History with kids

Last week I started meeting with my students. They started school the week before but I had to test new students and attend a workshop, so Wednesday was our first meeting of the year. I decided to read a couple of books about the national anthem since everyone is now singing it every morning. The first book was by Peter Spier and was an illustration of the words of all four verses of the song. That really interested the boys because of the "bombs bursting in air" parts. It was hard for them to wrap their minds around the idea of no cars, phones, cameras, etc. at the time the song was written. Another picture book told the story of how Francis Scott Key came to write the poem/song. I had forgotten the background and even why we were fighting the British. Again, the kids were interested and now, I hope, more motivated to sing every morning.

Once again, building background is so important for these students. Not only do they not know the national anthem, even though many were born in the US, but most of the adults at school assume that everyone has some familiarity with the song.

This leads me back to my rant about testing. It is so unfair to judge teachers, students, schools, and communities by one test score. There is no way to show what students know by this method. Now the mania is pushing down to kindergarten when the person in charge of instruction wants to know how many sight words a kindergarten student should be able to read by the end of the year. What? How about one-their name. Or a few-like McDonalds, Wendy's, Cheerios, stop.

An idea that some pencil pusher in some office in DC extrapolated from business-not education-has us going in exactly the wrong direction to keep our students learning and motivated to be the type of innovators we have had in this country in the past. Check out Susan Ohanian's website for more about our unfair testing system.

Finished The Help

Okay, I finished reading The Help. For the most part I really enjoyed it. The story idea was interesting and kept my attention. The details drove me nuts. I have heard that other Jacksonians of my age also had problems with the details. If a writer is writing fiction, I understand that characters are made up and if the settings is made up, that's fine with me. But if a writer writes about a real place, he/she should get some basic info correct. There should have been someone reading it from this area who was also familiar with the time period. I don't think the author was alive in 1960. She should have checked with people who were. The end notes said she asked her father for info about Jackson at the time. Apparently he wasn't paying attention. Oh, well. It was a good book except for that.
First day of school tomorrow. After three days of meetings and talk about testing, testing, testing, I'm not sure anyone will really feel like teaching. I have a little encourager to share. I'm a little hesitant to share but feel some of my coworkers really need a boost of something positive. I heard one teacher has applied for a job in another field because she is so unhappy. I know I'm not in charge of her happiness but I feel like I should do something to encourage her. She is a good teacher. Teaching is hard enough without sitting and listening to rants about test scores. Help me, Jesus.

Reading Council Pump Up

This past weekend I attended a workshop for reading council leaders in Dallas. It was filled with reading teachers, professors, and other reading professionals. Everyone was to bring a book to share/trade with someone. I took a lot of time deciding which book to take to share and then when time came to trade I was too shy to share it. What's wrong with me? I couldn't go up to a complete stranger and start a conversation. The directions were to choose someone from a different part of the country to share. I thought we would be paired up or grouped up by the leaders. I remember an activity my psychology professor had the class do when I was at U of GA. He turned off the lights and we were to go around the room silently greeting others-shaking hands, etc. I stood in the corner until the lights were turned back on. The book sharing activity was like that. I just couldn't go up to someone and start talking. That seems so strange to me because I have no trouble talking before groups of people when I do presentations. Weird?

The workshop was very helpful and I have lots of ideas for improving the state reading council. But my job is not starting new local councils, I'm the treasurer. I hate being the treasurer but I don't want to give up the job either. When I think about the whole organization, national, state, and local, I find that I most enjoy the time in my local council. I look forward to sharing with other teachers in my area. The state group seems like a bunch of people who are either pushing their own agenda or just too busy to do much. I don't want to be part of the downfall of this group. I joined because of one outgoing person. I wanted to be her friend and part of the vision she had for Mississippi. Now she has retired and moved away. No one has come along to take her place as a charismatic leader. I know it won't be me but we need someone to inspire us soon.

Last days of vacation

We start on the journey home in the morning. The scenery is so beautiful here. The rolling hills of farmland with the sea in the distance is just perfect. Wildflowers are every where along the side of the roads. We've had some great food, too. All kinds of sea food and fresh vegetables from the island. Prince Edward Island is much bigger than I thought. We are staying in the middle and have driven in every direction to see the sights. One surprise is the red sand. Even the beaches have red sand.
There have been frequent comments about our accents. Most people are just curious. One sales girl today was a little indignant that she couldn't understand us because of our accent. Whatever...
Tomorrow we are driving about 9 hours back to Portland, Maine. Then we'll get up Sunday and take the train back to Boston. May have time to get more Italian cookies before catching the flight home. We'll see.
I'm ready to get back home. Once again there's a long list of things to-do. All I want to do is work on a little quilt with the fabric I found here. Got to get that newsletter done first.

Not a writer yet

Everyone was so complimentary of the short play I dashed off for the camp musical. I had begun to think of myself as a writer. People (children) were going to perform my work. Oh, me! I might have to autograph someone's program. So... the reality wasn't quite like I imagined. Either the acting stunk or the writing was lacking or both. The one adult part was performed by a kid who didn't have a clue, couldn't remember the lines or speak them with expression. They stood in a line and didn't add anything to the script. I added a note giving permission/suggestion to ad lib as needed. Boy, it was needed. Next time I will try to give more directions. I guess they couldn't read between the lines or ad lib.
Tonight is the final night of camp. We got through the week and didn't lose anyone to homesickness-almost, but not quite. This was a good camp but I miss the days when I had outgoing, friendly, talented kids, who kept busy and didn't need much hand holding. The fifth graders have made progress from last year and were asking about other camps and longer camps. Pretty amazing compared to last year.
The singing was very good. The songs were singable and just challenging enough to keep the better musicians interested. The staff was congenial but I miss the guys from years ago. Why do things have to change?
And speaking of change. I don't know if I can deal with another college kid music director at church. I may have to go somewhere else on Sundays and just help with Bible Club and children's choir.

Last Day of Summer School

Yes! Today was the last day of summer school. We had scheduled a field trip to the bookstore to pick out our free books. Brittany mentioned that there was a play area with water spouts at the shopping center, so I told the kids to wear shorts and flip flops, thinking they would just get a little wet. Well, I was WRONG! They got a lot wet. But they had a great time. They liked it as much as going to a pool. One problem-they were so soaking wet, that they were cold the rest of the day. One little first grader came prepared with dry clothes to change into when we got back to school. Next time I will tell them to bring a change of clothes if they want to play in the water.
The bookstore is so nice to give us free books and little snack cups of strawberry smoothie. A few of the kids brought money to buy books. A little kindergartner brought two dollars to buy a book and there were no books for two dollars. She looked so sad after being told every book was more than she had, that I told her I would give her the extra money. She got a girly sticker story book. Happy day! The kids who had perfect attendance got an additional free book thanks to their sweet, book loving teacher (and a reward credit card and teacher discount card).
Now summer can begin. I can sleep late. Go to the pool in the quiet of the early morning. And read, read, read.

Almost over

Tomorrow the ballet competition will be over. They will announce who the winners are. The winners will dance one more time. Then everyone will go home. It has been an interesting competition. The first night of round three, in the middle of a dance, a non-competing partner fell down and couldn't continue. They said he had ruptured a tendon. Ouch! His partner went with him to the hospital, so she didn't finish that dance or dance her contemporary dance. Last night she was able to complete the classical dance with another partner and danced a different modern dance.
Unfortunately yesterday a water main broke and there was no water pressure for most of the day. When I got to the auditorium there were rows of port-a-potties on the east plaza. Our aging pipes need to be replaced. How embarrassing. They are announcing the winners tonight on TV but I will get to see them tomorrow night in person. I have decided next time to buy only one ticket for myself for the competition since I couldn't get anyone to go with me to rounds two and three. For the same money I can get really good seats!