MCC Friday Reflections

Each year I start the year with three writing assignments.  The first is a fun poem called a “Bio-Poem”.  Kids write about their family, the things they love the most, their beliefs, fears, curiosities, and their hopes and dreams for the future.  Their picture accompanies the poem and it hangs on their in-class locker door for the entire year.  It’s a nice way to get to know each child in my room. The second writing is titled, “It’s All About Me” and the third assignment is titled, “It’s All About Us”.  These two writings go hand-in-hand as the children develop them. Each of these writings employs three of the six “Character Counts” traits (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, & Citizenship)  as a way for kids to describe how they conduct themselves on a personal level as well as in the classroom. “It’s All About Me” allows each young author to find ways that demonstrate “Character Counts” traits in their personal life.  I...

Walking into my eleventh year as a teacher; looking once again into the faces and eyes of young people; taking time with them to establish the relationship they will have with me, each other, and with learning.  The beginning of a new school year always provides new insights to life. Our conversations over the past two days revolved around setting the stage for a successful school year for everyone.  The atmosphere was calm, genuine, and intelligent. The one aspect that rose from our conversation is that simplicity is going to be the name of the game.  When we spoke of rules and expectations we spoke of them in simple terms.  These terms were understood by all, agreed upon by the collective voices, and accepted as our path chosen.  From our simple rules we gathered ourselves into conversations about how specific events would fit into the simple rules.  Each time we generated an example of a behavior my students were able to grasp the idea that i...

The summer winds down and we look ahead to a new school year. What will it bring? What will we learn? These questions revolve around what we are willing to invest in ourselves. Each year I set goals not only for my students but for myself as a teacher.  This year I would like to focus my energies on helping my students be as independent as possible...and by this I mean having them be an integral part of what they are learning.  It is the responsibility for one's learning that produces the the longest lasting effect. I look forward to this year.  I look forward to meeting the next group of kids to traverse through Room 202.  I know that this year, being my 11th year teaching and my 17th year working with kids and families, that we will all benefit from a atmosphere of shared goals; common goals. While I haven't yet met my students, my sights are set upon developing a relationship with each and every one of them...a relationship built on trust, mutual res...

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