Inquiry

Last week I had my second observation from my field instructor.

It was a little nerve wracking since I was teaching a math lesson and it was only the second time I had ever taught math to my students.  That combined with the fact that the material of the lesson was new to the kids, and fairly complex at that, made me worried.

As it turns out, things went fine and the kids did better than I had expected, although there were certainly some who could use some more work.  I stuck with the script from the teacher's manual and threw in a little something of my own to try to provide a different type of example of the "finding a fraction of a fraction" concept we were working on.

But the whole thing got me thinking about how the lesson was scripted in the book.  After teaching the number heavy lesson, I began to wonder if this wouldn't be better taught in more of an inquiry style.  The lesson jumped headlong into numbers on the board, with little chance to elicit kids ideas on how to solve the problems, or even how they thought one would go about taking a smaller piece out of those already small pieces that are fractions.

While reflecting on the lesson with my field instructor I was struck by how much more transparent the concept could have been using manipulatives and letting the students explore the ideas, then share out their thinking.  I started thinking of ways this, or other less number intensive methods would have allowed me to incorporate the Math Talk we have been working with in class as means of bringing my students ideas out into the open.

By using some of those strategies as entry point, my kids who are struggling with the concepts of fractions in general would have been able to make some connections in their own way and this whole lesson would have perhaps clicked for them.  By leaping into numbers right away I may have limited their ways of seeing and learning how to approach this concept of multiplying fractions.

I have written in the past about how I feel manipulatives should be so much more than a recovery tool.  Now I am adding using talk moves to elicit my kids ideas to that list of important math tools.  As I move forward in my teaching practice I want to be able to take what the book gives me and put in as many of those all important pieces such as Math Talk and manipulatives in order to better meet the needs of all of my students.

Faster, better, smarter?

Our recent work with some students working to find out how they feel they are "smart" at math has me thinking of one of my kids at my school, and how he views himself as a mathematician.

I have been spending some time with him during math and am trying to explore some of his ideas about what it means to him to be "smart" at doing mathematics.  Watching him work and talking to him about what strategies he uses to get his solutions, I am often struck as how well he seems to grasp the concepts we are going over.  I have this reaction because his scores on assessments often do not prove this out.

The more I watch and probe, the more I am coming to the realization that he feels people who are "smart" at math are the fastest to complete their work.  He can explain his mathematical thinking, but is often interrupted in his explanation by the discovery of a calculating error made in haste.  This happens frequently.  It also carries over to his assessment work.

Knowing what I do about him, I am trying to instill in him two simple ideas in hopes he can alter his views of what mathematicians do: First, I am working to get him to believe that math is about his process, his strategy, and in the end his accurate results - speed has nothing to do with it.  I want him to be transparent with what he is doing on the paper so he doesn't trip himself up by going to fast and taking shortcuts.

Second, his confidence is often shaken by these errors he makes because of rushing.  He doesn't understand why he is getting things wrong when he feels he knows what to do.  I have had to do some re-building of his esteem.  I ask him: "what strategies do you know that will help you solve this?"  He takes me through his steps on a problem and we find out where things are going wrong together (almost always in simple miscalculations, not concepts).  Part of this rebuilding is to show him that a major part of doing math is knowing how to find and fix your mistakes. 

Now that I know where his struggles lie, I am often stopping by to remind him that "you know the stuff, just take your time and be accurate.  Don't worry about how long it takes you to get there, just get there carefully.  You can do this!"

It seems almost too simple, but now that I have an idea of what is tripping it up and we are addressing it, I have hopes he will do better.  It's a reminder for me that kids do tend to inherently think that faster means better in math, and it can lead to them not seeing themselves as "good at math" when they truly are.  

All together now

Adults and little kids seemingly love to count out loud with one another.  We all did as a class, anyway.  And my son gets a kick out of choral counting with mom and me (all the way to 20!).  But so far my meager evidence from our Tuesday site doesn't prove that out with the elementary school kids. 

Maybe the numbers didn't challenge them enough, or maybe they were weirded out by the odd, tall man who wanted them to loudly skip-count with him, but the kids seemed disinterested to say the least.  I'd love to get another chance to see if I could make it more exciting for those students, but it's probably not in the cards.

That being said, I think I would like to try it with my kids who are used to me.  They got a kick out of the Quick Images, so I think they may go for this too.  I know they would actually really get into the patterns that become revealed, and it's a given that they love to hear themselves talk, so the "out loud" part would be a plus. 

Since they just began to add and subtract fractions, I think it would be a good "math facts" booster to have them count up by simple fractions to start, like 2/3 and 3/4, then maybe something like 7/8 or 5/16 just to be mean as a fun, challenging way to stretch their thinking.

I am interested to see how well they do and what sort of patterns we can find within the numbers if we try it out.  Will keep you posted...

Bask in the beautiful chaos

I sometimes feel like the primary grades student teachers are plotting against me.  I see them down in their first floor hall, talking and laughing, sharing "something" that must be very funny, and just collaborating in general.

Then there's me, all alone up on the second floor, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper (+2 nerd skill points if you remember that show).  The advantage of being the lone intern upstairs is that I am asked/ allowed/ called upon to hop into other classrooms from time to time, which is cool.  I get to see similar teaching techniques and styles used in different ways.  Here are a couple of those educational nuggets:

In our classroom the "turn & talk" is used in multiple ways, but mostly as a means of creating a full table group discussion (and also creating noise).  This is one of my favorite moments, when the silence of direct instruction explodes into 26 different voices and ideas.  The room saturates with the thoughts of the students.

Yet across the way, I have seen it used mainly as a tool for quiet partner sharing.  Still the same number of ways of understanding being expressed, but more calm.  It all has to do with the teacher comfort level with bringing the kids back, and how well they know their kids can handle the freedom of open discussion.

Then there's the gathering on the floor and lining up for the halls.  One of the classrooms nearby is very structured, and those kid have assigned seating in the front of the room for gatherings and designated spots in line.  Yep, all lined up in rows, perfectly designed for efficiency.  This does work well, but it has removed all choice from the students - and in turn all sense of ownership and responsibility for making good decisions.

We roll a little different in 205.  Kids can choose their arrangements, but know to make a good choice of where they are - "Are you going to be able to keep quiet and stay focused by this neighbor?", "Is this a good place for you?".  It sometimes requires 10 seconds of rearranging on our part, but I think that the students becoming self sufficient and learning about putting themselves in positive situations is a valuable life lesson.  There won't always be adults around to do it for them.

Seeing the different strategies used by the teachers I am with makes me realize the my CT does certainly induce situations that are more "messy", but life is very chaotic and by exposing the kids to these situations and giving them the tools to learn how to handle it themselves, I feel we are better serving them in the long run.  

Adventures in subitizing

The cool thing about doing Quick Images with 5th graders is that you can explain the purpose of it to them.  They understand when you explain the concept of children's mathematical development moving from counting single dots at a time, toward more sophisticated ideas like clumping dots together, or recognizing 5 dots immediately based on their knowledge of that pattern from using dice.  They also enjoy saying the word "subitize" as much as I do.

The down side of QI's and 10 year-olds is that the patterns I had to use were not at all difficult for them.  They enjoyed explaining their thinking, hearing other ideas of how to "see" the solution, and getting to play a fun game, but I found that on day one they weren't really stretching their thinking.

So on day two I modified one of the cards at the end of a string of 3.  We were working on patterns of 4 (four dot clusters).  At this point the kids have all put on their cool jackets, popped the collars, and feel like they can breeze through the quick images - having fun, but not working too hard.  I chuckled inside when I heard the collective "hey!", "what?", "was that..?", and other shrieks of doubt when I snuck this doozy in on them:

Really nothing earth-shattering, and most of them got the answer just as quick as with the others once they refocused, but I could tell they had to do some more mental gymnastics to find this one out.  I only had time to get the solution to this one from a couple of students, but it was fascinating nonetheless.  Rather than the typical counting up, adding on, or simple multiplication, this problem required multiple processes.  Here is how they did it: 

"I recognized the shapes as groups of 4, and saw there were blocks of 8, so I started to just multiply those blocks of 8 times the 4 times across.  But then I noticed some were missing, so I looked at it as 3 groups of 4 on each side (as circled above) and got 3 x 4 = 12, and there were 2 of those, so I had 24.  Then I added the 2 little groups of 3 each, so 6 more.  So I got 30."

"I noticed there were two dots missing right away, so I knew that.  I saw it as groups of 4, and it was 4 groups across and 2 groups high, so there were 8 groups of 4.  That means I had 32, and I know it was 2 less than that from the 2 that were missing, so it was really 30."

When this latter solution was re-voiced, we settled on an equation that looked like this: 2 x 4= 8 (groups), x 4 (dots/group) = 32, - 2 (the dots know to be missing) = 30.

 These kids have some pretty sophisticated strategies for solving these puzzles.  They have asked me when we are going to do some more.  I do have some plans to try some even more complicated dot puzzles like these.  I have and idea to do some with half-dots since we are working on adding fractions, and when we start our intro to geometry we are going to do some where they are given 10 little interlocking cubes on their desk and shown a quick image of a 3-D shape that they must replicate with their pieces.

These kids already have the ability to remember and manipulate the images they see in their minds - that is why some of these patterns are easier for them.  I am extremely eager to see how they might handle the more complex spatial manipulation that comes with the geometric shapes, and how they will group different parts of the shapes together - subitizing with geometry, and actually using the manipulatives in front of them to bring the shapes to life.

Feedback loop

As I teach more and more within my classroom, I am starting to get more and more feedback from my CT.  It has all been really positive and helped push me to want to take on more challenges and try new things with our students.

Here is a typical post lesson recap for us (whenever we can find some of that all-precious time): It usually starts with me talking about what I felt went well, and what I noticed that could use some polishing.  Then I ask a question or two about what she would normally do when she sees the lesson going a certain way, or how she deals with those little things that pop up.  I am usually concerned about one or two things that I noticed, and try to go through my thinking during the lesson, and talk about why I made some of the choices that I did.  I know, me over-thinking things, can you believe it?

Case in point: yesterday I was doing some math problems with my kids on their little white boards.  They are starting to learn how to add and subtract fractions.  Some students really get it already, and some are still a little fuzzy.  Two kids in particular are struggling, so I had spent the previous day working with them quite a bit.  As I was giving them the problems I would wait a bit for the kids to "show me they were done", and they were ready to present by raising their boards.  I so desperately wanted those two kids to raise their boards.  The tricky part is if I linger too long to wait for those kids, I lose the other 20 or so.  It's a balancing act.  As the tasks progressed, I still kept waiting for those two boards to raise.  I could see their brains working, but I could also see the eyes of the other kids starting to glaze over.  As we came to the last of our questions, I was determined to hold out and let those kids get their thoughts out of their heads, give them that extra time to put the answer onto their board and raise it high.

The seconds seemed to stretch on forever (it's amazing how 30 seconds feels like 25 minutes when standing in front of that board).  Finally, a miracle!  The boards came up in the air, and a smile came to their faces.  I even chose one of them to explain their thinking, and they did so flawlessly.  My decision to hold out at the risk of losing some of the kids who were farther ahead seemed justified - I now had a student who previously was in doubt, feeling and thinking of themselves as a mathematician, full of confidence.

But still, I am wracked with guilt that the kids who understood the math had to wait an extra ten seconds.  I feel like I have let them down.  This is when my CT chuckles and says "Huh, I thought that went really well - you gave ______ a chance to show her classmates what she knows.  She seemed excited, that was great.  But you know what you could do?  You can write some difficult 'challenge problems' over on the side of the board for those kids who want the extra work - that'll keep them busy while we let the kids who need the extra time work through the math".  Genius, pure genius.  She always seems to have the most simple, perfect solution for my concerns ready and waiting for me.

I guess this is my long way of saying that the best feedback I get from my CT is the acknowledgement that I am noticing the right things and making sound choices.  I am seeing the tricky areas that I'm not so sure about and am not afraid to admit I don't think something was working.  I appreciate that she is eager to share her ideas on how I could get those sticky parts unstuck, and how she lets me know that every teacher runs into those same "difficult spots".

The feedback I get allows me to enter each experience with a fearlessness and willingness to try things out; to not be so worried about doing something wrong, but excited to do those things that I think are right.

That sinking feeling: My science inquiry project about quicksand

My students are currently working in the Land & Water science kit.  They have been learning about groundwater, absorption, runoff, stream patterns, and rain.  They have big tubs of different types of soil components and they add water.

Really we have just learning about the world around us by making, and playing with, mud each day (how is this not the best profession ever?).

This adding of water to clay and sand got me to thinking about quicksand.  It seemed like a fun thing to play with and it tied in nicely with the whole land and water theme.  I have always wondered if the weight and size of a person made a difference in how fast they sunk in quicksand (there's a sleight chance I may have watched too many jungle explorer movies, or played a few too many games of Pitfall as a kid).  Does the small, wiry scientist sink just as fast as the hulking, neck-less poacher?
 
In order to set up an experiment to find this out I would need some quicksand.  Apparently, in the scientific world, we do our experiments about quicksand using Gooblex.  It's a corn-starch and water mix, also known as a "non-Newtonian fluid", that behaves just like quicksand; quick movements meet fierce resistance, while slow movements are allowed.  I decided to make some in order to see if it would both be doable by my students, and serve our quicksand needs.

  I mixed 16oz of cornstarch with 2 cups of water (green food coloring optional).  The whole thing only took about ten minutes, so it met my time criteria, and it seemingly will work for my quicksand tests.  Even if you don't want to do the science, it's pretty weird stuff and fun to make.

Now that I knew I had a viable quicksand, I could form a question for the kids to explore.  I'm still working of this part, so bear with me, but here's my idea so far:

Question:
Does the size, weight, and shape of an object affect how fast it will sink in quicksand?

My plan is to have the kids make their "quicksand" in a 500ml container (the ones we are using are approx. 5" across and 8" tall).  They can then use masking tape to mark a point 3" below the top line of their "quicksand".  I am thinking that if we use the same size and shape objects (our fixed variable) of different weights (changed variable), we can chart the data on a table like this:

From there we can alter the fixed and changed variables to see the effects of size and shape. 

I may need to shorten this to simply being about weight.  Making the "quicksand" and conducting this first phase of the experiment would be a full days lesson in itself.  The "non-Newtonian" fluid doesn't last overnight, I checked.  The water and corn starch separate from one another and the water evaporates, leaving a hard crusty substance behind.

Well, there it is so far.  I will keep you updated on changes and progress.  Let me know what you think, or if you have any ideas.

Learning to lead

Now that I am back in my main placement, I have been looking back at my time in my Dyad and have noticed some differences about how the kids are learning.

The kids at my main school are fantastic at group work.  They seem to really enjoy doing collaborative tasks.  I have seen these kids on many occasions lead their own own group work.  I believe this is a function of having been given this responsibility throughout the years in their schooling.  With only one teacher in the room, this has been an imperative that they can function on their own.

However, I have also seen these same kids very reluctant to drop this independence and raise their hands to ask for help when they are unsure of something.  It is great that they have been given the sense of empowerment that they can do things on their own without the teachers help at all times, but it almost seems to me that they will attempt to struggle on through until I see them stuck and come to help, when they could ask sooner.

Back at my Dyad placement school, things were quite the reverse.  It was a parent cooperative, and there were always adults around to help the kids.  The kids were used to having help at their disposal and were quick to ask for it.  They often did so before they thoroughly attempted to solve a problem on their own.

The main thing that stuck out for me between the two classrooms, as far as the kids go, was the lack of ability of my Dyad kids to function in a group on their own.  My cooperating teacher and I talked about it.  I wonder if the fact that the parent volunteers run all of the small group activities has taken away some of their ability to lead themselves.  It is harder for them to do because they have never had to learn how.

I'm not sure if I feel that one way is better than another, but it's interesting to see how the different school models may be affecting how kids learn.

This made me happy

I invested a lot of time in creating my Thematic Mini Unit.  Man did I ever.  But pouring so much of my imagination and creativity into the project produced something that was fun to read, but boring as all get out to look at.  Writing can be like that sometimes.  Black and white text just isn't visually stimulating.

So I loaded up the Thematic Unit section into Tagxedo.  It's like Wordle, but with lot's of fun shapes.  Here's what came up.  It's a satisfying visual for all my hard work.  I may have even smiled a bit.

It's like heartbreak & puppies.

I moved on from my Dyad placement kids this past week.  It sucks.  It's like losing 25 tiny little adorable friends, and it hurts.

Is this what it will be like every year?  Unless you are in a looped classroom, in which case you get a one year reprieve followed by twice the pain and heartache the next.  Now I know how those who foster puppies must feel: you welcome a bunch of sweet, innocent, little creatures into your life.  You nurture them, and teach them, and watch them grow and mature, then you give them an awkward hug or pat on the shoulder as they walk away from you forever.

To be fair, it was me doing the walking away this time, but the feeling is still the same.  I was wondering how I would feel when this day came.  I have talked with other educators about it, and they have told me it is a difficult part of the profession.  It's a tough feeling.  The only way I have to describe it is that it reminds me of that gut-wrenching feeling of stark panic I get when my mind flash-forwards 16 years and I hear my about-to-graduate-high-school son springing on me his epiphany to "skip college and live in South America", his time-table for return: unknown.

Not that the image of my son (quite strapping at that age, btw) tromping around the wilds of the Amazon frightens me, it is the sense of loss that tears at my heart.  We will be pouring so much of ourselves into these students of ours, it's painful to think about them moving on from us.

I was okay when I parted from my main placement kids the first time around.  I think deep down I knew I would be coming back.  It was easy to be that stolid, rock of a teacher.  After this experience with my 3rd graders, knowing them for only a short time, I begin to question if I will be able to keep up that facade when forced to say goodbye to my fifth graders.  They will be my first true classroom.  I will be spending so many wonderful upcoming days with them, getting to know them so well, helping them to reach for greater heights.

But that's the point isn't it;  in order for them to go after that brilliant future we have been painstakingly preparing them for, we have to let them go.

Manipulation

I've been on this math manipulative kick lately.

Funny thing is, I used to hate them.  I am a product of numbers-only curriculum.  Most of us probably are.  If we didn't get a math concept as kids, we did 100 more problems until we did.  If we still didn't get it, the teacher explained it louder in hopes that we would.  Naturally I was skeptical of any little toy, widget, or cog that was supposed to explain math.  I knew math as a series of numbers and rules; rigid, strict and to be followed without fail.

Flash forward, like, 50 years.  I get how to do that old-skool math, but I am falling in love with those silly little plastic strips and poker chips.  As you all know, my adult self is All About The Process.  I love the idea of getting my hands "dirty" while learning, and want to share this with my students.  I will do this with those in my classroom.  I want them to actively act like mathematicians while doing math.  Manipulatives give me a way to get them elbow deep in mathematics.

That's right; Mr. K's kids will literally be up to their elbows in math.  Getting physical with our numbers.  Kinesthetic cognition at it's finest.

Numbers aren't what math is all about for me anymore.  Sure, they get the short term job done, but in the long run I feel like I have run into problems because just knowing the numbers and rules have let me down.  At some point they fall short.  I was never taught to seek out those patterns that I could transfer over to suit my needs.  Inevitably you end up stuck and your "rules" falter.  There is nowhere for you to go but discourageville.

Discourageville is a sad and dirty little place that I don't want my students visiting.

If by shifting around poker chips for an hour kids can unlock the mystery of a function of mathematics, then it is time well spent.  Yet, from my observations, those poor little cubes and slats and cards only seem to see that light of day when a child is struggling.  I don't get this.  It seems a natural progression to use them to introduce elements of math in order to show concepts, then move onto the numbers.

Why only bring them in to try to "save a child" when their early use could have prevented the crisis in the first place?

Can we get some tech up in here?

I attended my first parent-teacher conference today.  It was pretty cool.

Since I really have no idea how to run one of those things, it was nice to get some ideas on how I can structure the 20 minutes, what student artifacts to use, what to say, and what to ask.

Actually, the superintendent of the district was in my first set parents.  Not that it really mattered, being as I was just observing, but still.  He commented that his daughter "really seemed to be enjoying school this year, but that she had said something about not liking the intern", then he gave me a wry smile and chuckled.  Even knowing he was joking, I still almost peed my pants.

The experience of the conferences was great, but it got me thinking - with all of the technology we have available, why do we need to schedule a meeting to see our student's parents?  Samples of the kid's work could be available online, and any concerns about that work could be voiced by email, Skype, text, cell, etc.

If the whole point of the meetings, as it looked to me, was to see samples of work and use it to talk about strengths or what needs work, then it could have been done in another, more efficient way.  Through technology it could also have happened much sooner, rather than waiting several months into the school year to have an in-depth progress report.

But how would we balance that with the benefit of face to face communication?  I certainly don't want the impersonal robot conference from my earlier post, but we have far, far too much digital assistance at our disposal to be doing things the same old way.

Thoughts?

Overwhelmed & underwater

Blogging seems to have lost all of it's joy for me.

I try to think of deep and thought provoking, or clever and witty things to say about my experiences.  I know they are there, I build upon them almost everyday, but I cannot dredge them up from underneath the layer of mind-numbing coursework-related silt that sits on top of them.

Above said silt runs a fast moving stream of being a husband to a wife I never see (ships passing in the night) and a father to a 2 1/2 year old child with a severe CHD, for whom I will gladly sacrifice writing a lesson plan in order to have a fabulously deejayed dance party, or rush emergency vehicles to every crisis he can imagine.

Whereas I used to work ahead, I am now struggling to barely get by.  Sacrificing reading for one class in order to find time to do work for another.  Being acceptable when I want to be great.

There are now becoming times when I wonder if I can keep this up.  Can I really do this?  I feel overwhelmed and am struggling to tread water in my metaphorical river - trying not to slip underneath the surface.  Sometimes you all see me sigh deeply.  More than anything it is to remind myself I am still breathing and not underwater yet.

I know from speaking with others that many of us are feeling the same way (perhaps no where near as dramatic, but the same nonetheless).  Situations may be slightly different, but we are still at that same murky point.

In a recent reading I found a passage that has reminded me of why I am going through all of this struggle now, and why I will continue to struggle on in the future.  Of why it's worth all of the trials and frustration to become an educator.

Because being a teacher is what I was meant to do, and it's the best job ever.  

It's certainly not a cure-all, but the following words have given me a measure of composure and courage with which to carry on.  I hope they can do the same for anyone else out there who is in need.  Keep up the good fight.

"Sometimes I am totally baffled at the idea that I get paid to read great books with kids; help them write poetry (poetry, I tell you!); benefit from their honest, funny, youthful outlook every day; and then go to bed knowing I've at least approached doing something meaningful in the world. There are approximately two-and-a-half professions like that on the entire planet."

-Dina Strasser

I know, I promised no more talk about robots

"Bringing good teachers to places where good teachers won't go". - Sugata Mitra

Doesn't this sound eerily familiar?  As in, like, Teach For America eerily familiar?  Now, granted, in his TED Talk video Mr. Mitra is speaking of literally bringing educators to the back streets of New Delhi, but the overarching implications for those of us in the educator world is the same. 

I'm all for rapidly bringing teachers into areas where there is a shortage.  My concern is the same one I have with TFA.  How long before the teacher streamed by video into classrooms is seen as a viable alternative to the current educators already in place? In areas in which there is an excess of teachers? 

Computers are cheaper than health benefits.  Computer unions never demand a cost of living pay increase.  Sure, once Skynet comes online the computers will try to kill and enslave us (Google it), but until then streaming an educator into classrooms does have a nice ring to it as the potential solution to our country's education budget crisis.

Mitra does makes some good points.  Technology has empowered our kids to do some amazing learning.  I agree wholeheartedly that "if children have interest, then education happens"; but telling me that "children will learn to do things on computers on their own"?  Well.....duh.

With all due respect Mr. Mitra, there's a reason I go to my 16 and 10 year old nephews for tech advice: kids know things about computers because they play with them.  They tinker with a reckless abandon that only comes with being born into the digital age.  They don't fear them like the rest of us (which is also exactly why we will resist our new computer overlords while they will bow down to them).

This technology could change the world.  Let's just hope it is not at the expense of giving our kids a living, breathing teacher in the room.  There is more to life than learning how to use the interwebs and translate a google doc.  There is a subtlety and nuance to being alive that kids learn through mentorship and interaction with other human beings.  Life is best learned from the living.

Otherwise you get this for your parent teacher conference...

P C & A 2.0 coming soon!

It would seem I have matured some since I began this blog oh so very long ago.  Gone are the days of school girl crushes and robotic dinosaurs bringing peace to the land.  Sure, we will all long for those halcyon days of the past, but now it is time to move on.  We have important work to do as educators!

Soon there will be new and exciting postings to exceed, or at the very least match, the shiny new look of the blog.  Don't fret, I will always be prone to whimsy and random flights of fancy.  However now that I am actually getting to try my hand at teaching, I have heavy, meaty things to discuss.

Stay tuned.

Food, I wish I could quit you

*Food Journal Reflection*

For my Health and Fitness course this quarter we kept to keep a food/ activity journal.  I had never done this before and was not entirely sure how it would go.  I am fully aware that I do not have the best dietary habits and have not been nearly as physically active as I used to be.  It’s been a project of mine to slowly get those two elements to a point where I want them to be before I go into the classroom this autumn. 

Overall I learned that my eating habits, while not good, are not nearly as bad as I thought they would be.  I definitely need to eat more vegetables, but I eat more fruit than I thought, so my number of servings per day in that category is not as deficient as I had assumed. 

Even with the use of the campus gym, my activity level is lower than I would like.  My exercise time often gets hijacked by the need to read for class, and when that is finally done each day, it is late and I need to get to bed. 

I think I am fairly realistic model for my future students; not all of my habits are perfect, but I have identified some areas to work on and am striving to make those healthy changes.  It lets them know that no matter what their starting point, they can set some goals and work to better their habits and gain and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Speaking of goals, after the first week I noticed I had eaten very little in the way of fruits or veggies.  I decided to try to change that for week two.  I started bringing fruit for snacks before and during class, and tried to do some increased cooking for dinner using the vegetables ripening in our garden.  It really just ended up being me eating a lot of carrots and kale, but I suppose it still counts.  My biggest obstacle was on the supply side.  I am pretty lazy about shopping and will just eat what I have on hand.  For me this is a bigger habit that needs changing than the actual diet; making sure to keep the elements of a healthy diet around. 

I set a simple and attainable goal for myself; one that I felt I could reasonably reach.  Kids need to know that it is okay to not always start out reaching for the sky when it comes to goals.  Start small, win big.

Even if there was not time to teach health, kids could still keep a food journal on their own.  It is an easy way to get more understanding of what they eat and could motivate them to pay more attention to food labels.  That new interest in food labels could be turned into studies of percentages and/ or what certain chemicals do in the body, possibly leading to letters to grocery store about the dangers of their deceptive product placement, etc.

Coincidentally appropriate

Today was one of those rare days in which our reading material was illustrated for us first hand.  One of our sources discussed the negative effects that stress has on the brain and our abilities to learn.  Our "break" today left me extremely stressed and tense, and I truly was unable to focus-in and pay much attention during our afternoon class; it was hampering my desire to learn.

Looky there, living proof that not feeling comfortable and being stressed can affect your student's ability to learn and desire to participate in class.

Like the scrambled up brain-science reading example said:  "it's amaznig!"

Ladies, all the ladies, louder now, help me out

Things I learned in class today, part 7: Sex Education

Apparently, "circumcised" and "of a certain size" sound very similar.  Also, the musical stylings of George Michael and Salt 'n' Pepa (google it) did not prepare me to teach sex education nearly as much as I thought they did.

Mostly I learned that even current teachers who's lesson plans are light years ahead of mine still search for a way to make them better, a way to find that missing piece that allows their material to click in with the kids.  For me it was not only reassuring, but inspiring.  I felt very fortunate to get to see an in-service k-8 educator plying his trade right in front of my eyes, going through the same thought processes to develop a lesson plan that we did, and kind enough to narrate them for us as he went.

It raised questions for me about teaching style, teaching methods, and how to deal with your objectives and the state standards.  Our instructors give us the raw basics and most of the tools, but we never really know how to use them.  That is why I thought seeing an educator put them to use and grapple with things first hand was so cool.

Yuck! (tm)

Oh, dear me.  My son is very adventurous, and he has a new found love for candy.  Relevance? you ask. Well, he enjoys pulling over a stool or chair to climb up on to the kitchen counter and get into the cupboards where his new favorite treat resides.  I have requested that he not do this, alas he is a free spirit and cannot be contained!  Actually, he is a very stable climber, so it's not the counter that makes me worry.  It is that he could certainly do this in the bathroom cabinets as well, where the medicines are.

Another thing about my son; he has been taking medication since he was born, so pills are normalcy to him.  They don't scare him in the least, he takes them with relish (no, not literally the condiment, he doesn't seem to like the taste- which is strange because he loves pickles).  I am pretty sure that I have instilled in him the belief that medicines should only be dispersed by his mother or me, yet he is only 2 1/2 years old and precocious; therefore not to be trusted. 

Again, relevance.  Hold on, I'm getting there.  So our segment today on the Yuck! Box makes me very nervous.  Those pills and candies look waaaaaaay too much alike.  Not that it would matter to my child, who has no aversion to pills.  It is a great eye opener to me that I need to invest some free time (I know, what's that? AmIright?) in Yuck!ing up my house.  Honestly though, I think the super-sweet rave-green Mr. Yuck! stickers would only encourage him to be deviant.  What's a father to do?

I think the Yuck! Box is a great teaching tool for both parents and educators.  Both to alert kids to be careful because medicines are increasingly looking like candy, and to show the deceptive advertising and packaging used by manufacturers (very similar to the cereal aisle).  "Buy our drugs, they're just like candy!"  Our little activity in class today really got me thinking about this.

Mr. Yuck! isn't totally to keep the kids away from stuff.  It also helps serve as a reminder to us parents, or anyone with a vested interest in the safety of children, to not become complacent.

Just do it

I tend to waffle when I am not sure what to do.  It's a failing of mine.  I am sure there are many people out there who are the same.  There is a compulsion I have to sure of a decision before I make it, know all of the details before I act.

My wife works with assault and abuse victims of a regular basis.  Knowing what she does about me, one of the first things she did once I was accepted into this teaching program was to explain to me my future obligations as a mandatory reporter.  The basic gist of it was that it was not my job to gather all the facts- there are people paid to do that- it was my job to report if I had any suspicions at all.  Sure, it may turn out to be awkward, but better to err on the side of caution.  Me feeling silly is a far, far better result than a child being harmed.

So Thursdays presentation on Abuse and reporting was, for better or worse, information I was already privy to.  That being said, it is extremely important stuff to know.  I tend to take a moral and ethic stance when it comes to education, and the problems of abuse run counter to my ideals of community and people having respect for, and being good to one another.

I think we have all learned that it is our duty to report if we have doubts in any situation.  We should all prefer that we potentially experience some awkward moments as opposed to any child being mistreated.