Hopes and Dreams...and Dash of Criticism??

I have been digging through some old papers, photos, etc., as part of my summer cleaning. There are old reports, standardized tests, report cards, class photos - some I haven't seen in many, many years. So I stumbled upon a piece of writing that seems to have been written in third grade. It was tucked away in my report card. It is my plans for the future, and I don't remember writing it at all. It appears to be a draft, and I am hoping a copy never made it to school as I apparently had some big dreams for the future but also had some serious criticisms for my current teacher built into the text. It does make me think...I know young children are dreamers...I know they have ideas about what they want to learn...I know they love to love their teachers. I know that when you ask young children how to make things better, they will tell you, but are we all willing to ask? Or, are our student's ideas going to be tucked away in an attic for 30+ years? (And, no, I'm not scanning in a photo!!)

My Future
(as planned by Me, probably in third grade)

     I have a lot of plans for the future.  I would like to live on a farm because I like all kinds of animals.  I like planting food and then picking it.  At my farm I would like to have a big pond.  In it there would be ducks, fish, geese, and swans.  I would have a giant barn with horses, cows, and in the hay maybe kittens.  I would want to be a teacher.  I wouldn't be mean like you.  I wouldn't be the boss all the time, and I wouldn't give lots of homework.  I want to teach kindergarten, first, second, or third grade because I think I will be small, and I don't want to look small.  If they are small, I will look bigger than I really am.  I kind of want to be a model or a movie star because they get paid a lot.  I might just want to be a mother with about three children, but I'll never know until the time comes.  I hope you liked the story of, you guessed it, me.

A Ball of Clay and a Bit 'O Google Earth

Erasertown USA - that is what happens when you have primary-level children sit at their desks for an extended period of time and listen to you teach. They do "creative" things like create little towns in their desks, with the erasers as the people! (Hence the name of this blog!) So, we have groups of children who need to move, collaborate, create, etc. That sounds good, for the most part. Although it can be exhausting to a teacher!

But, recently I have been thinking about the idea of continous partial attention, a phrase coined by Linda Stone. It is not a new idea, but one that I have heard being used more often in recent months. It is meant to explain something similar to multitasking - where people are doing more than one thing at the same time to be efficient. With continuous partial attention, however, one is always on high-alert, bouncing from one activity to the next with a sort-of urgent need be involved in everything that is going on at once. I will be the first to admit that I am guilty of this at times.

Some classrooms have a strong energy--but it can be an unsettled feeling that is not a creative, collaborate, hands-on energy. Some groups work very well together and thrive when they are given hands-on, collaborate projects, but they often crumble when they need to sit, even to listen to a story. Just recently, as I was reflecting on this idea, and I began to think that I don't just need to give children hands-on projects, I also need to give them practice "being calm." They need to know what that feels like. And I do think they need to practice.

Somewhere in my Internet browsing at one point (YouTube perhaps - now can't find it), I came across a college professor who actually did require all students to put away all electronic and other devices, including computers. If I remember correctly, one person took notes and shared with the class. He was trying to re-teach them how to focus on one task - listening to him only.

For me it started with a ball of clay. Each year my students learn about famous American symbols, and as part of unit, they each sculpt one of the symbols (Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, Capitol, etc.) out of non-hardening clay. It is a large chunk of clay, and it takes some time to soften and mold. Once, before I had even given out the last balls of clay, some children were jumping out of their desks, "claiming" to be finished. "Impossible!" I exclaimed as I found a great place for some learning. And that is where my lessons began. I showed them how to take their time, that it was OK to relax, to work the clay, to think about their work, to smash it and start over if they weren't happy with it, etc. And I think they slowly got the idea, but they really did need the lesson.

Another opportunity arose once time when I began teaching the class how to use Google Earth and how to create placemarks for famous American landmarks.. There was again a feeling that it was a race to the end. Again, I slowed them down, showed them all the wonderful "sightseeing" that was available to them, and praised them for their exploring. They began to enjoy the moment, the task, and working with their partner on what they were doing, not racing to whatever came next. And I was content with the fact that they didn't all get finished the task.

So, lesson for the students - enjoy the process of learning. Lesson for me - remind yourself to remind the students to enjoy the process of learning! Find those moments when you can allow the children to practice being calm, even in our fast-pace, ever exciting learning environments.

Hands on Science Meets a Great Final Presentation

Not only do second graders learn sorting and classifying, they can now document their learning with an Animoto video!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I Never Doubted Them (Much)

So the EraserTowners are wiggly, chatty, silly, and goofy. They are seven- and eight-year-olds after all. So why would a teacher (me) sign them up to stand in front of a camera to be seen by five other classrooms across Pennsylvania?

Well, there were a few reasons. First, it was to participate in a videoconference with MAGPI entitled Famous Americans - a guessing game activity where each school gave clues about three different people and the other schools had to guess who they were. (see here for photos, etc.). My class has been researching "famous Americans" and learning about being good citizens four a few years now. We do it in the fall, and it is a difficult project for the beginning of second grade. But, I have learned that the benefits are well worth the effort it takes. And, the children truly immerse themselves in their work and take ownership of their learning. It is a guided research project, so I am helping them every step of the way. This is hard work for me, of course, but I am building skills that the children will need through the year and in years to come. So, to give the children a chance to share information they are gathering anyway with other children their age in a fun guessing game activity was the first reason to sign up for the videoconference.

The second reason was because these children love to work collaboratively. They love to move around, plan, and create things. For this videoconference, the children would not only be listening to other people presenting, they, too, would be the presenters. That is quite a job for young children! But since the other classes joining us would be second and third grade classes, I rationalized that we would all be working at the same level so "what could go wrong" in my class?

I also believe strongly in giving young children the chance to see how technology can be used and to be a part of the tech-side of the projects. I model how to set things up, explain the problems, and ask for their help when appropriate. I explain to them the possible snags in our plan and ask them to help me prepare for Plan B and even Plan C if necessary.

After all the preparation and the discussion of proper behavior when participating in this type of event, we did have a moment of "bunny ears" during the set-up. I did get very nervous that we would (they would) fall apart in front of all the other schools. But, as I had originally expected, they worked so well together and pulled it off fantastically. Even though, because of technical difficulties, we could not see the other schools as they presented, my students worked hard, took notes together, pretty much sat still for over an hour, and presented like professionals. We also learned some great videoconferencing tips that we can share with our school.

Oh, and there was some curriculum-type learning that went on as well! Oops, almost forgot about that!