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.

Yeah, I can do that

I came away from today's class with two clear thoughts in mind:  First, teaching the Micro-lesson for first graders left me feeling that although the K-1st sector wasn't really high on my radar, I think I could see myself teaching at those grade levels.  I had a lot of fun with the lesson.

Secondly, and counter to the first idea, I have no idea if I could handle that young of a group of kids every day.  It was all fine and good until you all started asking age appropriate questions for first graders that I had not anticipated (expecting, of course, adult appropriate questions).  I know kids say the darndest things and all, I just didn't expect my students to do so.  Lesson learned.

I will be doing my dyad with younger kids and cannot wait.  I think it will really give me an idea if the early age groups are something that I may want to look at.  There is a certain element of fun involved with the younger kids that gets lost as they age and everything seems to get so serious.  I've never pictured myself as a Kindergarten teacher, but then again, I've never NOT pictured myself as one either.

Hopefully getting some more practice with lesson plans across all the ages will help me find where my true strengths are.

Fear the halo of evil

I guess I haven't done the shopping very much in the past few years.  Or, actually, it is probably more of a case that my family doesn't really eat cereal.  After spending an awkward 20 minutes in that aisle researching, I was blown away to find out just how much sugar was in everything.  Discussing it all in class today, and having one of our Micro-Teaching lessons being all about sugar really brought it to the forefront of my mind.

I suppose that I just assumed the sugary cereals were all geared towards the kids, but I found it was actually much more common for the adults to be targeted.  For every Special K or Corn Chex, there was an encircling "halo of evil" of sweetened and modified versions of those same cereals.  "If you like this, then you'll looooooooove these!"  *Ugh*.  Then to actually see how much sugar 17 grams (the standard for sugary cereals as per my research) is, via the presentation from our classmates, provided stunning evidence that we are not being encouraged to make healthy choices by our nation's food providers.

I have been struggling recently to cut down on my sugar intake to provide a better example for my two year old.  Coming from a man with a sweet tooth, it has been a tough battle.  Delving into this topic a bit further is helping me to find some tools that I can use on myself, and potentially with my future students.  The knowledge of what sugars do to the body and where they come from is great information for teaching .

Objectives and GLEs and EALRs, oh my!

Day two of Health and Fitness helped to clear away some of the mist enshrouding state standards.  It also taught me how complicated it can be to create a legitimate lesson plan.  You'd think it would be more simple, but when it comes down to it there are many required steps and procedures.  It all seems a bit daunting.

At the same time, we finally are getting some hands-on practice with these before mysterious tasks.  Practice, practice, practice.  We'll get there, just keep at it.

I will say that my first experience with the EALRs, components and GLEs has me wondering if they weren't designed by the same government group that writes the federal tax code.  It seems like some sort of cruel game designed to even further complicate the lives of educators.  We'll end up spending so much time trying to decipher the standards that we won't have any left to write good lesson plans to cover those standards. 

Maybe that's just the Bill Ayers in me talking (actually, he's screaming and stamping his feet).  To be fair, it is only day one of working with the standards.  In time I am sure we will have a wonderful working relationship; talk about our families, eat lunch together, maybe even get together outside of the job.  Heck, in time we might even become friends, those standards and me.

We're going to hang out a bit this weekend, wish me luck!

Those brave young souls

I now have a new-found respect for all of those elementary school kids out there. 

Today I sat in one classroom for almost eight straight hours, attempting to stay focused and learn something.  I don't know how they manage.  By two o'clock I was spent.  It's not that I was bored, in fact the subject matter and discussions were most engaging, but even for a full grown adult like me it is really hard to sit still for that long.

This is what we expect our kids to do each day.  Admittedly, I am out of practice being in class for an entire day, but it reminded me just how imperative it is for us to truly engage our students.  As hard as it was for me to do when I was into the subject matter, imagine what it would have been like if I was not. 

We must get our students engaged in learning.  We must energize and vitalize them.  Enliven their souls and propel them to strive for greatness.  If we fail to do so and they must sit there, day in and day out, for eight hours at a time, counting the seconds and wishing, longing, to finally be free - I think we have not done our proper duty as educators.