Music

At our last new-teacher-induction, I do not remember what we covered or the content we were supposed to learn. I was absolutely maxed out to the extent that I left the induction meeting at one point to talk to my master teacher about some aspects of my job that are wearing me out.

The analogy I was able to create became a valuable lesson from my night at induction - it just wasn't the lesson taught in the meeting.

I met with my Master teacher and explained how I grew up playing the harp. I played the harp with dedication for six years before I went to college and declared music as my major. I enjoyed those early years of learning and playing but I was exhausted...

I was keeping track of everything with the music - I was reading the notes, counting the rhythm, remembering the dynamics, perfecting my technique, practicing with a metronome religiously -- I played beautifully -- I was exhausted.

It wasn't until I was 18 years old and my older sister died of cancer that I began playing the harp for the sake of playing; that I stopped keeping track of all the details involved in playing and I just enjoyed the music.

I was crying as I told my master teacher that I am exhausted of keeping track of everything and I just want to let go of all the pieces and enjoy the job of running the preschool. I just want to breathe that deep, relaxing breath and enjoy the music of the preschool.

My master teacher said that she completely understood -- but it's going to take a few years.

On another note, I watched the move CHALK since our last induction meeting and I LOVED it! It was so real - hilarious - but real.

CHALK is not the story of a young and inspired teacher who sacrifices her marriage and her life for a class of students that are under-privileged and all they need is a chance and her dedication. Then the teacher loses her husband but sees successful students rise out of her blood, sweat and tears - and she knows she's changed their lives. That story is the very rare exception.

CHALK is honest. At the end of the year, it's the honest portrayal of newer teachers answering the questions:
"Did your students learn the content you wanted them to?"
"I don't know."
"Did you teach the curriculum you were supposed to?"
"I tried."
"Do you know if you're coming back next year?"
"No. I don't."

That is the real ending story-line to a first-year teacher.

Vocabulary - Mercurial!

Seriously. Best teacher induction yet.

Mercurial is now a word in my working vocabulary!

mer⋅cu⋅ri⋅al

–adjective

1.	changeable; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic: a mercurial nature.

2.	animated; lively; sprightly; quick-witted.

3.	pertaining to, containing, or caused by the metal mercury.

4.	(initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the god Mercury.

5.	(initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the planet Mercury.

I've used the word 4 or so times since the new teaching induction meeting. I would love to be described a mercurial... not in the evil villain way... but in the animated, lively, sprightly, quick-witted way!

In terms of early-childhood vocabulary, story time is the time we teach new terms. We are currently reading The Kissing Hand, and so NOCTURNAL is one of our vocabulary words.

Between our English-Language Learners, our children with Speech and Language disabilities, and our children who have extensive working vocabularies, I would love more resources as to how to differentiate vocabulary instruction in an early childhood setting.

Assessment

In discussions of assessment, we watched a clip from CLUELESS, for some comedic relief about how parents and students view grades and assessment.

One point that was brought up was that as teachers, we need to pay attention to the student, not the number -- for early childhood, my colleagues and I realized that we need to pay attention to the student, not the demographic.

Given that I have 2/3 of my students on IEPs, and 1/2 my students are "at risk" - it is easy to categorize different students and view their progress and assessments in conjunction with demographics. The truth is, I teach 30 students each day (period). My teaching and assessment and observations need to reflect nothing more than 30 happy students.

The other point I took away from class was to see things for the long term - which I find kind of funny because my kiddos are ages 3-6. Our "long-term" means kindergarten and early elementary school. Nevertheless, it is good to remember that Rome was not built in a day, and all accomplishments are progressive.

Love and Logic

I think Love and Logic has some valuable strategies.

In the preschool world, I work a lot with my staff on keeping several factors in mind:

1. Keeping a loving tone of voice
2. Give the child choices - and choices you can live with and live up to
   
3. When a child does not comply with the teacher's request, there should be a natural consequence

In terms of giving the child choices - and choices you can live with and live up to, an example is "Are you going to come to circle, or do you need me to help you come to circle?"
"Can you find a shape to sit on, or do you need me to find you a shape to sit on?"
"Are you going to build with blocks or do a puzzle?"

When a child does not comply, there will be a natural consequence:

• When a child takes a prolonged period of time to get all their snow gear on, he or she will have less recess time (because all the other students are already dressed and outside with another teacher).
• In one way or another, a child needs to asked to be excused from the lunch table. If a child does not want to ask to be excused, he or she can sit at the lunch table until he or she decides to respectfully ask to be excused.

These are just a few examples of how the preschool tries to use love and logic.

Professional Development November

Today's session:

• I learned about two really cool links today: Interactive Fruit Machine works like a slot machine and chooses one name from a list (like a raffle)
• The other cool link I learned about was an anagram name generator. My best anagram name was Beak Drones On.

Hope these are fun for you as well.

Hopes and Fears

The professional development coordinator asked the new teachers to write about our hopes and fears for this, our first year of teaching.

My hope is to "run an organized ship" so to speak. I will be directing two preschool classrooms with 15 students each, teaching three-, four-, and five-year-olds, working closely with student with special needs, inspiring four full-time and one part-time preschool teachers, organizing the logistics surrounding three or more special education specialists, and trying to keep documentation of most of what occurs in the preschool. I would like to be organized in what the students are doing, when they're doing it, why they're doing, how they're doing it and whether it went well or not.

In addition to organized, I would like to "keep my cool". This is my first full school year in the classroom and the sun will set tonight and rise tomorrow no matter what happens in preschool. I would like to take myself less seriously and laugh more at the craziness that preschool tends to be. Life goes on and God is GOOD!

My prayer for the year is for patience and perspective.

From The Mountain Brooke

From The Mountain Brooke comes The Mountain Classroom.

For my professional development class comes a blog about my "first year" teaching experiences. While I took my job last February, I am excited to log a full year in my school, in my position, and complete that renowned full "first year" of teaching.

This is where I will document various professional development experiences, professional reflections and other lessons (taught and learned) over the course of this school year.

This year I will be the director of a preschool in the mountains... with 30 children a day, nearly 40 children enrolled, 4 teaching assistants, a handful of special needs providers, and my position requiring a hat-rack to hold all the hats I am meant to wear... a year of learning and fun certainly in store.

Stay tuned...