Needed: parenting education

School is out for the summer, and I am out on maternity leave, but I am still thinking about some of my students. One of the students, first written about here has been on my mind a lot. Before the end of the school year, he arrived nearly 90 minutes late to school. His mother explained that they had overslept and missed the school bus. I noticed that the child was crying hysterically and asked the parent what happened. She explained to me that the child was hungry. I noticed that she was eating a bagel and carrying a large container of chocolate milk.

After taking a deep breath, I explained that breakfast at school was over and we were still nearly 90 minutes away from lunch. The mother looked at me with a blank face. I stated calmly that children who are hungry cannot learn. Still she continued to look at me and stuff pieces of bagel in her own mouth, seemingly not bothered by her now screaming child. Finally, I explained again that breakfast at school was over and that her child appeared really hungry. When I suggested that she share the bagel and the chocolate milk with her child, she told me that it was hers. It became increasingly difficult at this point to keep calm and not scream in this woman's face, but somehow or another I managed. I said that she could either sit in the hall and share her food with her child or that she and I and the child go to the nurse and she could explain all of this to the school nurse.

Of course all of this is happening in the midst of center time, so I am also trying to support the other students. Once I put the chairs in the hallway the mother and child sat down and she just stared at me for a while. I supervised this situation from doorway. She ultimately did end up sharing some of the bagel and the chocolate milk with her child. I was floored by the fact that I had to explicitly tell her to do so and it made me think a lot about parenting.

I thought that once you became a parent, certain things were supposed to become natural. Like recognizing this other human being, his needs, and a desire to help him meet those needs. I think I sound judgmental here. I am sure that as a woman, an individual and a parent that she has her own needs and objectives. Maybe she did give the child some food before they arrived at school. But as the classroom teacher, my job is to look out for the needs of my students and advocate for them when those needs are not being met. Needless to say, it was a challenging situation.

When I go back to it in my mind, the parenting educator certification program offered at my alma mater looks really enticing. It makes me want to work with administrators both in the district and in my school building to find ways to support and encourage parents so that situations like these can be minimized or even, ideally eliminated. If that exact situation presented itself again, I am not sure what I would do differently. What, if anything, would you have done? Let the child cry? Beg a small snack from another teacher? Take the child to the office and explain the situation to an administrator?

This particular child will be back in September as far as I know. I can only hope that he has adequate access to food throughout the summer and that this incident was a one time incident and not a chronic occurrence for him.

End of the school year

Its hard to believe that school ended already nearly two weeks ago.

On the last Tuesday, my students put on a stellar performance for their families and the therapists who work with them. Our "show" included three songs and a dance. The students had been practicing for weeks, and even the most reluctant seemed highly enthusiastic and energetic. Then the classroom began to fill with their families. The youngest students just lost it. They couldn't understand why I was asking them to stand with their friends while their beloved family members were within sight. I let these students be with their families during the performance because that is where they needed to be.

One student just had a complete meltdown in the middle of the show for no known reason. Another student who had previously been belting out the words and gestures froze and refused to make eye contact when his parent entered. One parent walked in after everything was over and asked if we could re do it because the bus was late. All in all though, I do believe that they tried their best. I was also excited because this was the first time that every student had SOMEONE there. It is a rotten feeling to look around and see everyone else's family and not see yours. Kudos to the families of my students for making it, for being there for their child. At the end of show, each student took his or her end of year pail ( complete with certificates, bubbles and other summer fun) to his or her family. The families left, most of the students stayed and cookies and juice were enjoyed by all.

After the show and during the last few days of school, many of the parents chatted with me about the pending arrival of my daughter. Some offered labor advice, others expressed disappoint or disapproval of my plans for next year, and still others sent in thoughtful gifts to help welcome The New One.

I worked hard to manage my emotions during this final week. I mean, I am going into unchartered territory. The school year/summer vacation schedule has a familiar rhythm to it. I know what to expect. I make notes about what worked this school year and what I want to improve on. I spend August shopping for deals on school supplies and reviewing my notes about improving my teacher. I am having a baby and will not be in the classroom for the 2010-2011 school year. It's a big difference and the fear of the unknown often found me on the verge of tears as I packed up the classroom, sent student work home, and signed off on my students' cumulative records.

The students inquired several times about when the New One would arrive, assuming it would be that first day of summer vacation. They inquired about their transition to Kindergarten and some expressed sadness about the length of summer vacation. And then suddenly, by some magical force, we were all ready, together. The room was packed, the students gave hugs and powerful goodbyes and there was nothing else to do except enjoy the last few moments we had together as a community of learners.

Having a baby...

....from the point of view of some very funny 5 year old students.

As many of you know, I am expecting my first child in July ( wow, that is next month!) of this year. Time is going by both amazingly slow and unpredictably fast. I am still teaching and my last day will be this coming Friday. Anyway when I was maybe 6 months along, my students finally noticed and started asking questions about my changing body. Here are some highlights. Enjoy!

" Mrs. k1 teacher, are you the old lady who swallowed a fly? Your tummy keeps getting bigger and bigger..."

After seeing a strange looking bulge on one side, one of the students asked "Mrs. K1 teacher, is your baby wearing a hat?"

"Mrs K1 teacher, are you Mexican?" I said that I wasn't and then the follow up question was " Is your baby Mexican?" (While I have a very diverse classroom, none of my students this year are from Mexico and I we haven't read any stories recently that take place in Mexico so this was very much out of the blue)

"Does your baby kick you?" I replied,"Yes sometimes, but sometimes I think she is dancing". The student replied "Oh, well when she kicks you, she should have time out because she is not being safe. Hands and feet on your own body"

After returning from a forty minute lunch break, "Did your baby come at lunchtime?"

And every time they see me drinking water or having a small snack, "Is that for the baby?"

Some of them draw pictures and or write some words and hold them to my stomach, explaining to me carefully that they are showing their picture to the baby.

They have brightened the days with their inquisitiveness and comments and I have been reminded of why I love this age group so much.

Awesome post about reading

Many thanks to Sarah at Confessions of an Untenured Teacher for her awesome post today on reading, found here. There you will find a great video done by the students of Ocoee Middle School. I'm pretty sure that video would motivate many of my students and maybe some of their families to read.

If you are teacher, do you read more in the summer? Do you already have your reading list or are you more of a "go with the flow" person? I myself oscillate between having a fairly lengthy list and going with the moment. Sometimes, I want to read all the of the books on my list right away and at other times, something completely random catches my eye and I am engrossed in something that had nothing to do with my list.

I am currently reading two birth related books, one nonfiction and one novel. Next on my list is "Committed" Elizabeth Gilbert. How about you? What are you currently reading?

Debunking a few myths about early childhood education

Myth #1 The younger the children, the easier it is to teach them in a classroom setting

This is a widely held belief among teachers in my building who have never attempted to teach in an early childhood classroom. I think that every level has its own unique challenges. A good teacher will make it look easy to the casual observer, but that does not mean that he or she thinks it actually is.

I work hard every single day of every week for the entire school year. I was annoyed this past week when a current second grade teacher in my building announced that she would be teaching kindergarten for the last three years before her retirement because she wanted "it to be a little easier." I wish her all the luck in the world come September when she is trying to console 22 five and six year olds who are crying because they miss their mommies. I wish her even more luck when the differences in ability at the age become apparent. Some kids will be coming from a high quality pre-K classroom (like mine) and have all of these amazing academic readiness skills while others are coming from daycare settings and still others are coming away from their parents for the first time. I wonder if in December if she will still think its easy.

Myth #2 All you do is play all day anyways

I think this contributes to myth one above. Yes a good early childhood classroom offers students opportunities to learn through play as that is how young children learn best. That does not mean that the students play from the time they enter the classroom until the dismissal bell rings 6 hours later. Our day includes breakfast and lunch, rest, small group activities, recess, story time, music and large group discussion in addition to center time.

Myth #3 Early Childhood Education doesn't really matter, we need to focus on the grades that take the state standardized test

Early Childhood education does matter. Students in our district don't come to school knowing how to be in school. They need to be taught everything from how to sit on the rug to how to line up to how to wait their turn and get adult attention appropriately. They sometimes need to be taught how to separate from their parents and their parents need to know what is and is not appropriate for a school setting versus a home setting. All of this is in addition to instilling a life long love learning and teaching all of the academic skills that later serve as the foundation for higher level skills and deeper understanding. Can you imagine a fourth grader sitting down to take the state test without being able to separate from his parents, or understand that print moves from left to right, top to bottom?

My administrator is allowing a person to take an early childhood position because he feels that her current position is too close to the age when students take the state tests. I disagree with this notion. I think that if early childhood education was truly understood and supported in my building, we could work together as a school community to give the students an excellent start. Maybe we need the very best teachers in our building to be teaching preK and kindergarten so that students start off as best they can, so that they are given the foundation they need to soar and our set on the path toward reaching their personal bests. By ignoring or devaluing or early childhood, and putting teachers who simply want to pass the time in those positions, you are hurting students chances of success later on. Success is cumulative and not necessarily based on the testing year.

Some things are just not right

My new student started this past Tuesday. He celebrated his third birthday on Saturday and was in school as soon as the bus picked him up Tuesday morning. He seems so young since more than half my class is already 5 years old. He arrived at school with nothing except for a cough that sounded like bronchitis, although I am not a doctor so I can't diagnose. He didn't even come with any diapers or wipes despite needing them. He had a rash on his stomach and a brace on his arm that I knew nothing about.

It amazes me that parents would send their barely three year old child to school without meeting or calling the teacher. It floors me that people would send a child with signficant disabilities to a school setting without even writing down the child's name on a piece of paper and providing an emergency contact number. If something was wrong, this particular child does not have the ability to communicate it. What was even more frustrating was the fact that phone number provided to the office was out of service. So when I did try to call to say that the child needed diapers and was suffering from a nasty cough, it was not productive. How can you as a parent of a very young child with disabilities just assume that your child will be fine?

There was an old lady...

Who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly, perhaps she will die...

Many early childhood educators know this book. Maybe there is a different version that you like better than the one above (she swallowed a fly, maybe she will cry, she swallowed a chick, it made her sick). Regardless of which version you like, this book addresses several early childhood literacy skills. First, it utilizes rhyming words and second, it can be predictable and repetitive, which allows pre-readers to chime in. I was not specifically doing any lessons or projects around this book, but it has been in the book area on and off throughout the year.

The literacy teacher that my students work with did a retelling activity around this book that resulted in a mini-flip book for the students to take home. One of the parents approached me about the book and explained that she thought it was in appropriate for her son's age. I offered to relay a message to the literacy teacher or suggested that the parent visit with that teacher during our upcoming open house. The ironic part though is that this same child owns and is allowed to watch X men and other movies of that type.

What do you think? With a proper introduction about the story being fictional and silly, is the Old lady who swallowed a fly inappropriate for four and five year old students?