HI HILL!

off to 5th grade camp tomorrow--woo hoo!

target practice

one of the interesting things about having a blog is getting feedback from strangers all over the country and around the world. i often wonder how these people stumble upon my tiny little corner of cyberspace... are they devo fans? are they friends? teachers? bounty hunters?

their comments have mostly been laudatory, but my recent post, "second coming" inspired an anonymous commenter (the best kind!), to question the appropriateness of sharing my stream-of-consciousness "rap/poem" with my students. (check out my response in april's archive.)

since that post sparked some debate, i decided to try it again! here's the latest "pap" (poetry/rap) i wrote and shared with my students. we were studying dialogue, and i encouraged them to "eavesdrop" on people in public places and transcribe the way people talk to one another. (my piece includes some quotes i heard in chicago at 4:00 am, after the el train unexpectedly broke down...)

i throw a rhyme like a strike!
"hey, batter, batter--SWING!"
you know it's time for a fight--gray matter battling.
you're too tired like a bike--you're foul like traveling--
step off the mic or get tossed like a javelin!
you're gambling, and that's a poor habit,
"i just want to know how long a moment is on your planet?"
"dagnabbit! i wanna go home! get me off this train!"
ain't got no minutes on the cell phone...
call a taxi and relax in the back seat,
you're another wack MC like kenny g on the sax.
j-see into the FUTURE SHOCK, herbie hancock
can't stop my band rocks, stand-off in the sandbox!
suit yourself. whatever's clever.
don't ever say i didn't tell you any better!
you're light as a feather, stiff as a board,
my words and letters mightier than your sword.
give to the poor the gift of the lord:
T.G.I. friday, by the way, check the scoreboard--
6 to nothing--a skunk in the making...
no more bluffing, no more pump-fake, funk-faking!

HOLES pt. II

this same student with the opinion about the onions noticed something else i hadn't:

the phrase "three days later."

louis sachar uses it a twice in the span of as many pages, he pointed out--once, after sam's unfortunate demise and ("three days later") the sheriff is shot, and the second time after stanley unwittingly gets mr. sir in trouble with the warden--("three days later") after having gotten no water from mr. sir, he finally fills stanley's canteen, but not before acting like he poisoned it.

we discussed the biblical implications of the phrase, and the transformative implications in each example. (i.e. ms. barlow's change of character, the change in the relationship between mr. sir and stanley, and the resurrection story in the bible.) it was another in a long list of treasure moments i've shared with this student.

it's so inspiring to teach students that are excited about the possibilities in writing and literature--the students that can and will reflect upon the information they're producing and/or receiving. they make this job so rewarding...

i'm so thankful that i get to interact, influence, and (hopefully) enlighten the future of this country every day, AND get paid for it!

it's awesome!

HOLES

one of my favorite books--as you know if you've read my profile--is holes, by louis sachar. i'm currently reading it to my fifth grade class. not to give anything away, but the other day, one of my students made a comment (during the part where the classroom teacher, ms. barlow, kisses sam, "the onion man") that had never occurred to me:

wouldn't sam's breath and body stink since he's always eating onions?

funny! i love 5th graders!

angels in the forms of kings

since we've been studying "making a new nation," in OC, i thought i'd share some highlights from thomas jefferson's first inaugural address:
(warning: first sentence is 89 words long!)

• the essential principles of our Government:
• a jealous care of the right of election by the people
• the supremacy of the civil over the military authority

• Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.

• And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions

• Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

"'history never repeats,' i tell myself before i go to sleep."--split enz

THE FINEST SPUDS!

this is from an idaho potato box that ms. wahlen was throwing away. it reminded me of the devo album shout. (especially since devo often refer to themselves as "spuds.")












that's more like it...






tip of the energy dome to c.s. for the 'shoppin'.

teachspeak

an intellectual is a man who says a simple thing in a difficult way; an artist is a man who says a difficult thing in a simple way. --charles bukowski

with this in mind, i submit for your enjoyment, my teacher-treasure words/phrases and their translations into english (btw, these were all new to me!) :

• bibliotherapy
  

translation: teaching social skills through literacy

• numeracy
  

translation: like "literacy" but with numbers, get it?

• dyads
  

translation: pairs

and my current favorite:

• transgenerational literacy transfer

translation: parents reading to their kids


that was fun. in the spirit of the aforementioned bukowski quote, this should be an on-going feature here at YDNFTF.

thinking maps pt. II

sorry the picture of the thinking map was so small--i'm still figuring out how to use my phone/camera--i can't blow it up any bigger or it will be too pixelated to read. so here's what's in the "my interests" circle map (counter clock-wise from top):

• drive-in movies
• teaching
• singing/"rapping"
• riding my bike
• playing drums
• playing guitar
• BBQ'n

(i should have included politics as an interest--i could've tried drawing a big donkey!)

around the outside--in the frame--is where i wrote the "sources" of my information: "my students," and "me."

thinking maps

i love using thinking maps in my classroom. they're a great way to organize information, and they're fun to use! i learned some great ideas from our training a few weeks back (shout out to our thinking maps teacher trainers!!!) like teaching our students to illustrate them, as i did in this circle map (i liked my drawings, so i decided to take a picture of them with my new cell phone!)

back to school

"schoolhouse" by paul klee (at the art institute of chicago) perfectly captured my feelings about going back to school while i was vacationing in chicago... it scared me to death! (the virginia tech shootings were the day i left for chicago, so i was feeling morbid...)

this painting exudes foreboding--the deserted schoolhouse, the shades of blood red, and the dead eyes of the lone figure--i wonder if any of my students would get the same feeling...

brief hiatus

settling back in after a week in chicago...


...will be back soon...

note to self...

remind me to figure out how to add pix to this thing... all text is rather monotonous.

for balance

being a good libra, i feel i need to balance yesterday's post with this:

A HUGE SHOUT OUT TO ALICIA HUIZAR!

thank you so much for your help with front-loading--you are indeed a master teacher! whittier's staff and students are lucky to have you! you personify the 3 c's, and that makes our school not only a great place to teach, but an even better place for our students to learn.

THANK YOU.

raison d'etre

sometimes i really miss the 3 c's (cooperation, collaboration, community) at my grade level and school... i remember these qualities being present in the past, but not so much now...

maybe it's geographical--my classroom is isolated from my 5th grade team (except for the wonderful wendy wahlen!) and the main school building--i'm in a bugalow::cough::trailer*::cough::
all the way across the playground!

maybe it's middle-of-the-school-year anxiety and stress.
(TESTING IS COMING--AGHHH!!!)
we just want to close our doors and teach.

maybe it's me...

this has been a very difficult (school) year personally and professionally, but i'm trying to stay positive and focused, so that when the 3 p's (politics, personalities, parents) get me down, i remember why i'm here--why i'm a teacher. i'm not here to make friends, socialize, or be part of the popular set...


I'M HERE TO TEACH.


*not like it's "class" warfare or anything, (i know--there's a special place in hell for mimes and punsters) but these "bungalows" don't have running water!


updated: edited for clarity, comedy, and a little humility--6:30 pm

second coming

i often tell my students that authors observe the world around them in an active way, noticing and reacting to things that "tickle their ears" or stimulate their senses somehow. i tell them that my notebook is where i keep things like that.

this week i showed my class how i'd gone through my notebook and marked (with sticky notes) all the quotes, random musings, and thoughts i'd collected that i hadn't used yet but was still planning on using. then i showed them how i'd integrated these ideas into a new piece (read: rap) i'd been working on called "the second coming" (i even read them the yeats poem--also in my notebook-- from which the title was "borrowed"). i showed them how i used the title and my favorite line from the poem in my new piece. i also showed them a line i'd written down from a tom waits' song i'd heard on the radio. then i read them the piece.

here's the beginning: (student-friendly version)

second coming

what stinks worse: your verse or a fart in church?
(your breath bring death like a hearse)
search me--got nothing in the trunk--
"no such thing as the devil, only god when he's drunk."
who would've thunk? jesus was a punk--
keep the temple holy like kobe jam a slam dunk!
:::sniff::: i smell a skunk--see the forest for the trees,
feel the breeze, buddha monk.
more fun than a touring funk band,
PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION!
we're on a mission--finger flipped at fashion--
"all the best lack conviction, while the worst are full of passion"
the second coming-- it's about to happen...

a bit provacative, but that's good... hopefully my students will remember to go BACK to their notebooks after they're full (instead of just saying, "i need a new notebook--mine's full!") to find seed ideas for use in future pieces.

i'm still sore

we lost.

badly.

it wasn't even close.

3 guys over 6'
(one weighing easily over 2 bills)

and "cheryl miller."

we were the "washington generals" to their "harlem globetrotters."

wizards vs. bears

the teachers here at whittier elementary have been challenged to a basketball game tomorrow versus the teachers at burnett elementary... unfortunately, we don't really have any "ballers" here at whittier, (also a few people who _said_ they'd play flaked--lame!) but we're a rag tag, scrappy little bunch (kinda like the student-players in " the white shadow," except without the pro coach). we had one "official" practice today, and i think we've got a chance... at least we have one person over 6' who can dunk (not me)! either way, it'll be fun.


GO WHITTIER WIZARDS!!!

celebrate!

today the authors in the room 75 tribe shared their hard work at our writing celebration. i was so proud of my students because the variety of (student selected) writing genres made for an eclectic program: poems, fantasies, personal narratives, and even a biography! my students were super excited and their enthusiasm only intensified when our v.p. (mr. hammond) and our principal (mr. garcia) showed up. i knew they couldn't stay--they had other celebrations to attend--so i rearranged the program to showcase the work of one of my star authors, frida.

she was really interested in frida kahlo, so i encouraged her to write a biographical piece on her namesake. she took to it like a duck to water. over the course of 6 weeks, she revised, edited, augmented, diminished, and ultimately created an informative and entertaining piece of non-fiction. she titled it the dove, after kahlo's nickname.

just before our guests left, i made a terrible program decision: i let blanca share her piece on how her grandpa died and how sad she was that she never met him. big mistake. about three quarters of the way through her piece, she broke into sobs... i rushed to tell her she didn't have to continue, but--being the trooper she is--she continued reading through her sniffles and tears! i made a big deal about how brave and courageous she was to share her piece and how impressed i was with my tribe that they respected her enough not to laugh, (even though a few did)... but it was a bit awkward, and i back-peddled to find a lighter piece to try to restore some levity in the room. shoot! why did i start with ashley's funny poems?

all's well that ends well. we didn't have enough time to hear all the stories, (we had to have time to celebrate publishing with some junk food!) so i told them that we'd continue sharing the stories tomorrow...

mutual respect

mutual respect:
a two-way street.
i'll meet you half-way...
collaborative hearts
communicate,
a compromise

HOT MATH

a study by fuchs, et al (2006) sponsored by the center on accelerating student learning (CASL) deals with a 3rd grade intervention called "HOT math" (hands on task). it's a two-tiered system: the first tier is completely scripted and delivered whole class; the second tier is delivered in heterogeneous, small groups.

tier 1 stresses problem-solving strategies, and the first three weeks are dedicated to problem solving information like: "do the answers make sense?" "are the numbers lined up from the text?" "is the work labeled with math words and symbols?"

the remainder of the tier 1 consists of 3, four-week units (in any order):

• "buying bags" problems
• "shopping list problems
• "half" problems
• "pictograph" problems

all problems in tier 1 are structured the same and emphasize self-regulating and self-monitoring strategies. students first work in "dyads" (high/low student-pairing) on problems, then they complete one problem independently. each student receives homework that is "congruent" to the lesson taught that day. students get immediate teacher feedback on classwork and chart their individual scores on a "thermometer" (so apropos for HOT math). students inspect their thermometers before each lesson to set learning goals.

tier 2 is similar but is delivered in small groups. students are reminded about learning goals, self-regulated learning, and are rewarded with "dollars" for displaying on-task behaviors and attaining self-proscribed, academic goals.

the study found that utilizing even one tier of the HOT math program--whole or small group--had a positive effect on student math achievement.