their weight may crush you.
Instead, place them under your feet
and use them as a platform
to view your horizons."
(Unknown)
"Don't place your mistakes on your head;
their weight may crush you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as a platform to view your horizons." (Unknown)
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They say that some things never change. That may be true of a few things, but of others, there has been much change. As my chosen career of teaching comes to an end in 2022, I think back to the days when I first began. People may not even recognize some of the popular movies and TV shows of 1995, for example. Can you believe Casper was the number 8 movie and the box office flop, Waterworld, was number 9? Who remembers the number 6 television show, The Single Guy? Star Wars still consisted of just three installments. Marvel movies were yet to be sensations. There was no Big Bang Theory, and the History Channel (now simply History) just debuted. Music has undergone some changes in the last three decades. Eighties music is now nostalgia, sometimes even considered to be oldies. Country music was actually country music. Snoop Doggie Dogg was hitting his stride.
I can't say that those were the good ol' days, but I can affirm that things do indeed change. Outside of popular culture, the Dow Jones Index was around 5,000 (now five times higher), but the cost of living is up, along with bouts of high inflation. Education has gone through changes, as well. We've gone through Multiple Intelligences, Student Team Learning, Whole Language, Multiculturalism, Four Square, DIBELS, Six Traits, D'nealian, Handwriting without Tears, and many other movements and magic bullets. The pendulum has swung in every direction and in every extreme. Some things have been heralded, cancelled, castigated, and readopted. No, "some things never change" doesn't always apply. Even as we continue our lives in 2022, changes continue, not always for the betterment of our lives, but often just for the sake of change. Our tessellations make a nice display in the hallway for all to see. Seeing these patterns come out so well is quite satisfying. If only every activity and lesson resulted in such success... When I started teaching at Cecil Floyd in 1995, things looked a lot different in my classroom - and in our school. Here is the next item on a short list that comes to mind. Immersion
Early on, I considered my classroom to be my canvas. This was my room to decorate according to my vision, and I realised it was important to envelop students in the lessons. I enjoyed theming the room to the topics at hand, such as a cave or an under-the-sea atmosphere. Of course, by "envelop" I am implying that the decor surround the student to transport them into a different setting. I can't always get them to another location on a field trip, but I can give students new experiences within the four walls of the classroom. I started to think three-dimensionally - not only decorating the bulletin boards, but also the walls and table. I wondered how the floor could be changed, how the lighting could be tweaked, and how the ceilings could be utilized. I knew I could hang things from the ceiling grip in new ways, draping materials, hanging things low at times to really make a statement. I spent time on ladders. But then I introduced special effects. Laser lighting for celebrations. Spotlights for more intimate moments in the lesson. Mood lighting to help the students focus. The fog machine I brought from my previous teaching position has come in handy in making the room into something different - a campfire scene, an earthquake, a cave, etc. In short the room transformation idea came to me almost immediately upon entering the profession, and it has stuck with me and developed through the years. If someone told me I had to do things a certain way, I would use these concepts to make things just a little more special for my students, and it seems to have set our class apart from the rest through the years. Perhaps, before the year is out, I can convince the entire school to finally take my suggestion and transform the entire building to go along with a universal theme. I've tried to do that for a few years now, and maybe in my last year it will happen. Conclusion For now, in thinking about the last three decades, I realize that I never got the credit for influencing my peers or in changing the normal ways that some things were done for ages. Mine must have been a quiet impact. I'm not sure how I steered things the way I did - I'm sure I ruffled some feathers along the way - but I did so with the betterment of education in mind. "Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul."
(Joyce Carol Oates). When I started teaching at Cecil Floyd in 1995, things looked a lot different in my classroom - and in our school. Here is the next item on a short list that comes to mind. Technology
That said, people were resistant to using computers and iPads with their students. I was the first in the building to use an iPod and an iPad, but it was difficult with little support from upper administration. I wanted a SMART Board when I learned of them, but I was told that that technology didn't have any applications at the elementary level. Are you kidding? When we finally got a cart full of iPads for student use, I found the apps to use, and students definitely benefited from having them. When we starting accumulating Chromebooks, our class traded the iPads for them, and now enjoy a full cart of them for a 1:1 classroom set. Thankfully, support for technology has increased through the last decade, but it has been frustrating at times to be the visionary and not have the ability to fulfill the vision. Of course, our entire school now has a full contingent of technology - but I suspect it's only because standardized testing is now online. It was inevitable that technology would finally enter the educational field, but I always tried to get it first. "[S]ome people without brains
do an awful amount of talking, don't they?" (Scarecrow, Wizard of Oz) We tried to get to know some of these important historical figures, this week, but three ideas stand out:
It turns out that those wise old men of the 18th century weren't so old after all. What was Benjamin Franklin (seventy years old in 1776) doing hanging around with all of these young whippersnappers? Reported by the Insider, these are the ages of some of the prominent leaders and influencers in that pivotal year of 1776:
In their teens and twenties, these men carved out of the wilderness, and a out of the wilderness of British rule, an entire nation, which would in just two and a half centuries become the most powerful in the world. Were the older men sitting at home, accustomed to the colonial rule? Were the established family men too frightened to resist it and risk their wives and children?
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, was only 33 in 1776. Even John Hancock was still relatively young at thirty-nine. Still think you don't matter because you're too young? In just five or ten years, my fourth graders will catch up to some of these ages. Will they be wise enough to right the ship that the founders built? Originally posted January 2018 Teachers love Snow Days; there's no denying that fact (You may even notice that I capitalized the two words as if they were a national holiday.). I am no different. I like being out of school as much as the kids do. I like getting to watch a few episodes of a favorite TV show, work on a hobby, and catch up on folding the laundry (maybe not). I even like clearing the driveway and cleaning off the cars. But I don't need everybody I know telling me it's a Snow Day. I wake in the morning, and I look outside to see if the predicted snow came. The ground is covered, including the street. The cars are white lumps in the driveway. I check all forms of modern technology to see if we're out of school. Everything is blank, and if were warmer I crickets would fill the silence. Text message? Nope. Email alert? Huh uh. Facebook? Negative. Repeat. I continue with my morning routine, with the understanding that today's drive is not going to be pleasurable. Snow is still blowing around, accumulating on the deck. It's not going to get better, but they haven't called our day off yet. Shower. Dress. Brush the teeth. All of that stuff. And that's when the phone in pocket buzzes. Of course. Ain't that the way it goes (I can say ain't; it's my day off.)? The first text is from the principal: "Go back to bed." The second text comes from the district. I got awake and dressed and clean for nuttin'! The next alert is an official robocall cancelling our district's day of professional development, and I am deeply saddened (Where's that sarcasm punctuation I've been asking for?). And then it begins. A co-worker has been told to send a text to me about our day off. The message is even scrolling on the TV screen. The official word comes through the email stream - the exact wording from the robocall and text messge from earlier. Another email is directly from the superintendent: "Enjoy your snow day!" She doesn't capitalize the holiday like I do, but she uses an exclamation point which encourages me that it's OK to feel pleasure in having the day off. But then I make the mistake of checking the facebook. Apparently somebody else thinks she can save me from my own stupidity. Apparently I can't be trusted to check all of the outlets for myself. Apparently, I haven't already been told seven times through official channels that I can relax for the day. Apparently, I'm not an adult, and I don't know how to find the information that I need. "Snow Day for Joplin peeps," announces one friend (especially annoying because I am also not a sugary Easter treat). "Teachers get a snow day!" another proclaims. Is it so hard to capitalize a holiday? "It's a Teacher Snow Day!!!" We're depleting our allotment of exclamation points, today. "Go back to bed staff!" You're missing a comma, staff. "Teachers go back to bed!" Thanks for your permission. Still others have posted screen shots from their phones and email messages, and now I'm questioning whether or not I should go to work, or could this just be an elaborate hoax to get me in trouble for not reporting in. The thing is, I get that you're happy. And excited. And relieved. I totally do. But teachers need to stop telling the world that we work long hours - that we take our work home with us, that we are underpaid, that we have to stay after hours to grade papers and attend special school events - and then announce in very public manners that we get another day off. I know we have to make up the Snow Day, but that's not how those announcements can be perceived. There they go again - those teachers - getting yet another free day on the public dole. Why make those posts on social media in the first place? Did you think I'm not going to check for the official announcement before I take your word for it? Are you providing a public service announcement for the people who genuinely didn't get a half dozen authentic and direct messages? Are you bragging to the world that you have a day off when many your readers do not? Do you think you are heroically scooping everyone else? Our message of educators being overworked and underpaid is diminished when we publicly proclaim our days off for summer, Spring Break, Winter Break, Thanksgiving Break, and others. HEAR YE, HEAR YE, HEAR YE! In Joplin, Missouri, on this magnificent Groundhoggatt Day, February 2nd, 2022, when "the seer of seers, the prognosticator of all prognosticators" is summoned from his burrow in the old oak stump, will he see his shadow and proclaim six more weeks of winter, or will he declare spring just around the corner? Bored? Want something to do on this day off from school?
Here's a whole page of informative information and active activities - all curated and compiled just for you!
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