Teaching stories: I love introducing “All Summer in a Day” to my students because it invokes deep thinking and even deep feelings. Students have been writing a new ending to the story and then creating storyboards to share a graphic representation of narrative elements in the original story blended with their original ending. They’re coming along!
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Advisory morning with our students included the honor roll assembly and field morning. It could not have been a more beautiful fall day in the Land of Enchantment - that perfect blue sky and crisp air. But I’ll admit this - I was grumpy in the morning. Tired and morose, to be more accurate. And I thought I’d just kind of make it through the day and be done with it. However….the kids. They’re fun and hilarious and they’re kind. I hadn’t seen them since Monday so it was good for us all to be together again. And then, there was 4-Square. Oh, I do love me a good game of 4-Square. At first, I jumped into a game with a short line, quickly to discover why it was a short line to play in this particular court. There was a teacher monitoring and had given rules to pass the ball gently from under the ball and not to spike the ball.
In 4-Square. Yeah, I was out of there and moved to the game alllllll the way down at the end. Another teacher and I set up camp with some phenomenal kiddos and I had 40-minutes of bliss - laughing, moving, out in the sun, surprising the kids with my mad, mad 4-Square skills, and having fun together. It’s been a long 2 weeks in my world after finding my aunt in her home after she’d fallen and had been down for 50 hours without food, water, or connection. A long two weeks during which I missed 6 days of school and that finds me in a new role as caretaker as my aunt has moved in with us for the foreseeable future. I’ve been overwhelmed, tired and sad. But yesterday morning, by golly, there was 4-Square and with red cheeks, blood pumping, and the sound of laughter all around me I felt alive and joyful. I felt better. I’m out from school again, helping to get my aunt situated during the life-altering transition from hospital to my home. Today is discharge day, but due to a comedy of errors (please read complete incompetence) here at the rehabilitation center, we are still here hours after we should have been. Out of sheer boredom, I decided to check in with my kids during their afternoon Humanities class. Google classroom is amazing that way - I can be here and virtually stalk, I mean instruct them. Evidently, once I started commenting on their work, they became much more motivated. Imagine that.
hot air balloons are part of my daily life here in Albuquerque, but it is still and always awesome when one flies over school.
Today was my first day back at school after 4 days off and 8 days of personal world chaos. I returned disoriented and exhausted and was grateful for the kids’ willingness to be calm while I grasped for my bearings.
I was definitely not the sharpest of teachers, but I was the most grateful Today I had 11 student led conferences. All families showed up and on time. I had lovely conversations and got to observe rich interactions between kids and their parents. Long day, but good day. And I came home to the cake I baked last night. I baked my cake and ate it, too.
Today I had the privilege and oh-so-much-fun spending time with 3rd and 4th graders at two local elementary schools to share some stories from my expedition in the Arctic as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow. I led students through a See-Think-Wonder thinking protocol as we looked at and discussed pictures of a polar bear + 2 walrus encounter I was lucky to observe and photograph in Svalbard. In both classrooms, I was blown away by students’ observations and thoughtful and creative questions. We also talked about ice and the diverse land and sea life in the Arctic. And, of course, we talked about what it means to be an explorer {the third graders are doing a year-long study of exploration and I was a “guest pilot” today in class!} I haven’t taught elementary school in 7+ years and I felt a little rusty. I’m sending huge kudos to Jeff Tuttle and Amanda Short for being awesome teachers and to their students who helped me out today and who were just about as excited about the Arctic as I am. Truly thrilling to be with young Explorers! And, as always and forever, a huge shout out to @natgeoeducation and @lindbladexp for the amazing opportunity to Explore.
PD today with educators I admire and who inspire me was exactly what I needed today. I came home happy and hopeful. I was especially blown away by this mural we began and will finish in April. Grateful for a day of creation, celebration, learning, and evolving as a teacher. @goldenapplenm
End of the quarter = grading, reporting, a little bit of crazy-making. The storm before the relative calm and reset into a new quarter. Although, I wish you could have heard my kiddos and me laughing throughout the day. Last day of the quarter demands some play and celebration so we were outside playing volleyball with the giant beach ball and laughing in the sun. Thankful for times of joy that balance the times of stress.
And, a sweet student brought me a sweet flower for my hair. I’m loving talking all things polar with my reading group. Today we started an alpha-box graphic organizer with terms from our readings. And, I’ve started putting together my own E-books written at the 1-2 grade level about the Arctic based on my experiences in Svalbard. It’s exciting, relevant work, and I’m grateful for this opportunity to be creative and to relive those magical days in the Arctic. @natgeoeducation
Teacher stories: I’m teaching a reading intervention class four days a week. My sweet, sweet 6th grade students are curious, bright, and they work really hard. So it is a joy to create lessons about the polar regions. I am so inspired and grateful for the resources at https://beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu/, most especially the leveled texts. Today, we reviewed a reader’s theater script about polar animals. It felt essential and so much fun to have my Arctic animals with us.
Being a Nat Geo Educator has given me a new set of tools that allow my students to engage with the world and develop global competence. On 9/28/18, I had the privilege of being on the summit of Mt. Taylor, NM, to see the sunrise with a group of 25 students. We were on trek with the Cottonwood Gulch as part of the Students in Wilderness Initiative while our other group of 25 eighth graders was up in northwest NM exploring the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area. Camping and hiking out in wilderness areas with our students as Explorers has been a dream come true and we’re looking forward to our upcoming day trips this winter and our multi-day backpacking trip in the spring.
Teacher friends, I encourage you to explore becoming a Nat Geo Certified teacher. You never know where the experience might take you and your students! @insidenatgeo #natgeocertified @natgeoeducation @cottonwoodgulch Learn more at NatGeoEd.org/Certification At 5:40 this morning, we started up the trail to the summit of Mt. Taylor with our headlamps illuminating the path. 55 minutes later we sat at 11,306 feet waiting for the sun to show her glorious self. The kids amazed me; they noticed so many details from how the light was changing to how the colors of the sky blended, just like they’ve been learning in art class. “Ms., take a picture so we can draw the sky in art.” This is just one the extraordinary experiences I had with our students on our three day trek. I’ve got more to share, but for now, I’ll just say that I know - I know - I’m one of the luckiest teachers in the world.
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Teaching Stories
A year in the life of a middle school teacher Archives
November 2018
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