Comforting

This is the last vocabulary life lesson that I will use on this blog. It has been a terrific journey to find uses for these words everyday at school. Where do I go from here? Well these words have helped me to love my job and find enjoyment in what I do each day. These words have also brought me a deeper understanding of ways that I can reach out in little ways to build communication with adults and students.

As I mentioned on a previous blog, I started this project in hopes of building staff relationships throughout the entire building. But found that was a challenge that I was not successful at achieving. Instead, I had to focus my attention inward to what I could and could not control. As I started to focus on one word a day, I started to find ways to communicate with people. I started to find ways to listen, respect, and enjoy others. It helped me become a better person.

Now, with this wealth of knowledge that I have acquired over time, I can help build a stronger mentoring program at our school. The language of the words that I have discovered along the way are insightful.

Curious

In our school building you can walk into any classroom and see children curious to learn. I love reading time the most because you see children working in small groups. They seemed to be more engaged as they work in their groups.

In one classroom, I walked in and the children were sitting on the floor working on reading activities. I could tell which children were curious and wanted to complete their activity and which were not involved in learning. But, for the most part they were all very into their activities.

Inspirational

Have you ever taught a lesson and wondered what just happened? You thought you were doing the best job ever and then you look up and look into the faces of those who just did not understand. Now that I pull small groups it is even more apparent when my children do not understand the lesson. Well there is this one boy that I worked with constantly on letters. We cannot seem to get past L and R. Everyday we work on one letter until I think that we get it. Then the next day I ask him the name of the letter and he cannot tell me.

Well as we were going through our normal dance routine of what letter is this, he had a moment. He looked for a few seconds and gave a heavy sigh and then, said the letter. That was a truly inspirational moment for me. I showed him another card and he was able to do that one too. I could not believe how the letters just started to fall out of his mouth. I wish I could tell that he knew them all, but he was only able to give me 8, which was better than the 2 he previously knew. I was proud of him. He was proud of himself. It was a great moment for both of us. Maybe as we continue he will learn a few more letter and more still until he learns them all.

Support

When you have the type of flexibility that I do, then you are able to be in and out of each classroom. Therefore, as I am hearing and seeing different things that arise, I have time to offer advice and other ideas. One teacher came to me saying that she is worried about one of the students that I pull. Apparently this student has some autistic tendencies. She asked if I would sit down with her and complete a behavior checklist of concerns.

I found myself torn. Part of me wanted to help support her and part of me feared that we were classifying this child without the proper ability to be able to do so. Therefore, I reached out to someone who could support me. She is our preschool special education specialist. She has a wealth of knowledge about working with children who require special attention. When I went to talk with her, she told me that at this age most children tend to display autistic tendencies. And, more so now than ever because the checklist of autism increases every year. She suggested that instead of the teacher and myself sitting down to just list which behaviors the student exhibited that were autistic, that we instead list the behaviors and chart when he does them, why, and what the teacher's response was. She further suggested that we try different strategies to fix those behaviors- explaining that if the behaviors could be fixed then that would give more insight into if her were autistic or not.

Her suggestions and support made me feel better and when I talked with the teacher she agreed. It was nice that we were trying to solve the problems without skipping to the step of diagnosing that there was a real problem.

Eager

Do you know what a Smartboard is? It is a technological invention that allows you to project computer images on a large screen. Already been done you say? Well with a Smartboard, people can touch the board so that it becomes an interactive technology tool. It is really great to have one in the classroom. It allows for every child to have access to the lesson being taught and to participate with technology in a more hands-on way. The following link will take you to a demonstration of how to use a Smartboard:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqmrIqWQiAw








Today I walked into two classrooms and saw them using their Smartboard. One class was working on sight words and circling the sight words that the teacher called out. The other class was connected to the Internet visiting a website that allowed them to practice their letters. Wow! I can truly tell you that in each class the children were very eager to learn. It was refreshing watching such high levels of student engagement and motivation. One of the most remarkable events was that the students were very patient awaiting their turn and watched intently as other took a turn. It is not everyday that you can wait for a group of Kindergarten students to wait patiently.






Each child's eager face made me reflect on several of the NCATE indicators:



learning environment- those two teacher were providing a safe and stimulating learning environment for their children by doing something just a little different



assessment- it was great to have immediate and visual feedback for what students understood during the lesson



technology- they were not at individual computers but were provided a tool that could allow for whole group work







Overall, they were great lessons to watch. I have used Smartboards with older students, but never knew that Kindergarten students would becomes so involved in using them.

Delighted

We have a great maintenance staff at our school. They are friendly to everyone especially the children. One of the ladies that works with us always takes a few moments to come to my room and check on me and chat about the day. It makes you feel great knowing that people are there to take care of you. The vocabulary word - delighted- can easily describe how they feel about working at the school.

I can remember one of the men who helps to keep our school clean working on the glass doors and windows. He was scrubbing finger prints off the doors where lots of tiny hands had touched. I said to him, I bet you have to do that so often many times a day. He remarked that he did but that it was worth it to see such sweet small hand prints on the glass. I have been at schools where that same conversation would have gone in a different direction. There would have been a lot of complaining about children touching things and the need for teachers to control them. It is nice to have a group of people who really understand how kindergarten students are.

On Friday, they were also delighted to add additional holiday decorations around the school. Three of the five maintenance workers were in the hallways hanging Santa dolls, blowing up a sponge bob Santa, and placing snowmen around the school. I could see in their faces that they were really enjoying their job. When I asked them about what they were doing, they said they were bringing Christmas joy to the little ones. They were just as delighted to do that as the children were delighted to see all of the fixtures in the hallway.

Encouragement and Confidence

A first year teacher whom I usually talk to daily came to me about feeling overwhelmed. She has a student in her class who has anxiety. There isn't a clear defined thing that sets him off. Instead, he happens to just have moments where he goes into fits of crying, screaming, and/ or completely shuts down and can not function. As she walked him out to his car, she talked with his mother about setting up a conference. His mom panicked and started to cry saying that she thought this were getting better. Her reaction completely dismayed the teacher, who lost her confidence in herself. She felt that she had upset the parent and maybe even harmed the student's chances of being successful.



I gave her words of encouragement and tried to help her feel better about being such a good advocate for this child. But I could still tell from the look on her face that she still did not have confidence in herself. So, I sent her an email that had a link to a confidence website and a poem about encouragement. The next day that I saw her she said it meant a lot that I took the time to think about her problem and found solutions for how to help her. We also brainstormed some ideas together about things that she could try to help that child cope in the classroom. We also reached out to other teachers that could help her. As I was working to build her confidence, I noticed that I was also working on mine. It is a great responsibility to be able to help someone. It is also very rewarding to help someone who really needs it. It does not happen everyday that you can reach out and help people; so when someone came to me because they believed that I was able to help that made me feel better. It made me feel confident.

This website takes you to the page that I sent her:
http://www.mindtools.com/selfconf.html

This the poem that I sent:
Anonymous Encouragement Poem:
"When things go wrong as they sometimes will,When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,When care is pressing you down a bit,Rest if you must, but don't you quit.Life is queer with its twists and turns,As every one of us sometimes learns,And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;Don't give up though the pace seems slow--You may succeed with another blow,Success is failure turned inside out--The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,And you never can tell how close you are,It may be near when it seems so far;So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."~ Unknown
http://www.inspirationalspark.com/encouragement-quotes.html

Interested

Are you interested in the best way to keep a Kindergarten student on task during this time of year? Well it's funny because it is a method that never worked for me while teaching third grade. Maybe because the children were too old to care about such things or it was not cool for them to care. Either way this never worked. I happened to be in a teacher's classroom. One child was crying because she did not have a chance to complete an activity before it was time to switch centers. The teacher and students tried to ignore her and continue with their next center. She started to get louder and louder until she was screaming about it not being fair. The teacher did not say anything directly to the student; instead she went over to the list of things that they made telling Santa what they wanted. Then the teacher says in a calm voice, "I guess I'm going to have to tell Santa that 'Taylor' does not want that special toy that she said she wanted since she's crying and scream. Maybe I should call him on my cell phone now and let him know." In the time that it took the teacher to walk from the list over to grab her phone, the little girl stood up, stopped crying, and moved to her next center.

The lesson that I learned from this moment was that it not force that will make children mind an adult. Instead, it is finding something that they care about to make them listen. That child really cared about Santa coming to her house and bringing the things that she wanted. We are allowed to have corporal punishment as a consequence at our school. It has been nice that around this time of year I don't hear or see children crying and screaming down the hallway headed to the Principal's office. Instead, within each classroom is the simple reminder that one special night this month there is a possibility that if they are good enough they might just receive something that they hoped for.

Giving

It is that time of year where giving is on the minds of people. As I walked around school I started a list of things that I noticed people giving...

* time to talk

* books to share

* pictures of family

* advice about how to work with children

* meetings that help improve instruction

* taking a child that is lost to see the nurse

* copies of activities to try with their class

* time to conference with parents

This just proved that there is more than one way to give. Sometimes the giving of such things as time and advice are lost amongst the things that people can physically put in someone's hand. It was nice to have to take a moment and find those things that were given at our school that did not involve "gifts." Perhaps though the most important thing that was given was this very tall Christmas tree put up in the front of the library. It was completely awesome to walk past this tree each time a student was around. They stopped and stared with open mouths, and you could see the sparkle in their eyes. It was if they were at the actual North Pole visiting Santa Claus in person and not at school. One child was walking towards me as I passed the tree and he pointed and said Wow Wee Wow that's some tree. He stood beside it and looked up. He was so tiny next to such a large tree. He jumped as high as he could hoping to touch the top. It was perfect. In that moment he gave me the gift of joy. Sometimes we count down the days till school is out for winter break with grand enthusiasm and forget day to day wonderful moments. This child's enjoyment gave me a chance to reflect on my job and think about how much I love what I do. And, the tree brought him and other children joy as well. Who knew that something so small could mean so much.

Encouraging

Picture this- It is the first Monday back after a nice relaxing holiday week. The children are excited to be back and want to tell you everything that they did over break. They also need time to warm up their brains to get back into the swing of learning. So, as a teacher you try your hardest to focus their attention, contain their energy, and allow them to express their excitement. It is the typical first day back to school.

So, when the bell finally rings from a long, exhausting, but completely enjoyable day- you are ready to rush your little ones to their cars so that they can go home and rest as can you. Then you hear something outside your window. It is the sound of rain drops. In your hear you are starting to dread the rain because you have to take your children to the front of the school and wait outside - under a covered but still wet sidewalk -for their parents to come. Who could use a little encouragement to get through this type of day? EVERYONE!!!!

And, that is exactly what the principal committed to doing. He was outside with the rest of the staff and students waiting on cars to pick up children. He had is umbrella standing on the non-covered side opening and closing car doors. It meant something to the staff to not be alone outside on a day such as this one. The principal could have simply chosen to stay in his office and watch car pickups from his warm office. Instead, it was encouraging to see him in the trenches with the rest of the crew!

In my opinion it was a very great example of the NCATE standard of professionalism in that he was offering support and guidance in a simple yet effective way. I can learn from his example that sometimes it is not policies or words that effect people, but simple actions!

Concerned

I started putting together ideas for a power point that I would use for my mentor meeting. I found the following websites helpful in giving me ideas for what to include on the power point:
http://apps.mentoring.org/training/TMT/index.adp
http://www.mentoring.org/
http://www.middleweb.com/mentoring.html
http://www.opi.mt.gov/SpecED/Mentor/

As I admitted earlier I had hesitations about completing this project. I was concerned about not being informed enough in some ways to be able to train mentors properly. What I discovered from reading information on each of those sites was that the words that I have worked to define thus far were a connection to mentoring. Each word was a quality that a mentor needed to exhibit in order to be the best fit for the mentee.

I watched the following link on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzAcldp1LcQ&feature=related

It is a short clip about what not to do as a mentor. What is interesting about this clip is that the person portraying the role of mentor is more concerned about himself and what is important to him and less concerned about ways that he can help his mentee. When I explain the meaning of showing concern at the mentor training, I would like to think about this clip as an explanation.

Caring

"Feeling and exhibiting concern and empathy for others" (retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/caring).

That is the definition of caring as found on the web. The perfect example of that came today from such a great group of people to work with. Friday evening, my little girl started having breathing problems and we rushed her to the ER. They were completely wonderful working with her. It was such a blessing. They discovered that she had difficulty breathing because of the amount of congestion built up in her chest and nose. They gave us medicine and sent us home very reassured that things would get better.

Today we had a follow-up visit with her doctor to make sure things were going as they should. I decided to not go to work today and instead stay home and take care of her and make sure that she got to the doctor's office. I sent an email to the principal and all of the staff that I work with explaining what happened. I expected responses that said -"OK, that's fine" or "thanks for letting us know. But what I got was so much more. People told me they were praying for her, they hoped that she felt better, not to worry about being at school but to worry about my little girl, they told me to take care of her the best that I could that she was precious, that they understood how hard it could be to deal with situations like this, that they had similar experiences with their children and could relate, and that I could call to talk to them if I needed. How in the world did I get so blessed to be part of such a caring staff.

The NCATE indicator of professionalism suggest that it is the ability to develop positive relationships amongst students. I felt that if I remove the word students and think of this in terms of teachers or staff that I feel that I am making positive connections. For them to reach out to me with such kindness brought a smile to my face.

Consideration

Friday the principal called me into his office. He wanted to talk about our mentoring program at school. We have 7 new teachers and they each have a mentor. He had heard from an unnamed source that there might be a problem with our mentor program. When we started our conversation, I started to ask him questions about type of training and expectations of the program that were set for the mentors and mentees. He mentioned that the only training that each had received was at the start of the school year from Central Office. We did not personally complete any training at our school. He felt that we needed to back track and offer a training that could benefit both groups. He asked if I would like to be part of the process.

As I pondered the question, I took a deep breath, smiled big, and said sure I would love to help. But, inside I was thinking, please no not me I am already overwhelmed. (But who isn't). When I walked away (with heavy feet I might add) from his office, I headed to my working office room and started to think. In the process of thinking I realized that this provided me with the opportunity to put into action everything that I originally wanted to do with this project for the practicum. I wanted to build relationships, but became lost in the process because of some factors outside of my control. Then I started my life vocabulary lessons that have allowed me to see the great and wonderful things about our school. I kept thinking about ways that I could share my vocabulary life lessons in a meaningful way. The mentoring program would allow me to work in some of the wonderful things that are happening in my learning and build relationships.

So, the word for Friday was consideration. It turned out to be the perfect word for such a day. I was considerate in listening to the principal about his need for help. He was considerate for considering me for the person who could help with this project. I can now consider how as I grow in my personal learning experiences and social experiment to build relationships from the bottom up how that can effect and help others.

“Optimism is "an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome".[1] It is the philosophical opposite of pessimism. Optimists generally believe that people and events are inherently good, so that most situations work out in the end for the best.” (Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimism November 19, 2009)

I would love to tell you with optimism that the child in the picture showed the same favorable desire to work with me today as he did running from our small group to join his class outside, but he did not.

I had to pull him away from his social time on the playground to work with him. He tried to hide behind the rock climbing wall and when that did work, he pretended he didn’t hear me call his name. My heart just about broke because I enjoy working with this child. I get to pull him one-on-one. He is a quiet child and if you did not have the chance to get him by himself then you would miss that he has important thoughts in his head. He is also very quiet smart, which means that people tend to not realize just how much he knows because he sits back and stares at things or does not seem to pay attention.

So, he came (not with much optimism on his part that he would enjoy our learning time) and sat down. We started practicing our letters, syllables, and letter sounds. Eventually he really started to enjoy the lesson. He quickly forgot about the children playing outside and worked just as hard as if I had pulled him from his least favorite activity.

In working with him my belief in optimism was renewed. I could have easily told myself to leave him on the playground and skip our lesson today. That would have been a pessimistic attitude setting in to believe that he could not adapt and move forward. I am glad to that I had this experience today because it brought forth this idea that I need to approach my day with a little more glee. I might not always be where I want to be when I want to be there or sometimes I might even be pulled to go somewhere I do not want to go. Regardless to that, there are good things that can come out of the things that we do not necessarily want to do if we give it a try.

Humor

Making people smile is important. Did you know that it could be important to your health. According to a video that I had a chance to watch on YouTube, laughter can help improve your mood and your levels of stress. The following link takes you to that video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCrcFcfp-Mg. Another tool that is important to your health is chocolate. The following link gives insight into how it can also effect your mood: http://www.asianhomerecipe.com/cooking_tips/medical-uses-chocolate.php.

I know you are wondering what does this have to do with the life lesson vocabulary word of the day? Well today several of us teachers had a chance to share some humorous moments as we ate chocolate provided by parents. I have included pictures of the chocolate bar that parents put together for this week's appreciation week. It was great to have a social event during the day that allowed us come together and talk and share a few humours stories. I will say that the conversations were slow to start, but in time warmed up. I am not sure if it was the freedom of time, the desire to talk, or just the chocolate that had us laughing. One woman shared stories about her children playing sports. Another woman had a chance to talk about how her husband was in the "doghouse" once again. Two teachers laughed at one child who likes to spell his name as he says his name every single time someone asks him his name. I was able to talk to a teacher expecting a child in two weeks about sleep and loss of breath as we walk the long halls.

Who knew that chocolate and laughter could be so healing to the heart, mind, and body? It was nice to realize that while we have different stories to tell that we are similar to each other. One of the NCATE indicators is diversity in which there is a community where all individual differences are respected. With a little time, effort, and a mountain of chocolate we had the chance to really learn about each other. It was the perfect humorous day!

Enthusiasm

Working with children in small group situations gives me a chance to really relate to the students and understand the best ways to help them. After having an entire classroom for six years to compare to this year where I work with small groups it is rewarding in a different way. The children in the small group always willingly come to the door ready to learn. They want to do their best and love all of the attention that their receive. An article I discovered on the Internet suggested that working in small groups is an important structure that helps to foster better learning (http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/E2T2/smallgrouplearning.html).

Research does not specifically highlight that enthusiasm is an important factor of small group work, however it is. Today I had a chance to listen in on a small group session between a para professional teacher and three students. They were working on letters. Two of the students were having a difficult time remembering their letters, while one student understood her letters. What was wonderful about viewing this work session was that while the two children did not have a strong grasp of letters and the one child did- they were all excited to learn. The para professional kept an encouraging voice and gave them opportunities for success.

Positive

Monday mornings are difficult. Especially when the Mondays get closer to Thanksgiving. Therefore, I set the goal to be positive today and give that energy off to others if possible. Well, entering the building started very well. Everyone that I passed said good morning and asked about the weekend. Students seemed to be smiling as they came into the school. It was really a great way to start Monday. On top of that this week is Teacher Appreciation week so parents had breakfast set up for the teachers. So, it was a day filled with positive energy.

One of the best things that happened today was a surprise for a group of the students. Three students from the high school came over to read to them. They gathered all of the children in the Pod together in one area. Then the readers stood up with a big book and read to them. The children's faces completely told the story of positive. They loved every moment. At the end of the story, the clapped and cheered as if they had seen a Broadway Production. It really brightened my day to see such great energy. One of the teachers in that particular Pod made the arrangements because it is American Education Week. Her plan provided am Instructional Strategy that helped sparks student's interest in reading.

Respect

It was your typical Friday. Everyone was bustling about waiting for the day to end. So, imagine my surprise when I noticed two teachers after school standing around planning for next week. I decided to stop my mad dash to my office to pack up and leave and listen in on their conversation. They were talking about the upcoming American Education Week at the school. The teacher on the right in the picture is the mentor teacher to the first year teacher on the left. The mentor teacher was giving her suggestions of activities that she could do with her class. Parents are able to come to the classroom 30 minutes before lunch so she was helping her think through the little details of things to accomplish before that day.

I felt that this moment offered a perfect example of respect. The mentor teacher had enough respect for her role and position to offer advice and the mentee had enough respect for her mentor to reach out and ask for help. I found myself being taken in on this discussion on a Friday afternoon and joining in with my own ideas. It was a great opportunity to foster a Learning Environment (NCATE indicator 5) in which we are working together to plan for student learning as well as provide parental involvement in the learning process.

When I finally looked at the clock, I noticed that it was now 30 minutes past time to leave on a Friday. We laughed about still being at school and how we could probably hear a pin drop since everyone else had decided to leave. We put closure on the discussion and decided to make it home to our await families. It is comforting to have that type of respect for each other- especially on a Friday!

Empathy/ Smypathy

I walked into a classroom to prepare my area to work with a group of children. I noticed a teacher in the corner staring at the computer screen, face red, and sitting very still. I said hello and asked how she was doing. That one question turned into a discussion about her mother-in-law who is currently in ICU part of the hospital.

Her mother-in-law started having trouble with her breathing two weeks ago. The doctors thought that they had everything under control and sent her home with medicine to regulate the breathing. Two days ago she had an episode that ended her in the hospital ICU. The teacher's husband had to fly to see his mother leaving his wife and daughter at home. She mentioned that he took his daughter's APPLE IPOD phone to be able to send email messages throughout the day. She explained that is why she was on the computer waiting to check messages from her husband.

I felt myself asking the right questions and showing the right concern, but wondered if it was enough? How can you show properly show empathy or sympathy when you are just starting to know someone? I found and watched the following video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL76NhS77hs

It teaches parents how to teach their children to show empathy. The video is also great at explaining what empathy is. On the same page as the video are a collection of comments by others who have viewed this video. What I found interesting within those discussions are the varying degrees in what people believe empathy to be versus sympathy and how some people even felt that you could not learn nor show either.

So, back to my example today. I listened to her and could relate to her feelings. I even commented about keeping her family in my prayers. So I believe that I was showing true empathy. I also feel that this incident forced me to use a diverse set of communication skills. I am very well versed to speak on professional matters, but sometimes have a difficult time expressing myself on personal situations. This provided an opportunity to develop that skill, which connects with the NCATE communication indicators 7.2, 7.3. I found myself having to use verbal and nonverbal skills to question and actively listen. Overall today I learned that without empathy, it is impossible to really hear someone because you will not be putting yourself in their shoes.

Compassion

Today we were out of school due to observance of Veteran's Day holiday. We did not have any interaction with each other face to face, but one teacher send the following email to the entire school community.

I found this link for activities for Veterans' Day.
http://www4.va.gov/kids/k-5/index.asp?intSiteID=2

K.G

I consider this an excellent example of compassion. According to the Encarta online dictionary compassion is defined as "...often a desire to help" retrieved November 11 from http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861599097/compassion.html.

What was great about this show of compassion is that K.G. used the technology as a means for communication. We do not always have to be helpful by physically being present. Instead, there are times that we can give the same amount of assistance through such technological facets as an email. This use of technology follows the NCATE indicator of technology by showing it as a use for teaching and learning.

Kindness

The following quote helped to explain the day and give insight to the word kindness:

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. ~Author Unknown retrieved from http://www.quotegarden.com/kindness.html


Today started normal with everyone greeting each other as we passed in the hallways. We seem to be a pretty good school about saying good morning and hello to each other.

Interestingly several acts of kindness were spotted during the day. A teacher was late returning from her conference and so another teacher stepped in to have her students eat snack in her room until the conference was over. Another teacher was running a little late coming to retrieve her students from P.E., so the teacher that has P.E at the same time and a room next door, collected all the students and had them head back to the classroom. The secretary needed help sorting paper, so I helped her count stacks and place in each teacher's mailbox.

Reflecting on these thoughtful acts of kindness makes me think about the NCATE indicator Human Development. The following link http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev/ gives a broad understanding of human development. Suggesting that it deals with ones ability to reach their highest potential and maturity at the appropriate time. This is very similar to the type of development suggested in the NCATE indicators, which states the following:

2.2 Understands the physical, emotional, and social development of young people and the relationship of these to learning readiness and to cognitive development

As I start to notice and myself exhibit acts of kindness, I can see that the emotional and social development of forming meaningful relationships is happening throughout the school. At the start of the school year, everyone was not ready to lend a helping hand in a meaningful manner. It would be a superficial act of kindness so that one could receive something in return. However, now we are ready to be part of a kind community.

Kindness as a teaching strategy for children would be that we "treat others the way we want to be treated." That would be the motto that would influence an entire lesson plan write up about kindness. In that lesson I would have my students think about ways that we could show kindness and provide activities that are appropriate for their stage of human development.

As an adult outside of the classroom, I can notice kindness and I can provide kindness to the people that I come into contact with. I can provide a model for how kindness works and therefore providing a lesson.

It is great to see that in 3 months, our staff has developed into being ready to display maturity and reaching their highest potential for lending helping hands of kindness.

Friendly

My vocabulary life word today was friendly. There were so many people to choose from but I decided on one. Mr. Thomas the janitor. He is very quiet going about doing his job without talking or tyring to be seen. Those are the people that we tend to forget. Today I decided to be friendly by saying hello, asking him how he was doing. We ended up in a long conversation. He asked about my new baby girl and we had pleasant small talk. Because of my decision to be friendly, when I went to him later in the day to ask him to borrow a cart to move some things in my car into the building, he stopped what he was doing, got the cart, and help me load and unload everything. Day one was a successful day!

Starting Over

It happens to the best of us. We start to think that we can carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. We even feel that we are doing a great job until pieces of it start falling down around us. Then, all that is left sticking to you are the tiny pieces of things that you did not want to carry in the first place. SO, you finally make the smart choice to let it all go and start anew. That's where I am at this moment!

My original project idea was to effect change and build relationships in the entire school community. The first meetings with small groups went great. I was excited about helping others and they seemed to all be responding well. Then, I went to a meeting with a group and they told me that they did not need help building relationships. They said that kindergarten teachers always got along with each other. One teacher even asked me how long I had been teaching. I mentioned that this was my seventh year and she said in her 25 years of teaching, she always got along with people and did not see how a conversation and activities from me would help. I even lost some support with the administration because he started to get bogged down with different things that he was responsible for completing and did not or could not schedule in some of the team building activities that I wanted to offer. So, I became discouraged. I started to doubt that relationship building was a necessity. I thought well let me just stay in my room with my door closed and hope for the best. But, that is not who I am as a person.

I like people. I like to make people smile and help when needed. I like to make people feel good about themselves and the day. So my project has changed. I am know going to focus on how I can build relationships in meaningful ways to me. So, my idea is to introduce the 2 week new me project.

What is that? Well in two weeks- everyday- I am going to select a descriptive word for building relationships like the following: friendly, respectful, compassion, team work, etc. I will select one word a day and my goal is to put that word into action. It is almost like a vocabulary life lesson. The daily word will give me a format for how to approach people to put that word in action and think about if I see others exhibiting that word. I am excited about the 2 weeks new me project because it gives me a chance to evoke change and build relationships in a very indirect manner. I have learned that I cannot control everyone but I can control how I deal with everyone.

Building Classroom Relationships

I discovered this great article which I posted at the end of this page about classroom relationships. It goes through a series of questions and ideas to ask students that will help foster and create a positive community. The interesting thing about the article is I started to see how we as educators send so much time making sure that our students get along that sometimes we forget those same principles for ourselves. We have to remember that what require from our students is what we must require for ourselves.

Meeting of the Minds

This week we had a faculty meeting where we had a chance to work on some professional team building. We had to examine our school improvement plan. The principal and I presented the plan to the staff. The most important part was looking at the goals that we set this year for reading, math, discipline, and parental involvement. The best part of presenting this plan was the manner in which everyone reflectively thought about ways to make our school better. People seemed genuinely interested in what they would have to do in the classroom to better our students.

I guess when I reflect on it - I start to see just how important building professional relationships are as well as personal relationships. If we can all continue to stay focused on our goals then perhaps when things get difficult then we can relate back to those goals.

Pod Meetings

I have now completed meeting with each of the three Pod groups at my school. I introduced my first idea of ways to communicate. We did a quick paper tearing activity that showed how we hear and receive communication differently. I also talked about the word Compassion and used quotes to explain how we could better reach our goals as a school by practicing compassion. Interestingly enough each group that I went to mentioned the same thing- that they felt that they had already bonded. And, socially I think they have. So now my focus is on professional bonding to keep the central focus on the students.

Overheard in the office

So this is the conversation I overheard between a parent and co-worker. You be the judge on how things could have been better. I already have my thoughts.

Parent: Can we bring in food to have lunch with student?
Co-worker: Sure, just make sure you take it out of the wrapper and container and put in a plastic or brown paper bag.
Parent: Why?
Co-Worker: Because it will make the other students upset.
Parent: At my old school we use to have a table in the corner away from the other students that we could sit at with our child. Do we have something like that?
Co-worker: No. We don't need that here. Just make sure to take the food out of the original bag. That should be fine.
Parent: Do you think if we suggest a table like that the principal would agree?
Co-worker: I'll mention it to him.

Parent leaves the room.

Co-worker: What a pain. I don't have time to talk to the principal about something silly like that.

This became a note for me to think about one way I can build this type of realtionship!

What would the world be like if we all took a second to think about what we said before it came out of our mouth? Maybe people would be nicer to each other. Or maybe people would spend a lot less time wondering.