This Week In Education

So I don't know about you guys, but Student Teaching is rapidly approaching and as the days grow shorter, my homework nights are growing longer! Attending all of these orientations (especially at Cleveland County Schools) has pumped me up with the fact that exciting things are headed our way. I have definitely learned the value in a good night's sleep, though. 

As I was perusing the world wide web for something new, flashy, and exciting, I came across a Scholastic blog. I know I've mentioned Scholastic before but this is a blog dedicated to current events that directly affect education in the United States. There are tons of videos, Twitter feeds, articles, quotes, and other features. Right now, a great deal of the content is related to the election and new shifts that will occur because of new presidential authority. I thought this resource would be a great way to stay up to date with things that are going on in the country, while also seeing how they affect education. Since it is a blog, the information is constantly rolling and new things are being posted. 

While all of the content may not be targeted towards a classroom of children, I think it is definitely worth a look for us classroom teachers. That's a mindset shift I have had to make ever since I got heavily involved in my major, and furthermore, career. There are real world decisions being made that are not only going to affect my life, but the lives of my students in and outside my classroom. 

Along with you, I want to be fully aware of my surroundings as I go about pursuing this thing called teaching, and I want to do it to the best of my ability. Being a classroom teacher encompasses so much more than just showing up at 7:30 every morning and leaving at 3. It is coming in extra early and staying extra late so you can make the best instructional decisions for your students. Just like that, this blog has made me realize that if we want education to be our future, we also need to make it our present. What we do now affects what we will do later. Whether that is voting for a candidate that has the most sound standpoints regarding education or choosing to link your Harris Teeter card to your school to raise funds, everything we do affects our career. I think that was made blatantly clear at the Cleveland County Schools orientation tonight, and I plan to make some minor tweaks and adjustments accordingly. That is a connection to NCTCS standard 1D (advocating for schools and students) and standard 1E. 

After having said all of this, I would like to think that I have been examining those professional aspects of teaching a bit more lately as I prepare for the field. I would also hope this blog would be able to educate me a bit more on it as well. 

Princess in the Castle (Or Something Like That)

Once upon a time, there was a princess who dreamed of being queen of the school. She had visions of tidy desks in a row, and a class full of smiling, happy students who were ready to learn. She had been warned of the "little Anitas" and other "less appealing" aspects of teaching, but she shook it all off and just knew she would never have a student that she could not manage. She would just have perfect students. After all, in all of her classroom simulation lessons over the years, no one really could phase her. So that meant she knew it all, right?

Fast forward a few months later, and this princess who dreamed of a castle in which she would teach is still in shock. There are no tidy desks, and the vast majority of her students come from desperate situations, and she spends a lot of her time herding cats (not literally). 

In case you haven't picked up on the analogy, I'm the princess who expected this whole thing to be gentle and easy. I will be the first one to admit that I follow tons and tons of teachers on Instagram. Many of them are sponsored by Teachers Pay Teachers and other educational sites. But I know we all go on those teacher feeds and see what other teachers have going on. 

I'll never forget how, over the summer, there was one teacher who literally posted hundreds of pictures of her classroom on Instagram. She spent the. entire. summer. working on what her classroom looks like. She had the most amazing activities and units designed, ready to go for the upcoming year. She had all of her desks in a row (which is symbolic of having your ducks in a row for teachers) with cutesy decor everywhere. Looking back, she probably spent $1000 on that classroom and I watched (with excitement) all summer long. And when her students arrived in August, they were probably perfect little angels. 

After I did a little more research, it seemed like all of these teachers on Instagram were living fabulous lives of Starbucks and an unlimited line of credit at Hobby Lobby. They held their position in an area of influence which allowed them the extra luxuries of not needing to worry about some of the things that impoverished schools worry about on a daily basis. Their students come from backgrounds that support education. Their students' parents are involved in daily operations of the classroom. I know this and can see this in NCTCS 2B and 2C. 

So you could imagine my surprise when I came to the realization that poverty really, really affects a child's ability to learn. I've found that there are several basic needs that every student has in order to fully learn. Those are:

• trust
• respect (from self and others)
• a voice that matters
• love

With that being said, that is one of the biggest things I have learned so far this semester. I had these big plans of a cutesy classroom with perfect students who never talk out of line...and boy....was I wrong. I've learned strategies on how to truly reach out to my students and meet them where we are. We might not have the flashiest center materials or the best ability to stay on task, but when my students make progress, I make sure they know it. When I find one of my students building another student up, I make sure they know it. When I realize that the four walls of that classroom may be the only place that some of my students experience trust, respect, a voice and love, that changed everything for me. 

I found an article that I believe profoundly states what I've been thinking on for the past few weeks. This article talks about the effects of poverty on children in public education, and is definitely worth a read! 

If I can't be the queen with the neat desks and perfect students, I want to be the teacher who shows my students they have a right to education, because knowledge is power (NCTCS 1D). 

#ElectionDay2016

Well, this week just keeps chugging along and I'm still along for the ride so I guess there's something to be said for that!

Recently, I've been trying to make the election relevant in my classroom without creating an environment for students that is not conducive to learning. Some of my students have brought up the election, which leads me to believe that they are interested in learning about it. I mean, the election is responsible for shaping the next 4-8 years of the United States' future! So naturally, I think we are all interested/curious/invested in the American election process.

I found this really cool Scholastic page that provides a plethora of resources and activities you can use. There are many resources for a variety of grade levels, although its seems that the upper elementary grade levels might be able to benefit the most from this kind of lesson. I think that is because more concrete history and government concepts are taught; especially in fourth grade. 

When I was reviewing these resources in hopes of finding one to use in my clinical classroom, I noticed that there was a great deal of integration to be done with election day festivities. For example, there is obviously a history tie-in, but you could easily do something with math when talking about numbers of votes and such. You could also integrate the election in with language arts studies by having students write a campaign speech. If you're not using a prescribed spelling/vocabulary program, you could even incorporate election terminology into weekly vocabulary for students to learn that way. This idea of integrating the election is especially good for me, because we don't have a prescribed time slot to teach social studies or science.

You also have to be careful not to stray too far from the original intent of your lesson/unit. For instance, I'm teaching fourth grade. North Carolina's social studies curriculum contains a  lot of history standards pertaining to North Carolina, so I it might be a really good idea for me to teach about the election when I'm teaching 4.H.1.3- Explain how people, events and developments brought about changes to communities in various regions of North Carolina. This would be an excellent way to help make students see that connection of how the standard affects them as a person. 

Once you've got your ideas down and they connect with what you're teaching, another step that it very important is to never, ever, ever push one political affiliation over another. I think sometimes we can get carried away and not realize that our ideologies that we have in the classroom mimic those of a political party, but it is okay for our students to disagree with us as teachers. Many of my students like to talk about the candidates and what their parents, media, and other outlets tell them. I want to use classroom time, even if I'm not teaching a social studies lesson, to educate them on the political process of choosing a candidate and how it affects the whole country. I feel that this connects with NCTCS Standards 2(respecting values of diversity) & 4 (facilitation of learning).