Anyways, I pulled him into the classroom a little early in the morning and we had a long, calm talk.  And it was actually really positive.  I told him, in true Love & Logic form, "This is your chance to let me know what you're having a problem with and what you don't like in the classroom.  I can't promise I can change everything, but I can explain some things, and hopefully we can come up with a solution to others."  And we actually did come up with a few ideas.  I explained to him that I placed him with the kids at his team because I value his leadership skills.  Sure enough, the rest of the day he was stepping up and helping the kids at his team, even going above and beyond in math to help the boy at his table who constantly struggles.  It was beautiful.

I was SHOCKED though at one piece of information he shared with me during our conversation.  I sensed that he had a complex that I was a "mean teacher" before the year even started, and now I found out why.  It turned out that one of the quiet, just slides by with bare minimum but doesn't cause any trouble, kids from last year told him that I was "really mean to [student] last year," referring to my behavior problem student who constantly had melt downs and needed to be escorted to the office on a daily basis.  My jaw DROPPED.  I cannot believe it that that student is STILL following me around causing me problems, unintentional or not!

I explained some of the things that that student had done in class on a regular basis (throwing things, bullying kids, yelling and screaming, laying on the floor and not working, and talking back), and calmly explained that while I liked him and cared about him, there are consequences for any student who chooses to behave that way.  My goodness.  I never thought I would have to explain why there are consequences for incredibly disruptive, defiant behavior!!!

Anyways, it was a good day with this student after that talk.  Which goes to show you, while it might feel silly to talk to a ten year old like they're an adult, sometimes it really works.  Some kids just need to be shown that you value their opinions and see them as a real person with real things to say.  I'm sure our differences are not settled, but at least we are off to a better start to the year!

That's a new one...

Today was not my happiest of days at school.  While things are still going far better than last year, today I was pretty frustrated all day.  A couple of my boys are causing some problems, some routines are in need of reteaching, and I'm just feeling a little uneasy about my teaching in general (which tends to happen when something goes wrong--I unravel a bit...).  One of my "tough" boys was talking to his neighbors and shouting out answers ALL day long.  When he received a warning or consequence, he completely shut down.  This morning, it was lying belly down on his chair and refusing to do any work/participate.  Fine, I ignored it.  This afternoon, when I pulled him out in the hall to discuss his behavior from the morning and the consequences he would be receiving for it, it was laying on the floor outside of the room and refusing to come in for a good 20 minutes.  Then, at the end of the day when I pulled him aside to let him know I'd be calling his mom about the previous behavior, it was storming off before I could actually have a reteaching conversation.

Well, I called mom to fill her in, and when her son got home, she talked to him a bit before calling me back.  When we spoke the second time, she told me that her son had told her he's upset with me because the African American students in the class are seated "1 at each table group" (which isn't true for all of the groups, but is true at his group and a few of the others).

Yep.  Exactly what I was going for, buddy.  So that's why you're constantly disrupting class and acting defiantly by lying belly down on your chair?

Anyways, my reaction to the mother was a big old, "Ummmmm.....can't say I noticed..."  Honestly, there are so many things I think about when arranging seats.  2 boys and 2 girls per table.  2 lower kids and 2 higher kids.  Try to surround my chatter boxes and flaming tempers with mild mannered, mellow kids.  That is exactly what I had done at his table.  I explained this to mom, and she was not at all accusatory.  I apologized for any misunderstandings, and said I would touch base with him in the morning to share this information with him and problem-solve.

I have been dwelling on this all night though, because I am honestly pissed off.  The truth is that this child is probably mad at me both for giving him a consequence, calling his mom, and probably partly because he's not seated by one of his best friends.  Which he will continue to not be because of the previously mentioned problems.  Anyways, he's mad, making excuses for his behavior, and trying to get me back.

Sigh.  I'm just glad this exhausting, long day is over.  Tomorrow is another day.  I will not let a ten year old get the best of me or unnerve me.  I will keep trying tomorrow.

What to do with the 5th graders who can barely read...

Last year, I had a handful of painfully low readers.  This year, I am very quickly realizing that I didn't even know what low was... Let me clarify.  My school uses the Fountas & Pinnell assessment system to level our readers.  The system assigns students with a letter level based on their fluency and comprehension reading a passage at that level.  Anyways, I asked the literacy specialist to F&P a few of my low readers this week so I could get an idea of their levels.  A 5th grader should typically be around a level S to start the year, and move up to a U by the end of the year.  A few of my little kiddos came out to a level I...and I have 1 still to be tested that I am certain is lower that that.

Yikes.

What does this mean to me?  Well, when I got that news it really just depressed me.  My goodness.  How will I ever meet their needs?  I have no students with identified special needs, so that means I don't get additional classroom support from SSTs (basically special ed push-in teachers).  That means it's up to me to teach these 1st and 2nd grade reading level kids, along with their grade level peers, and a handful that are way beyond grade level.  I promise I won't get too deep into complaining...but I just really don't know where to start.

It breaks my heart to think about how these children got so painfully far behind in something as critical as reading.  I know that there are probably unidentified learning disabilities at stake, but so much also comes down to moving schools frequently and not growing up in a home environment that fosters and encourages reading.  How will I ever be able to catch them up?  How will I ever be able to meet their needs without neglecting my other students?

What does this mean to my teaching?  Well, this is going to be a tough year of teaching literacy, that's for sure.  Not only does it looks like I will have 5 guided reading groups, but with kids that low, they are WAY below comprehension level for even my approaching leveled readers.  Also, they will be able to do very little reading work independently.  I will have to find some creative ways to get them double doses of reading instruction throughout the day, and to modify work to make it more accessible.

I'm really nervous about this, I have to admit...as a young teacher, there is so much I have to learn still, and it's daunting to think that the responsibility for these kids falls on my shoulders.  Of course, it doesn't ALL rest on me.  They will get intervention services because they are Tier 3 kids, and will work with other teachers during our built-in intervention block.  But still...I'm worried.

I guess I will commit once again to doing my very very best this year, and working as hard as I can.  A little luck wouldn't hurt too, so keep your fingers crossed...we could use a reading miracle over here!!!