“You Want us to Pick up Trash?

A few weeks ago Shelly Blake-Plock or @TeachPaperless sent out a tweet on Twitter asking for teachers to pledge to run a paperless classroom on Earth Day. I decided to join him and 1,499 other educators in this venture. Then, I found out that I would be proctoring the standardized test for my English 3 students. We would be testing for about two hours and then run a shortened schedule for the rest of the day, leaving me about 30 minutes in real class time.  Even though I couldn’t be completely paperless, I decided to make those 30 minutes paper free.

This mission to go paperless and recognize Earth Day couldn’t have come at a better time. We had tons of snow this year and the front of our school was looking pretty sad. The plows had dug up the lawn in the front and there was litter everywhere.  I decided making our school look more presentable was the perfect way to celebrate Earth Day. No big deal, right? Ha, for my students it would be.  I could just imagine their responses when I told them we were going to spend our class time cleaning up the school property.  I decided to go ahead and plan it anyway. I got some trash bags and gloves from the head of our maintenance department. Believe me, he was thrilled when I told him what I was planning to do with them.  I also went to the store and picked up some small boxes of grass seed for the bare spots on the lawn. I decided not to say a word to the kids about my plan because the forecast was calling for rain, and also, I didn’t want to give them too much time to protest.

This morning, we met for testing. It was raining lightly, so I still didn’t tell the kids about my plan. After testing, I checked outside and it was sunny and warm, a beautiful day for clean up. I went to class and we talked a little about earth day. Then I told the kids what I wanted to do. Here are some of the responses:

One of my boys, laughing out loud, “Ha, she wants us to pick up trash!”

Another of the boys, “I kinda like Earth Day and cleaning up.”

One of the girls, “Do you have gloves?”

Another boy grinning, “What has the earth done for me?”

Another, “Come on Leaness, let’s do it.”

I told the kids they didn’t have to participate and could stay inside with another teacher if they felt that strongly about not wanting to clean up, but only one decided to take that offer. Off we went to the front of the school. I distributed the trash bags and gloves. The kids were a little reluctant at first, but then, I started grabbing the nearest litter. I guess they figured if I was going to clean, they couldn’t just stand there and watch me. One of the maintenance staff came out and saw what we were doing. With a great big smile on her face, she thanked us for  pitching in and helping.  I repeated the process with my next class and got pretty much the same initial response.  Even though at first they weren’t thrilled with my little scheme, the kids were really great once they got going. We cleaned all the litter, and a few of the boys spread the grass seed on the bare spots on the lawn. All in all it was a good day! I think the kids had fun once they got over the fact that it wasn’t so “cool” to pick up trash.  As we were walking back to class, one of my girls noticed the electrician smoking a cigarette and whispered, “Please don’t throw your cigarette butt on the ground, we just cleaned a whole pile a few minutes ago.”  She was respectful when she asked. He just looked and smiled. You know that butt was going in the rocks where the rest had been.

Our Earth day activity was really just a small contribution to recognizing Earth Day. I do hope my kids will think before throwing their trash on the ground, and that just maybe they have gained a little more pride in their school.

I have to say, the school looked much nicer on my way out of the building than it did on my way in.

I am one of “those” teachers.

Last week, all the teachers at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island were fired. There has been all kinds of back and forth about the issue. Some, including President Obama, are applauding the bold move. I have to wonder just how the teachers feel. I wonder because I am one of “those” teachers. No, not from that “failing” school, but perhaps from one that is not much different. We struggle. We struggle everyday trying to increase our test scores so we will no longer be labeled as failing or under-performing, but more importantly we struggle to meet the many needs of our kids.  So, I wonder how the teachers feel.

Are they wondering what will happen to the girl whose mom is ill with cancer, a girl who worries how she and her mother will survive when there is no income during all those treatments?  Are they wondering what will happen to the young man who just lost his mother, only a short time after losing his father?  Are they wondering what will happen to the teenage girl who is doing her best to stay in school while taking care of her infant child?  Are they wondering about the five or six students who are living in shelters or working several jobs to support themselves? Are they wondering who will be there for “their” kids?

Is anyone wondering who will be there for these kids?  You see, I think many times the only thing these kids have is their relationship with a teacher, a teacher that cares about them, not as a test score, but as a person. When did we stop caring about caring? When did we start making test scores more important than kids?  When did test scores become the only measure of the success and talents of our students?

Don’t you wonder too?

Olympics

After watching the opening games in China, I thought it might be impossible for anyone to come close to the spectacular display they put together for  opening day. Well, I was wrong, the opening ceremony in Vancouver was stunningly beautiful.

I happened to be tweeting with many others as I was watching the games and that made the viewing experience more enriching.  It was fun to have commentary from so many different people. The Olympic games tend to inspire a sense of togetherness by themselves, but watching with Twitter friends made the experience a  great place to be. We were laughing and sharing and just having fun.

Tinkering

Tinkering with NotalandNotaland

Notaland

Over the past few days, I have been tinkering with some technology tools that my students may want to use for their class projects.  One tool is Nota pages. The picture on the right is a Nota page I created in just a few minutes.  My students used them last year and loved them. Nota pages are easy to create with a ton of possibilities. They are collaborative, so more than one student can edit at the same time. Imagine creating an online posterboard with the ability to add text, shapes, flickr images, personal images, maps, movies, wikipedia information and more.  One feature I find really useful is the ability to add sticky note comments that allows me to give instant feedback for editing purposes.  Nota pages can be embedded into Blogger and Wikispaces. I use them to make my Wikispaces pages more appealing.  One of my Grad students D. Bennett created an amazing diversity collage using Notaland that incorporated video, images, and quotes. That is the beauty of Nota pages, students of all ages can be creative using the available tools.

Kidblog

Kidblog

With all the snow we are expecting, I decided to set up class blogs so my students can do some writing if we have more days off.  Some of my students will also be using them for the Civil Rights project we are currently working on. I chose kidblog for several reasons. First, it’s free and we all know teachers love free. Secondly, I can set them up so all postings and comments are approved by me before they are made public. Another reason is the user-friendly interface. I set up my classes in about 20 minutes. I assigned usernames and passwords, a great feature in case my students forget theirs. I think my students will enjoy using the kidblog features. They will be able to add pictures, music and videos in their posts.  We have not used blogs in my classes yet, but I am excited to get started. I am hoping that giving them an authentic audience will entice them to write more.

Mentoring

Mentoring

We just began a new initiative during our Common Planning Time (CPT).  Every Friday we invite a group of students to come during their lunch period for extra help. The teachers and students gather in my classroom for pizza and conversation first, and then, the students work on Study Island. Yes, we started this initiative for test prep purposes, but I am not going to get too hung up on that because I think it really has become something more. It is a chance to connect with students in a relaxed setting. There is no pressure for the teachers or the students to perform. We are able to talk about things that really matter. We talk about family and friends, about things that are happening in school and out.  Let me give you an example of why I think it could be very powerful.  One of the students that came yesterday is in my class. She usually works hard in class, is not easily distracted, and is always friendly.  In the past two weeks, I have noticed some real changes in her work habits and in her behavior. I pulled her aside after class and told her I was concerned, that I had noticed these changes. I asked her if everything was okay and she told me she was fine.  During our mentoring session a little later that day, she shared some information about what was going on. Her mom is ill, and there are concerns about family income.  I might never have known what was going on if we were not able to connect in a more relaxed setting.  Would she have opened up or what I have to continue to wonder and worry about her?  I have been thinking about this a lot.

With just 45 minute class periods and all the pressure to teach the content, we often lose sight of the children sitting in front of us. I am not sure how many of them even make it to school everyday.  I would love to find a way to expand this once a week mentoring session, maybe build it into the schedule for next year. I just wonder if it is possible.  I think the kids would like it, and I think it would help build school morale. I am not sure how the teachers would feel about being mandated to mentor, or if mandating it is the way to go.  I would love your thoughts. Do you have mentoring sessions built into your school schedules? How do they work? Does it make a difference?