Observation...or what I'm reminded of each time I observe

I do not currently teach, at least not in a classroom.  Most of my 'work' days are spent with adults who are getting paid to do their work and to supposedly learn during training sessions.  Because I am not in the school environment every day, I forget what it really feels like to be so outnumbered by children.  I always take a step back and try to 'place' myself in the school environment, using all the techniques and strategies that have been so dutifully placed in my graduate student curriculum.  In addition, I try and identify the things that my own child talks about when she comes home from middle school.  I get to put actions and events together with the commentary of my eleven year old.

Each time I go to observe, I find myself learning...what to do and what NOT to do.  Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to observe some incredible teachers.  So, what did I do and what did I learn?

1.  How many hours did you complete?

• I completed 5 hours of observation.

2.  In a short paragraph or bulleted list, how did you spend your time?

•  2.0 hours of observation were spent with a middle school counselor in central Kentucky who teaches an advisory class and who counsels students with personal, educational and emotional issues.
• 1.0 hour of Advisory:  Students use this time for homework help, testing issues, and prep work.  The school has started using trade books to assist with the task of prep work.  Students can use these books to help them with preparing for tests, career paths, college choices, etc.
• 1.0 hour of Observation of the counseling process:  During this time, I spoke with two counselors in the school who use their offices and their resources as places for intervention, encouragement and student interaction.  These counselors have an entire library of books for students to use, ranging from career information to eating disorders.  Students can use these books at their own request or at that of the counselor.  It becomes a safe environment for them to gain information.
• 3.0 hours of observation were spent observing a first grade teacher in rural southeastern Kentucky.
• All three hours of this observation were in the classroom.  During that time, I observed a teacher with 10 years of experience incorporate reading into everything she does.  Her education emphasis has been in reading and she promotes that fully with her students. 

3.  How did the experience help you to strengthen at least one Kentucky Teacher Standard?

• 1.4:  Guides students to understand content from various perspectives.
• While observing the first grade class, I was reminded of how important it is to provide consistent and continuous reinforcement of the materials.  When Miss Rose taught one subject, such as grammar, she wove that together with her reading lessons.  Additionally, math included information about books.  She showed how important the written word is throughout all the subjects, not just reading.  It helped to reinforce what the students are learning by repeatedly referring back to another topic they had learned in another class.

4.  Talk a little about one thing you learned because of the field experience.

• While I cannot say this is a 'new' learning piece for me, it is a critical one.  When I watch great teachers at work, I am reminded of how important these people are in the current and future lives of their students.  An encouraging word or smile can change the day for many of these students.  We all get bogged down in the everyday 'work' we are required to do:  lesson plans, grade book entries, faculty meetings and test scores.  These tasks take us away from the true reason we should be there:  to teach!  Watching these skilled teachers and counselors, I saw student engagement.  I observed the desire to do well because Miss Rose asked them to or Mrs. White believed they could.  It's easy to forget how important those things can be to a student.

While fitting observation into my daily work schedule can be quite a challenge, it always pays off.  It may be in the form of watching an incredible example of a teacher or it may just be reacquainting myself with middle school craziness.  Either way, it's always an experience!

Reading Log and Wiki Checklist

Christa's Reading Log

             I.      Non-fiction/Informational

          (1 chapter book or photo essay book reflection required on blog)

1)      No Body’s Perfect by Kimberly Kirberger.

2)      33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women’s History by Tonya Bolden.

3)      13 Photos Children Should Know by Brad Finger.

4)      Chew On This:  Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food by Eric Scholosser.

5)      Photo by Brady:  A Picture of the Civil War by Jennifer Armstrong.

          II.      Poetry (1 chapter or picture book reflection required on blog)

1)      Witness by Karen Hesse. (required for discussion)

2)      Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.

3)      Now We Are Six by A. A. Milne.

4)      When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne.

5)      The Stable Rat and Other Christmas Poems by Julia Cunningham.

6)      Amazing Peace:  A Christmas Poem by Maya Angelou.

        III.      Modern Fantasy (1 chapter book reflection required on blog)          

1)      The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. (required for discussion)

2)      The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins.

3)      The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan.

        IV.      Historical Fiction

            (1 reflection required on blog –can be a picture book)     

1)      A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck. (required for discussion)

2)      The Boy Who Drew Sheep by Anne Rockwell.

3)      The Coffin Quilt by Ann Rinaldi.

4)      A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck.

5)      The Teacher’s Funeral:  A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck.

          V.      Multicultural/Traditional

           (2 reflections required on blog – one can be a picture book)         

1)      Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema.

2)      In the Beginning:  Creation Stories from Around the World by Virginia Hamilton.

3)      American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne.

4)      The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble.

        VI.      Realistic Fiction (1 chapter book reflection required on blog)

1)      The Last Safe Place on Earth by Richard Peck. (required for discussion)

2)      Ida B and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan.

     VII.      Picture Books (5 reflections required on blog during the first

            two weeks of class. There should be a total here of at least six.)

1)      Flossie & the Fox by Patricia McKissack. (required for discussion)

2)      Mirandy & Brother Wind by Patricia McKissack.

3)      Where the Wild Things Are by

4)      The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

5)      The Lion & The Mouse

6)      A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka.

 

Wiki Checklist

Write the number of entries for each category you posted into on the Course Wiki (requirement is four total posts, in four different categories)

 

__1__ Social Studies

__1__ Science

____ Math

____ Music

__1__ Art

__1__ Reading/Language Arts

____ Physical Education

____ Other

 

13 Photos Children Should Know

Finger, B.  (2011).  13 photos children should know.  Munich:  Prestel Publishing.

"Hey Mom...what's that a picture of on the front of that book?" 

 

Informational books must appeal to a child.  Check!  As I was preparing to write my blog post this week, my daughter was sitting across the living room staring at the book I was reviewing.  She was immediately drawn to the photograph of the fireworks over Beijing during the 2008 Olympics.  The colors were so brilliant that she thought it was a picture of the sun.  Since I had her attention, I thought why not ask her opinion of the photos in the book.  (She is eleven and the days where she wants to converse with me are becoming few and far between!)

As we read the pages of the photo essay book together, she was brimming with questions.  How long ago did that happen?  Who is that person?  Why would anyone do that?  Do you really think we walked on the moon?  She asked all of the questions that this book should make a child ask.  It not only showed excellent photographs of historical moments, it gave explanations of the events surrounding the pictures.  While she was familiar with many of the photographs such as the Moon Landing, Martin Luther King and the Oil Spill in the Gulf, she didn't always know the story behind the picture.

This book combined social science and humanities in a way that made it appealing to my daughter.  It was not a 'history' lesson as much as it was an album of events.  The descriptions of the photos, as well as the quizzes throughout the book gave it a very different feel.  The crisp, clean photographs coupled with font that was clean and easy to read made the book appear more like a magazine article about the subject. 

In the forward of the book, the author explains the way this book is put together.  It will show 13 photographs of some of the most important events, people and places over the last 100 years.  This is when we are also introduced to another fabulous aspect of this book:  the glossary.  While the descriptions are straightforward, the author has asterisked some words that the meaning of may be more difficult for younger readers.  The asterisked words are located at the back of the book with complete definitions.  Additionally, each photo topic has a timeline at the top of the page.  It gives the reader some of idea of world events that occurred at the time of the photo or during the life of the subject.  It helps to give a 'big picture' view of the history of the photo.  While this book is listed as ages four and up, the subject matter focuses on world events that might be confusing for a younger child.  I would recommend this book for older children, third grade and up.

Reading this book with my daughter was also a great reminder for me of how many things that happened in my lifetime are foreign to her, just as it was for my parents' generation and so on.  While 1989 doesn't seem all that long ago to me, in my daughter's time frame, that was forever and a day ago.  But what was even more interesting was the fact that she could put that '20 something' years ago information into a very real field of knowledge and realize that it wasn't really all that long ago...at least not in a historical time line.  Although let's face it, forty is almost ancient in the human time line...at least in my daughter's eyes.

The Teacher's Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts

Peck, R. (2004).  The teacher's funeral:  A comedy in three parts.  New York:  Penguin Group.

Have you ever had a teacher...you know, the one you just wish you could get rid of? Or maybe a dream that you couldn't pursue because something was standing in your way?  So did Russell Culver.  He dreams of leaving his little Indiana town and moving on to bigger and better things.  But school stands in his way.  When the teacher "hauled off and died" the night before school is set to start, he thinks there's a chance he can move on with his life.  But a 'familiar' new teacher is set to ruin it all.   Russell and the other seven students in the little one-room school house start off the year trying to get rid of the new teacher.  Using fires, snakes and stealing, the students put the teacher and the town through the paces.  Will Russell get to leave town to pursue his dreams or be forced to finish the eighth grade?  Will the new teacher lose her mind?  Pick up a copy of Richard Peck's The Teacher's Funeral to find out how Russell deals with his problems and finds out things are aren't always quite what they seem!

 

Ida B...and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World

Hannigan, K.  (2005).  Ida B...and her plans to maximize fun, avoid disaster, and (possibly) save the world.  New York, NY:  Scholastic.

Phew.  That's a mouthful of a title, right?  Well, the book lives up to it's action packed name.  I have to admit, when I read the title of the book and listened to the librarian talk about it, I seriously doubted it could grab my attention.  I imagined adventures of a precocious little girl.  Big deal.  That didn't interest me.  But I picked it up anyway, figuring I would read it and comment about how much I disliked it.  However, as I was introduced to Ida B through each page and her story began to unfold, I was hooked.

 I too am an only child.  I grew up on a rural farm.  Cattle, pigs, rabbits and a dog were my nearest neighbors.  A creek was the halfway point to my nearest childhood playmate.  As I read about Ida B 'talking' to the babbling brook and listening to the trees in the family orchard, I was reminded of my own childhood.  Living in a rural area with few human friends close enough to visit, Ida B (and me too) became friends with everything around her.  Her life completely revolved around her ability to "have fun" and the interaction between her and her parents.  But like all of us, Ida B was eventually sent to school.  Big mistake!  She has a less than successful first attempt.  In her words, school is a "place of slow but sure body-cramping, mind-numbing, fun-killing torture."  After a short attempt at public school, Ida B is released from her indenture and becomes home-schooled.  During this part of her life, she cannot be more content.  She is allowed to learn and play and have fun.  But in her conversations with the trees, there is foreshadowing of trouble coming her way. 

All too soon, Ida B is faced with conflict:  conflict of self, nature and person.  Through her dialogue, Ida B lets us inside her mind and heart.  As she learns of her mother's cancer and the necessity of her return to public school, she faces fear, anger and confusion.  She's a kid and is unsure of how to deal with any of these emotions.  In her self description, she once refers to herself like a snake in the spring, needing to soak up some sun before she can move.  She further uses this simile when she describes the snake is sometimes lying on a road, letting us know how she fears the impending future.  She knows that her plans cannot come to fruition.  She begins school and has determined she will not like the school, the students or the teacher.  To add to her distress, her father informs her that they will sell off parts of their land and orchard to help pay for medical bills.  This is the last straw for Ida B.  She wages all out war:  against family, school and any possible friends.

 Ida B is somewhat unique in the fact that she is dealing with a parent who has cancer.  However, the troubles she encounters occurs for most all children at some point in their lives.  She faces a difference of opinion with her parents.  She encounters change.  She has to deal with learning to accept the changes and learning how to talk with people.  She also has to learn to say sorry.  Cancer is the root cause of the changes, but the end result is the same.  Change happens.  We can either bottle it up and force everyone away and live a very lonely life or we can talk and learn and feel our way through the changes.

The new realism present in this book is amazing.  It deals with the ugly topic of cancer and the effects it has on the people with the disease as well as those living around them.  Additionally, it lets us know that the parents are not perfect.  Her mom is sick and can no longer do all the things Ida B thinks she should be able to do.  Her father gets angry.  He is hurting too.  But it also reminds us that love is still there through all of the hurt.  And survival is much easier when you allow others in to your world.  Students from 4th to 6th grade would most likely benefit from this book, especially when dealing with a major change such as illness of a family member.  However, I also think it's a great choice for any students to help them understand what someone else might be going through.

While I was an adult when my father was diagnosed with cancer, I still had so many of the feelings that Ida B experienced.  Some would say that I should deal with it better because I was mature and experienced.  But, the hurt and anger and fear are all there, regardless of what age you are.  This book made you laugh at Ida B's outlandish comments, but it also touched a nerve deep inside that reminds us we are all some parent's child.

When We Were Very Young

Milne, A.  (1924).  When we were very young.  New York, NY:  Penguin Group.

Winnie the Pooh.  Christopher Robin.  The 100 Acre Wood.  These are the words that I have always associated with stories by A. A. Milne.  So, when a friend recommended a poetry book by Milne, I was a little reluctant to read it. But trusting my friend and his knowledge of my reading taste, I tried it. I expected Tigger and Pooh to rhyme away the stories.  However, that is not what I found!
 
While the cover is somewhat reminiscent of the watercolor pictures of the stories I'm so familiar with, there is a difference.  The little girl on the front is not anyone we are familiar with, she's new, at least to us!  And of course, the little girl appears to be misbehaving.  Again, another first for me.  The drawings inside the book are simple, pen and ink drawings that let your imagination take shape.  So, I plunged in!

This collection of poems is about children, for children.  They are growing up in an ordinary world, but they have a way of seeing the world in a much more magical way than we do as adults.  The meaning in these poems describes everyday activities that children go through...going on walks, saying their prayers, going to the zoo, pretending they are kings, etc.  Milne uses narrative poems such as "The King's Breakfast" to tell a tale of asking for butter for breakfast and the chain of events that follow.   Additionally, Milne uses sound patterns in poems like "Independence", "Politeness" and "Halfway Down."  Words and phrases are repeated for effect, both to reinforce how much emphasis the reader needs to know about the action being performed or the feeling being described. 

While being a 'fun' read for children and adults alike, the poems also lend themselves to critical thinking, such different and same.  In the poem, "Halfway Down," the child talking in the poem is describing the stairs. They always stop at the one that is halfway down.

 

Halfway down the stairs

Is a stair

Where I sit.

There isn't any

Other stair

Quite like

It.

I'm not at the bottom,

I'm not at the top;

So this is the stair

Where

I always

Stop.

Halfway up the stairs

Isn't up,

And isn't down.

It isn't the nursery,

It isn't in the town.

And all sorts of funny thoughts

Run round my head:

"It isn't really

Anywhere!

It's somewhere else

Instead!"

 

 

This poem allows critical thinking questions like, "Is there a difference in the stairs?"  "Can you tell the difference?"  "Does stair location change the 'sitter's' perspective?"  This allows for identifying perspectives and acknowledging the same and different.

 

These are the types of poems that children can enjoy and appreciate as read-aloud poems.  They make great bedtime traditions, allowing for enjoyment by adults reading to their children, recalling being read to as children themselves.  The poems are well-written, easily understood and have a quality of 'real life situations' that children and adults can enjoy.





In The Beginning

Hamilton, V. (1988).  In the beginning:  creation stories from around the world.  Orlando, FL:  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

 

 

Retold by author Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by Barry Moser, In the Beginning is a collection of creation stories from around the world.   Given the Newbery Honor award in 1989, it has received acclaim for it's beautiful watercolor illustrations and for the collection of such varied myths.  However, I was not as impressed as I had hoped to be.  Maybe my expectations were too high.  Maybe this type of 'retelling' is not my cup of tea.  At any rate, I gave it a try.

 

The book is organized by 25 narratives, or stories called myths.  The myths are about how things came to be on earth or even how the earth came into being.  They are told as truths that guide the people who have created and retold the stories.  Most of these stories are so old that we as readers cannot imagine a time before the stories began.  Regardless of how we feel about them as truths, they played an important role in various cultures around the world. The myths narrated in this book are all about creation:  creation of the world, god/gods, and human kind.  According to the author, these stories told, "how humankind learned to live upon the earth."

 

Recommended for ages 12 and up, I would only recommend this book if a student had a serious interest in creation myths or a project to research multiple myths.  It would be a convenient and efficient way to browse myths from places such as China, Africa, America, and others.  It's a one-stop shop for browsing and reviewing.  However, I would much prefer the author to have given a brief introduction of the origin of each myth before the narrative.  As you are reading, it's difficult to understand where the story is coming from; you have no point of reference for the narrative.  There is a brief comment after each story, but it feels as if it is too little too late.  I had trouble wanting to continue reading the stories.  I found myself wanting to only 'flip' through the pages.  While the illustrations are interesting, they did not interest me.  My assumption is that the expressionistic style is used to encourage the imagination of the reader.  However, it just left me with a dark, dismal feeling. 

 

Overall, this book would not make it into my top ten list...or my top 100 for that matter.  To use a term from many of the creation myths, this book laid a "cosmic egg" or wasn't quite what it was 'cracked up' to be.