MCC Friday Reflections

It's early morning.  The last day of school for 2012 is upon us as Winter Break will begin at 3:00 pm today.  The classroom is empty with the exception of the Christmas music playing in the background.  The students' desks are neatly waiting for their owners to arrive.  On each desk lay a Friday Reflection assignment, a candy cane, and two spearmint starlight mints.   I've spent 18 years working with children ranging from ages 5-12.  Beginning in 1994 in my hometown of Oak Park working with Hephzibah Children's Association until 2001 when I had my first 4th grade class here at Lincoln.  Over those many years I have witnessed the delight in hundreds of childrens' eyes at the mention of Christmastime and the Holiday Season.   Times have changed dramatically since my first experience working with kids.  Five Presidents have been elected, the millennium was ushered in under the cloak of Y2K, the Twin Towers fell and brought wi...

Our classroom calendar "sticks" to the whiteboard and has velcro on each day of the month in order to put up the actual date.  Each month's dates have a different kind of "shape" to represent it...during the month of December the dates are written on snowflake shapes.  Of course, this is because one would expect snow during the month of December living in a suburb of Chicago. Not the case this year.  It is December 14th and it has yet to snow.  I haven't seen one flake.  Yet the reminders of winter are all around us.  We even had a reading test last week where one of the stories was titled, "Snowflakes".  Many of the ties I wear around this time of year have snow somewhere on them.   As we were outside during a recess I had a short discussion with one student about the weather.  The conversation led to a small discussion about global warming.  We talked about pollution and the ozone layer and how it might affect the weather. ...

The kids are writing right now.  They are taking their Unit 3 writing test.  As I look up I see a sea of pencils moving back and forth, people adjusting themselves in their chairs.  Some kids are deep in thought only to quickly jot down those thoughts.  I see kids "mouthing" the words they are writing, then turning their pencils over to erase something that doesn't seem right.  Every so often one of them gets up to sharpen a pencil.  Occasionally they will stretch, take a bite of their snack, or a drink of their water bottle.  At times, they will get e fresh piece of paper as they have much to say with this prompt.   The room is quiet.  The tapping of my computer keys as I write this reflection is one of the only sounds that float across the room.  The sliding of a chair every so often accompanies it.  The familiar sound of pencils scritch-scratching along the paper provides a soothing hum for the room.  Hea...

When I was a kid we played outside from the time school was over until dinner time.  We played with the neighborhood kids...of all ages and both genders.  We played games that required nothing except maybe a ball (or a can) and our unbridled energy.  While playing we rarely fought over rules or technicalities...simply because there were so few rules.  During our play we formed memories and friendships that have lasted a lifetime.  In spite of our differences we managed to have fun...pure fun.   My students have been having a rough go of it on the playground lately.  There seemed to be a problem every single day during recess.  From afar I watched to see what I could make of the complaining that had been so prevalent.  I watched the games that were being played, the groups of kids that walked around the playground, the loners and the ones who just couldn't seem to stay in one place long enough to establish themselves.  I watched as...

When the school year started I was assigned 28 students.  I put together my class lists, arranged the desks and other furniture in the classroom to accommodate so many.  I made sure I had enough books, storage areas, and other daily items we would need to have a successful year.  I then took some time to prepare myself.  I knew that 28 children in a classroom would be a lot.  I knew, also, that as the teacher I cannot allow the number of students I have to determine how the year will proceed and progress.  Housing 28 kids in one classroom for 6.5 hours per day, 5 days a week would prove to be quite the experience.  I prepared myself to take on the challenge that this would naturally present.  I reached back to the days before I was a teacher, when I was a Daycare Supervisor/Program Coordinator for a before-and-after school program as well as the summer program for Hephzibah Children's Association of Oak Park, IL.  I had been in charge of...

I have a quote that sits behind me on the wall.  It's a small piece of paper, hardly noticeable.  It reads, "The object of teaching a child is to enable [him] to get along without [his] teacher" ---Ebert Hubbard Those very words hold much of what I strive for as a teacher.  Providing my students with the tools necessary to be independent of me in their learning is a goal I employ every year.  The more I work on my goal, the more I help kids learn how to learn, and how to be self-sufficient. This week I had the distinct pleasure of realizing a part of my goal.  It came in the form of three students who, without even knowing that my goal exists, demonstrated the very essence of  "getting along without [their] teacher" . In one instance, a student presented me with a self-made map of England; complete with a key, a compass rose, and major cities marked and labeled.  This came from a discussion we had engaged in this week while learning ...

They say "Laughter is the best medicine".  The science behind this has to do with the release of endorphins while a a true laugh is being experienced.  Endorphins generally make us feel good.  Endorphins help us to feel at ease as well, a sense of safety if you will.  Endorphins are also responsible for some feelings of "closeness" to others through shared experiences. The classroom is a curious place.  In it are many people.  Each person having their own personality.  Each having their own set of experiences.  The dynamics of a classroom can change often.  From year to year, as a teacher, I get to experience the different climates of each class as they pass through my world. Somewhere along the line of a school year, the "honeymoon" period comes to a halt.  The true personalities of students and teacher come forth.  There are two paths that this revelation can take...one of "personality clashing" or one of "...