I met my new class on Thursday and spent two days with them before the weekend. Starting on a Thursday is genius. It's just enough time to get a little done then rest up over the weekend and be ready for five full days the following week.
I'm fresh off a two day (out of six total) GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition and Development) training and boy was my head swirling with mixed feelings! I was jazzed and excited about the new things I learned, yet my secure and comfortable world as a first grade teacher was slightly rocked. The trainers made it look so easy. This, combined with my new obsession with Pinterest, had me in a state.
I'm not averse to trying new ideas, so I dove in. They talked about a way to get the students' attention without being intrusive. They modeled how to simply put your hand up in the air (I usually ring a bell or clap) and wait for students to notice and copy you. Raising hands are supposed to travel throughout the room like a wave at a baseball game. Well, that lasted about a 1/2 day. It wasn't really working and I don't like being ignored, so I went back to ringing a bell. Bell rings, Hands Up. That's better.
On Day One, I read a story called Jitter Juice, about a person who is nervous about going to school on the first day. As we read, students thought they were hearing about a child who was nervous, but when they discovered it was the teacher, they were surprised. So after a little vocabulary development (big words for figuring out what "jitter" means), I poured some Fresca out into cups and passed it out. Here is what I was treated to during the next ten minutes:
"OK, I'm going to pass out some soda, it's lemon lime, but right now it's just soda, so wait until we turn it into Jitter Juice!"
Child: "But I don't have the jitters."
"Well, goooooood! You can have some Jitter Juice anyway so you don't get them later." What behavior am I teaching here???
Child 2: "I don't want any Jitter Juice. I don't like lemon lime."
"Ok, I'll give you some anyway so you'll have in case you change your mind." Hopefully, I'm teaching her to be open to new things (?).
I smiled and shook my head "yes" slightly. My little technique to get kids to do what I want. Sometimes it works.
The rest of the kids were having fun and so was I. The best part was when it was time to transform it into Jitter Juice. I had gotten grape Kool Aid and poured it into a teeny tiny cup and called it Jitter Juice Powder. As I walked around the room, I sprinkled a tiny amount into their cups and reveled in the "oohs" and "aahhhs" I heard.
"It's turning purple!"
"It's just Kool Aid." Thank goodness nobody really wanted to hear that. Children are uncanny in shutting each other down. In this case, I liked that.
"It's swirling around!"
"It's turning into Jitter Juice!"
Once we all sang the chant we learned during "Vocabulary Development" they chugged it down. But when I saw them do that, I thought to myself:
"OMG they look like they're doing shots." Crap. All we needed were some quarters, put a bucket in the middle of the tables, and we'd be set. Jitter Juice Par-tay!
When a teacher tries new things, sometimes it goes beautifully and sometimes it goes unexpectedly. This was unexpected, but not the end of the world. They loved the Jitter Juice and asked for more, but that's when I snatched the wonder and beauty of the Teachable Moment:
"No, we can't have too much or we won't feel good. We have to know when enough is enough." Yeah, right. I'd sure like a shot (or two) of tequila right now...with some lime, perhaps, especially because now they were making those empty plastic cups crack and pop in their hands. Plus, I only bought one bottle of Fresca, justified through reasoning that a little bit of artificial sweetener was better than sugar in the middle of the day. Must get those cups in the trash can...
I tried a few other GLAD strategies on the second day and I know the minor mistakes I made, but the kids don't, nobody was harmed, and that's really what matters.
I will finish my GLAD training during Labor Day week, where I will see the many, many strategies I learned about in action in an actual classroom with actual kids. In the meantime, I will fumble around, work harder not smarter, be outside my comfort zone for a little while, and carry on.
If you are interested in Project GLAD, here is a link to the website:
http://www.projectglad.com/
I'm fresh off a two day (out of six total) GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition and Development) training and boy was my head swirling with mixed feelings! I was jazzed and excited about the new things I learned, yet my secure and comfortable world as a first grade teacher was slightly rocked. The trainers made it look so easy. This, combined with my new obsession with Pinterest, had me in a state.
I'm not averse to trying new ideas, so I dove in. They talked about a way to get the students' attention without being intrusive. They modeled how to simply put your hand up in the air (I usually ring a bell or clap) and wait for students to notice and copy you. Raising hands are supposed to travel throughout the room like a wave at a baseball game. Well, that lasted about a 1/2 day. It wasn't really working and I don't like being ignored, so I went back to ringing a bell. Bell rings, Hands Up. That's better.
On Day One, I read a story called Jitter Juice, about a person who is nervous about going to school on the first day. As we read, students thought they were hearing about a child who was nervous, but when they discovered it was the teacher, they were surprised. So after a little vocabulary development (big words for figuring out what "jitter" means), I poured some Fresca out into cups and passed it out. Here is what I was treated to during the next ten minutes:
"OK, I'm going to pass out some soda, it's lemon lime, but right now it's just soda, so wait until we turn it into Jitter Juice!"
Child: "But I don't have the jitters."
"Well, goooooood! You can have some Jitter Juice anyway so you don't get them later." What behavior am I teaching here???
Child 2: "I don't want any Jitter Juice. I don't like lemon lime."
"Ok, I'll give you some anyway so you'll have in case you change your mind." Hopefully, I'm teaching her to be open to new things (?).
I smiled and shook my head "yes" slightly. My little technique to get kids to do what I want. Sometimes it works.
The rest of the kids were having fun and so was I. The best part was when it was time to transform it into Jitter Juice. I had gotten grape Kool Aid and poured it into a teeny tiny cup and called it Jitter Juice Powder. As I walked around the room, I sprinkled a tiny amount into their cups and reveled in the "oohs" and "aahhhs" I heard.
"It's turning purple!"
"It's just Kool Aid." Thank goodness nobody really wanted to hear that. Children are uncanny in shutting each other down. In this case, I liked that.
"It's swirling around!"
"It's turning into Jitter Juice!"
Once we all sang the chant we learned during "Vocabulary Development" they chugged it down. But when I saw them do that, I thought to myself:
"OMG they look like they're doing shots." Crap. All we needed were some quarters, put a bucket in the middle of the tables, and we'd be set. Jitter Juice Par-tay!
When a teacher tries new things, sometimes it goes beautifully and sometimes it goes unexpectedly. This was unexpected, but not the end of the world. They loved the Jitter Juice and asked for more, but that's when I snatched the wonder and beauty of the Teachable Moment:
"No, we can't have too much or we won't feel good. We have to know when enough is enough." Yeah, right. I'd sure like a shot (or two) of tequila right now...with some lime, perhaps, especially because now they were making those empty plastic cups crack and pop in their hands. Plus, I only bought one bottle of Fresca, justified through reasoning that a little bit of artificial sweetener was better than sugar in the middle of the day. Must get those cups in the trash can...
I tried a few other GLAD strategies on the second day and I know the minor mistakes I made, but the kids don't, nobody was harmed, and that's really what matters.
I will finish my GLAD training during Labor Day week, where I will see the many, many strategies I learned about in action in an actual classroom with actual kids. In the meantime, I will fumble around, work harder not smarter, be outside my comfort zone for a little while, and carry on.
If you are interested in Project GLAD, here is a link to the website:
http://www.projectglad.com/
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