"My entire world is turning upside down..."

Below are a variety of pictures to help you envision the changes in my classroom. Hope you enjoy them!! :)

The classroom from the corner cubby... a big change! The room feels more open and the kids move much easier and more freely about the room!

The World's most organized classroom library: I had room mother's sort and label each book alphabetically by author. I know they're glad this job is done! It was a huge undertaking! We also have our "Art Museum" in the background, where any artwork the children do for Mrs. Brown and I hangs. The kids compete to get into our gallery!

The two above pictures are of "Miss Kennett's Centers Catalog", which is explained below.

Our sorting lids (Old milk caps, juice caps, 20 bottle lids, etc. are great for sorting by color, shape, size, etc.!) and the marked spot on the shelf- one of many new shelf labels.

So, the classroom is different.... and surprisingly, I like it. The kids really did have some fantastic ideas about the placement of items and it's amazing how much quieter that they are working in the groups. In addition the majority of management on my part has calmed.... basically, the students are running the classroom. Although I will not attribute all of the changes to the room placement (Since by this time of year, the students are usually running the room fairly well), it has a sense of calm that has taken over. The students are working more in teams and looking out for each other- as if a sense of community that I've never noticed before has developed.

For example, today as we were making dreidels to celebrate Hanukkah, students (in both classes) who came in late from Speech or Title went directly to a table and asked their friends about what needed to be done- completely bypassing me! The kids are taking care of each other, using a consideration and teamwork I've never known in kindergarten. If the teamwork of creating an environment together creates this loving save environment where risks are okay and not knowing what to do is accepted, I'm sold. Sign me up!

As far as other aspects of my inquiry plan, I've been hard at work and I believe that my assistant is spending way to much time at the laminator. Some things that we have done around the room that have helped are:

1) Each area of the room has a set of rules with picture clues that the students designed using Kidpix.

2) Each free play area has been designated a color. By doing this, students are using clothespins to determine how many children are allowed in each area (5 students in each area are allowed at a time). The students also thought that this would be a good idea because it would "make you" go to new areas if the one you really wanted to play at was full.

3) According to the students, you are not allowed to say that there is nothing to do in each area. The students, using a digital camera (and supervision!!), took a picture of each item in each center to create what we've called "Miss Kennett's Centers Catalog". Using the catalog, the students will know what is in each area to use during free play or to try new things that they may not have seen before. In addition, Mrs. Brown and I laminiated and contact paper-ed a picture label of each item into the spot where it's supposed to be in the room. That way during clean up, there is no discussion about where items go ( I have noticed that this makes for a much faster cleanup!).

I also feel as if I learned alot from other teacher's in my building. Mrs. Piper next door gave the the idea to put risers on my sand table to create more height for the kids to paint on and to give me more storage underneath (I ended up purchasing bed risers from IKEA- they hold a lot of weight and they're inexpensive!). One of the first grade teachers taught me to put stickers on each book and label each bin with the same sticker creating an understandable sense or organization for the kindergarteners to follow. And, my ever favorite, Mrs. Brown (my assisstant) has taught me to clean my desk twice a day- during the morning class's snacktime and after school- to keep papers from getting lost. Although, I still believe that I would be lost without her, I'm not losing as many papers and I'm feeling a tad more organized. So many teachers had great ideas to their organization, however, I've realized that you have to find what works for you, your aide, and your students.

Video Day

Two Fridays ago, I videoed. However, in my elation of figuring out how to work a video camera, I neglected to make my last post. I'm really not with it this semester.

Anyway, the video went well! The students impressed me fully by giving me ideas about the placement of items and explanations. One thing that I noticed is that my students became extremely vocal about the placement of items in the classroom and it became difficult to please everyone. I quickly realized that I did need to put democratic voting in place to avoid arguments.

The students also amazed me with their ability to think things through. One of my little girls decided that my table needed to be by the bathroom so that I'm close to the clip moving chart and so that I could see if people were going to the bathroom to avoid their work. I about fell over! Who would have thought that a five year old would be this intuitive!

One thing that I did notice was the influence I did have over the students. With the two doors in the classroom, I knew that the only place that the giant rug would fit would be in a specific place and I did put a little push behind the kids for this. It also made me realize how much of a sway we have in their daily lives.... amazing, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm preparing to post the video this morning. Belated Thanksgiving blessings to all!

Part 2: Clean up your classroom!

Well, the plan has been initiated. The kids and I have read Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom, and talked about how we need to clean up our room to make it the very best learning space possible. I may be a very strange teacher because I am brutally honest with my students. When I explained that I had begun to feel like Mrs. McBloom, one of my girls even stated "Maybe this will help you feel better, Miss Kennett!" Gee whiz, I hope so.

To prepare, I've created a scaled map of the room and the contents of the room. I then put it in a center for my AM students to work with. It's amazing to see their awkward room arrangements that they created today (One of the students wants to transfer everything to the ceiling...) and even more amazing to see that some of the ideas that they came up with were right astounding (One little girl who constantly avoids her work stated that my table should be by the bathroom corner so I could be close to the 'clips' should I need to move them, and so I can see who's going to the bathroom to avoid doing their work. I think she's thought this through...). Tomorrow is the big video day and I'm rather nervous. I'm not that great at working cameras so we'll see how it goes! I'm planning on videoing my afternoon class, since their class is smaller in size.

My students and I also opened the classroom library today. It's been open, but I've finally got it the way I have been hoping it to be. We called it the "grand opening". The students and I worked together today to create a set of rules that go in the Library. What they hammered up was the following list:

Classroom Library Rules

1. Use a quiet voice.

2. Put the books back in the correct bucket. Be sure to check and make sure the sticker on the book and the sticker on the basket match!

3. Be careful with the books.

4. Be a librarian. (i.e. Take care of the area, put things away, straighten shelves)

An aspect that seems to amaze me is that the students, with a slight amount of guidance, are coming up with the same rules that I would use.... only now that *they* came up with them, I find them *enforcing* them with each other. My plan is to take these rules and using pictures from google or pictures that I've taken, create picture cues that go along with each rule. The students have decided to place the rules on the heating unit in the library.

As I was preparing for moving day, one thing that is worrying me is the fact that I have 2 classes. How can both classes feel as if the room arrangement is their class' idea?

In addition, I've also been visiting some other classrooms at Goodridge in attempts to steal some ideas from other teachers. As soon as I can, I'll post the pictures from these visits. :)

Until tomorrow....

Starting the War and Revolution

My classroom on a daily basis from the cubby corner. This is from sitting at my table and it's hard to see what all my stinkers are up to!

Kitchen and puzzle center on a daily basis.

"The Book"- Children, when they need to move their clip, have to write why their clip was moved and sign the book. It makes a great record of when each child's clip was moved and why when the parents ask!


The behavior chart.... I've been in a clip moving mood.

This is one of the two "back doors" that I have. On each side of my classroom, there is a door connecting my classroom with the two other kindergarten rooms on either side. I do not like being in the middle classroom because teachers and staff use it as a path between the rooms. This creates massive interruptions for my students and myself as well as makes it hard to stay on task. I've tried to see about locking the doors, but apparently doing that is against the fire code.

My itty-bitty desk. May I once again reiterate that a clean desk is a sign of a sick mind? I really try my best but by the end of the day, I've somehow created many piles of "stuff". Now the question is, how do I dig myself out....?

The other side of my classroom. You can see our bathroom, the hallway door, and four work tables squished together. The bookcases that enclose the carpet are front and center as well (Blue baskets are on top of them!). I feel that this causes a lot of problems with the students- there is no room for them to work and they're all squished together!

The carpet, my rocking chair, and teacher work table/center. The sand table is right behind me, and so are the sink and cubbies which makes for another tight work area.

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The day has come for the big 'O' in my classroom.... organization. I'll be honest- I'm horrid at organizing and planning in advance. My children always know where my coffee cup is because I constantly set it down. My aide always has a clue where that 'one important paper I just had' is, and I'm always frazzled. My desk is a mess. My centers are unorganized. My students can never find anything new to try because centers are just not set up practically (My boys head for the blocks and the girls for the home center.). To be honest, my classroom is a wreck and this week is going a war and a revolution.

Domain 2: Classroom Management and Motivating Students

I've always had nightmares about classrooms that were out of control and my first experience soloing in a room did nothing to help that. In my teacher prep program at Morehead, one of our first classes allowed us to teach a lesson, solo, to see if teaching was *really* what we wanted to do.... I almost backed away there. Kids were going crazy, crawling on the floor, glue was flying through the air and I was standing in the middle of the room at a loss. It was then that I realized that students weren't going to automatically listen and be perfect angels in a true "Stepford" fashion.

Thoughout the rest of my teacher prep I began to think that classroom management took structure, routines, and hard work. It took whatever means necessary to get your point across to the students. To scream if you have to, withhold recess, or turn the classroom into 'old fashioned school' where the students are just busy doing paperwork. And looking back, that's how I treated my students during my first year of teaching. Did I get any response out of them? Not at all. I considered myself to be a mean old hag and I actually came home crying and begging to find another job (There is a song by Barry Louis Polisar called "I Don't Wanna Go To School" from his album Songs for Well Behaved Children.... check it out. It describes my entire first year and, in addition, it will make you laugh.).

As a teacher, I feel that I've grown since that first year and I wish I could go back and apologize to those students. Mostly because, I didn't treat them positively... and to be honest, I was just trying to float that year. In retrospect, I knew a slew of management techniques and strategies which I should have used in a more positive manner... I just wasn't sure how to implement them.

While reading through various blogs and articles, and watching various videos today, one common thread kept creeping it's way back into the forefront of my mind- do I care for the whole child and not just the negative behaviors? Do I react positively instead of just flying off of the handle when I see a child doing something negative? Another aspect that I'm wondering is that there are so incredibly many different styles of classroom management- how can you determine what works best for each classroom, each year? After all, what works one year may fall on it's face the next. General guidelines that were in the article "How to Develop Positive Classroom Management" (http://www.edutopia.org/classroom-management-relationships-strategies-tips) seem to be something to key into and follow year after year.

In my classroom, I feel as if I'm always trying to find someway to create a community of independent learners.... am I doing that? Do my students feel safe enough to take risks? Are my classroom management and procedures set in a way that students can learn to their highest potential? I really believe that this may be an area that I would want to focus on within my inquiry plan.

The Classroom Environment: Chaos at it's finest.

First off, I must mention that I chose management because I don't feel comfortable with it. Continuously, I feel like an old hag when at school because I expect them to listen, to be responsible, and care for their classmates as well as the items in the classroom. Maybe I expect too much in expecting them to care...?

However, as I read the section on the classroom environment, I couldn't help but constantly compare it to my classroom. Does my classroom sound at all like this model? How do I actually treat my students? Do I convey my expectations to my students? For me, I feel most comfortable managing class procedures. Sherri, my kindergarten para-educator, and I spent the first month of school in "boot camp" mode (we joke). We set the bar high and refused to lower it.... but I'm comfortable with that because now 32 days into the school year, we no longer are working on carpet or hallway procedures and we can switch literacy and math centers in two point five seconds flat. It helped to set the tone for the rest of the year- one in which we expect the students to work hard, persevere, and do their personal best. Does it always work? No. However, in the words of Sherri, "They're first graders in training. They need to know how to be responsible for their learning and their actions and if we don't teach them, who will?"
Personally, I feel as if I need to zero in on creating an environment of respect and rapport, but more in the area of creating learning community. I know that I care about my students and their lives in and out of school, however, how do I get the students to care about each other in this way? How do I get my students to treat each other with respect? Many of you may say modeling, modeling, and more modeling because all skills are learned (p. 65, Danielson). However, how can we attempt to say that a learned behavior is not okay if the behavior is something that they are witnessing as okay at home? (For example, this week in one of my literacy centers one little boy looks at me and says "Miss Kennett, this learning center is a piece of f****** s***. When can I move to the next one?" And when I called Mom she acted like it was no big deal and asked me "Well, what in the h*** should I do about it?").

Instruction and Assumptions...

I am reminded of the old saying of what happens when you assume.... but I digress. I believe that we all assume much too often. For me, my assumptions about learning do more with the family home life. I assume that all children can learn, but at the same time, I wonder what their highest capacity for learning is? I assume that parents are involved in their child's life and that they care. I assume that all parents have the capacity to help and that all children will try their best. I assume that all students really aren't bad kids- just a bit misguided. And lastly, I assume too much....
So many things have the ability to shape a child's learning capacity. In my opinion, some of these things include socioeconomic status and whether the child is more concerned with survival, where their next meal is coming from, and where they are sleeping that night rather than reading. Those children's basis of education is extremely street smart. Another thing that I believe shapes a child's learning capacity is their family status- whether or not their parents are together or not, speaking to each other or not, and whether custody agreements are on a solid schedule or not. I believe that a lack of educational support from home can shape a child's learning capacity and when a parent is too busy playing video games to help a child with their homework, how is that child supposed to value an education?
Does a teacher have any influence on these children's learning capacity? Absolutely. As a teacher, you are a constant solid unwavering rock in that child's life. You have the ability to make that child have a great day, believe in themselves and build their confidence, learn extraordinary things, and challenge them to be the best human that they can be. These assumptions about learning can shape their instruction because it's not just about book learning.... in some cases it's about survival. It's about teaching a kindergartener how to call 911 and make themselves something to eat without cooking. It's about making a child feel safe when they are at school and knowing that you are there to listen and be the steady adult in their life. It's about showing these students that you care and it's about building trust with their families so that they feel comfortable, and not threatened, by the educational system when they need somewhere to turn to for help.
As I was reading chapter 3 by Danielson today, I couldn't help but think that I want to be that teacher. After reading this chapter, I sat in awe and had a flood of thoughts about the teacher that I would love to be.... I want to have the ability to arrange for learning rather than teach and design learning activities that coincide with the content, instructional goals, and student interest. I want the classroom that is comfortable and respectful of all students and where learning routines and procedures are handled efficiently. I want my students to look back at me and just not say that she was a 'good' teacher, but one who cared for each individual child. I want the classroom instruction to be motivational and meaningful and the students to be engaged and lastly, I want to engage in the professional responsibilities that make great teachers. I guess you could say that I want it all... the question is, how do you get there? Do you start out in the area of professional responsibilities and learn from those around you on how to gain insight into the other three areas?
My mother, who has taught for over thirty years now, has always told me that whatever school I'm at, no matter the grade level, look for the oldest grayest haired person and make them your best friend. They've been around the block, seen it all, tried all kinds of methods, know how to communicate with colleagues and families, and normally they are an extremely accomplished teacher inside the classroom. They are professional kid watchers and could teach circles around you- learn as much as you can from them. As I read about the professional responsibilities listed by Danielson, her words kept popping into my head and I couldn't help but think, perhaps this is one of the ways you can learn to be that teacher.