Greg's... Glory Days

I just read an article on one of my favorite shows from Nickelodeon simply entitled "Doug." If you haven't seen it then I pity your childhood. This show was so fabulous. In the days where there were very few television stations and one of them (the insidious, corporate giant referred to as Disney) ruled the cartoon world; some talented people created a new network and in the process created a wonderful show that would change my life for the better.

"Doug" had everything that I wanted including adventure, philosophy, and love. I always pictured myself as the protagonist, Douglas Yancy Funnie. I've dressed up a few times as a Quailman, bought a journal because of him, and when I get my own dog I will name it Porkchop...regardless of sex.

The only reason I bring this up is because the creator of the show, Jim Jinkins, recently chatted about the production of the show. He mentioned how the writers of "Doug" would always have a theme or purpose for each episode. They wrote with the plain intent of getting a message across to their audience. I've learned many lessons from watching this show and I feel I'm better for it. I still remember the day Doug graduated from middle school and learned that it's okay to be fearful of the unknown and that others are probably feeling the same. I also learned that despite our challenges we need to focus on our personal gifts, talents, and strengths to accomplish great things.

What is it kids these days are learning? Jim says that they aren't making cartoons with morals or life lessons anymore. That is unless you count living in a pineapple under the sea and catching jellyfish while flipping Krabby Patties a life lesson. After talking and interacting with my students I get the feeling that they are watching more television than my generation ever did. I would be fine with that if I felt they got something from it. I remember learning all of states in the U.S. with the intent of winning the final challenge on "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" just so I could say, "Do it Rockapella," as the sirens sang my praise of accomplishment. I remember enjoying the fantastic world of Bill Nye in the comfort of my home.

What I see today is a generation that calls the t.v. "babysitter" and that babysitter isn't helping our kids. Parents are busy, I understand that, but let us be responsible enough to find programs that are uplifting, informative, and morally good. This sounds like a soapbox about bad parenting, but it's not. Parents are doing the best they can...for the most part. This is a soapbox on nostalgia and the great things I remember about growing up. I know that every generation has their "thing" they remember, but I feel like the new "thing" is merely entertainment value. This sucks as a teacher because it's hard for me to constantly keep my students' attention because they are used to a fast paced and energetic entertainment system. I really try to keep their attention, but it's gotten really ridiculous.

ONOMAT...WHATA?

I've been told by the greatest teacher in the world (Rafe Esquith) that to become a great teacher you should do three things.
1. Incorporate your passions as much as possible.
2. Add something new to your teaching every year.
3. Don't give up!

I've taken his advice and have done at least the first two. I am very passionate about theater and the arts. I say the arts because that involves everything from music, to theater, to movies. So this year I decided to add a theater club to my class. We meet 3 times a week for 1 1/2 hours after school and we practice Shakespeare for a performance we are going to put on at the end of the year. As I've been doing this I realized a few things.
1. Don't steal other people's passions.
2. When doing anything, make it fun.

The last one I learned the hard way. I started my theater club with 17 people. That is pretty much a full class of students in our school. I thought I was going to have a hard time finding parts for everyone, but then slowly the numbers started dwindling down. I believe the last person that will leave theater club has just left it and now my number is down to 7. After investigating why she left, she simply said it was boring. OUCH! that hurt my pride a little, but I decided to do something about it.

My passion is theater, not Shakespeare. My other passion is making movies. We decided as a club that we are going to make fun little movies every Thursday in the hopes of spicing up our routine. The students really liked it and I had a lot of fun making it. After seeing the finished project I asked myself why I hadn't been doing this from day one. For your viewing enjoyment, I present the Ellis Theater Club movie debut.



UPDATE:
I entered our video into a contest for NEXTVISTA.ORG and...(drum roll) WE WON!!! They voted on it in a Technology Conference in St. Louis and the crowd chose ours. I'm really happy with my students and their accomplishments. So are they. Visit it here.

And then....

So remember that one time I decided to write a lot and then ended up doing the opposite? Well, that was sooooo 2011. Welcome 2012...February of 2012. OOPS. So it's been awhile so I must have plenty to write about teaching. I know I probably should, but I really don't. I have some challenging students, both academically and behaviorally, but I don't feel I have a lot to report on. Let me see if I can reach into the furthest corners of my mind and bring out something grandiose. Ummmmm, maybe the 6 levels of moral development.




I've worked on this ever since I was in student teaching and I really believe everyone should know about these. I learned about it from my main man Rafe Esquith. He explains them much better than I could, so I will just let him do that. My brother is starting to use them in his class as well and he came up with a brilliant idea. I threw away my old crummy chart that I dabbled with in photoshop and had my brother make new posters that could be hung up in class. It's Star Wars themed and it's great. Here is a look at them.



Well, the kids love it and I hope it makes a little more sense to them when I explain things to them. They are in bookmark form so they can be reminded of them on a daily basis. Also, half of the year is over and I only have 20 kids in my class, down from 24. I guess I'm scaring them off.

First day of School...Part Deux

New year, New grade, New students.What isn't there to love about this time of the year? I've decided to keep this blog as a short diary about my daily routine as a teacher instead of what my blog turned into, which was a philosophical look on education. I would rather just remember the fun and horrible things that happen to me each and every day. Let's talk about how this was the worst day EVER! The other 5th grade teachers had the same thought, so it doesn't make me feel nearly as bad about myself. Just a talkative group of kids I suppose. Let me run off a list of horrible things that happened.
- Was supposed to spend a large portion of the day having my kids take some math tests on the computers...computers didn't work.
- Got new computers, they didn't have the program on them so I had to scrap the whole thing.
- As I was trying to frantically put names and passwords into the computer for the tests that we didn't take, I had a kid come to me bleeding from the elbow.
- While I was helping her, another kid farted. YEP...during a silent coloring time.
- Decided to scrap everything we had planned for the last hour of the day to work on policies and procedures. (why didn't we plan to do this for the first 3 days anyway?)
- Had the superintendent and principal pop into the class in the middle of a new math program we had to start today.
- Started a new math program that explains math in a way I don't even understand.
ETC...ETC...ETC...
I'm complaining a lot, but really it was a bad day. Just motivation to come back stronger the next day I suppose. I hope it can only go up from here. Also, decided to drop out of the math endorsement program and we haven't even had our first class yet. I have a feeling it's going to be a long year. I'm super excited for the adventures along the way.
Plan for tomorrow...Have another first day and forget today ever happened.

IT ALL ENDS!!!

It turns out that I'm awful at this blogging thing. I just read my last post and didn't realize how long it had been since I last wrote. The last three months went so quickly. Most of it was just reviewing and testing. In fact, A LOT of it was just testing. During this time we enjoyed some fun events at my school. We had our play day, our swim day, our read-a-thon day, our 4th grade trip to Salt Lake City, the school district mile run, and our yearbook video day.

We also had another up-day. This is the day where we meet our class for the upcoming year. Up until the last day of school I didn't know where and what grade I would be teaching next year. I was on the cutting block to be transferred to another school, but things eventually worked out to where I was able to stay at the same school and teach 5th grade for the next year. This is a job I have wanted for the last 5 years. I would even go as far as saying that it is my dream job.

Up-day was a fun time because I was able to to keep 9 of my 24 kids for the next year. These kids are so great and I hope I can do a better job next year for them. As I sent the other kids to their next year teachers I saw a look of confusion on the remaining faces. One of them asked if they didn't pass the 4th grade and I joked around and said, "Yes." Then I hit them with the news that I was going to be their 5th grade teacher and they seemed relieved. They seemed excited to be with me again, which is a comforting sign for me.

There is a lot I want to talk about, but the post is long enough so I just want to end with two of my favorite scenes from my favorite movie The Shawshank Redemption. As a first year teacher I feel like Andy Dufrane, the show's main character, as he made his escape from prison by crawling through 500 yards of sewage. I had to crawl through policies, procedures, gossiping, backbiting, lesson planning, and federal and state regulations. Unfortunately, I think I will have to crawl through a similar tunnel again this next year as I switch grades and change curriculum. I hope the tunnel is shorter and the smell not as bad, but I hope I learn just as much as I did my first time through.



I don't enjoy the politics in education, but I really do love my students and my classroom. Morgan Freeman, who plays the character Red, said it best. "These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them."

Hello blog, my old friend. How have you been?

Life is grand and I'm starting to get a hang of this teaching thing. The reason I haven't written in 4 MONTHS is because it took a lot of time to get to this point. What point? The point in my career where I feel comfortable not spending half of my week in my classroom and the other half doing work for my classroom at home. I hadn't quite figured out how to mix play and work together. I still haven't, but I feel less guilty when I just have fun.

Let me run down a list of events that have occurred in my classroom since my last post from November.
- Saw the production of "White Christmas" at the high school
- Took a few kids to a performance of "The Nutcracker"
- Had a school Christmas concert
- Took some kids to "The Music Man" at the Ellen Eccles Theater
- Went and saw Scrap Arts perform at the Ellen Eccles Theater
- Celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentines with some pretty awesome parties
- We learned some...stuff...as well

I feel like being a teacher is like being trapped in a time vortex where the time seems to pass really fast around you, but inside the classroom it tends to stand still. It seems like just yesterday I had walked in and greeted my students the first day of school. Only when I leave the worm hole of time, which is my classroom door, do I realize that I've actually been there for almost 8 MONTHS! I only hope that my kids have learned something from me.

I've changed routines, teaching methods, ideologies, and philosophies so many times that my mind is just a big jumbled mess of matter. I'm trying to wrap my head around the things that I've seen work and (more commonly) those that haven't. I hope I'm a better teacher than I was when I started. I hope I'm still as excited to walk into my classroom 120 days into the school year as I was on day 1. I PRAY my kids are smarter on day 180 than they were on day -1. I get really scared that they will have digressed instead of progressed.

This is my greatest fear as a teacher. I never realized how hard it is to reach EVERY SINGLE STUDENT! I've really tried, but no one has ever told me that it's not possible (insert "gasp" here). We've always been taught that we HAVE to reach everyone and that if we don't then we are to blame for their failure. My real job as a teacher should be what my mentor and life hero Rafe Esquith has once said. "Kids do not have an equal opportunity in our schools, but once given that equal opportunity; the students must produce." Once I realized that all I need to do is at least PROVIDE a chance for them to succeed, the students must then be the ones responsible for their overall success. You can lead a horse to water...

Here is a clip of my hero talking about a book he wrote a while ago. I would highly recommend his books to every teacher and parent. you can also visit his class website http://hobartshakespeareans.org/

CARPE DIEM...but who has the time?

So the phrase may be a little cliche...especially since Dead Poets Society came out. It seems like every teacher wants to be the next John Keating and be the inspirational teacher that every student looks back on and says, "Remember so-and-so? That teacher changed my life!" Well, I would be lying if I said I never wanted to be that teacher. The fact is I want everyone of my students to look back and say that about me.

I had so many pipe dreams coming into the profession. I wanted to do so much with my students. I wanted to take them to plays, concerts, and musicals every week. I wanted to stay after and show up early to provide extra help to anyone who was struggling. I wanted to start clubs, create programs, and just BE THERE for them when they needed me. Little did I know how exhausting being a teacher would be. Although I do show up 30 minutes early for school to help kids that need it...no one shows up anymore. Although I do take kids to plays and musicals, I can only go about once a month and only take a handful of students. Although I am THERE for my students when they need me...I'm also NOT THERE.

Team meetings, ESL classes, new teacher meetings, math workshops, faculty meetings, and committee meetings. This takes time out of my day. All of these things are supposed to help me reach out and help my kids with different teaching strategies. I think the one strategy that I would like to use is just spending more time with them. It seems to make sense that the more time a student spends learning in school, the better they do in school. Schools that implement longer days usually have better scores in every subject. So can we please get rid of these meetings and instead of TALKING about seizing the day...LET'S ACTUALLY DO IT!