Oozing Brains

After a long day of taking a standardized test, my class had brain matter oozing out everywhere. I noticed an excessive amount of snot and a fascination with tissues to kill time in between tests. The pencil sharpener took a hit with every yellow #2 pencil having been sharpened into toothpicks. I knew better than to try to teach a new concept...my kids were not in the mood for learning. Unfortunately, we still had time left in our day.

Thank goodness for the Fire Prevention Posters. Each year students make a poster about Fire Safety and the halls are adorned with the artwork in October during National Fire Safety Week. One little girl turned to me and said, "I can't draw. Do I have to be in the contest?"

It reminded me of the time when my parents were having friends over for dinner. Dinner was taking a little longer than normal and my mom needed a distraction to stall for dinner. "Young lady," she said, "Go play our guests something on the piano." I argued, "Aw, Mom. Do I hafta?" I started drawing imaginary circles with my foot tracing lines on the floor and twisting side to side. I remember being in a dress with my saddle oxfords on and my hair in ponytails which were undoubtedly falling down by then. Even still, my mom insisted. I protested one last time, "But Mom, I can't play the piano!" She stretched out her arm and pointed toward the piano, "Then you march right in there and SHOW them you can't play!"

I certainly understood this little girl's feelings. I had had many art lessons in my younger day, and excelled only at stick figure drawings after years of lessons. However, every child was expected to display a poster. I whispered in her ear, "Then think outside the box and write a message, but have the letters blazing on fire with smoke." After a hug of encouragement, she was off to give it a try.

Sometimes it just takes someone insisting you give it a try to reveal your true talent.

Physical Change

I had to teach about physical change, chemical change, and their properties. Well that's just boring! I bet each class I could make a 4 x 6 index card pass over them by using physical change. "In fact," I said, "I bet I can pass it over two kids in this class." I explained that I would make the card encircle both students. Each class took the bet. I bet a dollar in one class, a jacket in another class, a cool pencil in another class, etc. I caught their interest and went on with the lesson explaining the differences of each item. I folded the index card and used a zigzag cut. By making a physical change to the paper, I created a "necklace" that was large enough to fit over two students. I never ever "collected" the goods from the shocked students. I took advantage of the teachable moment about how gambling was definitely against the school district rules, so I certainly wasn't going to take their treasures.

The biggest reward for me was when my little "try-harder" class gave me a standing ovation at the end of class. I have noticed what a physical change this class has undergone. It was once a class of lots of "interrupters" and "off-taskers", but the more times they have come to my class, the more they are trying harder. We are having less major problems in class and are actually getting more accomplished with each class.

I have noticed I have gone through a physical change with this class as well. A class that used to drain my energy at the end of a day has actually recharged my batteries.

Stuck in Science

I was in the middle of science class talking about when to use bar graphs, line graphs and pie charts when this sixth grade boy consistently was misbehaving. I can't stand to teach the back of a kid's head. I used every behavior management technique I could think of, but nothing was working with Ricky. I was having to stay put giving extra attention to the child in a wheelchair and a little girl that needed a bunch of extra help. Normally, I would have kept teaching and walked over to the kid's desk, but I simply needed to be the hands for the child in the wheelchair. I was in the middle of giving instructions when I saw Ricky tugging his arm. My room has some interesting furniture built out of cardboard tubing. Everyone wants to sit in these chairs and kids of all ages are simply fascinated by them. The Destination Imagination team from a couple of years ago built them as props entirely out of cardboard. They are sturdy enough for an adult to stand on. Ricky thrust his hand inside the tubing and got stuck. He finally stood up to get his hand free. It's one of those times that you just have to laugh. I laughed so hard I almost cried. The funny thing is that I'm certain he is destined to be a future President.

Sometimes life is like cardboard tubing. You just have to go through the tunnel just to investigate. In the end, you have to stand-up and refocus.

Disclaimer: The names of children have been changed to my favorite TV characters from my youth.

Not Me

Note: The names have been changed to my favorite TV characters from my youth to protect the innocent (or guilty) children.

It was my turn for recess duty and Barney Fife came running up to me. "Look! I've got a gecko." He was holding it in one hand and the poor thing was peering his head out of the clenched hands. I think Barney was trying to scare me, but instead I reached my hand out and said, "Poor thing. He looks scared and hungry." Barney unclenched his hands for me to take the lizard. Unfortunately, the lizard didn't trust me and went running toward Barney's pants pocket. He grabbed it in the knick of time right before the lizard darted down his pants and I said, "Let's put him in the grass, so he can find shelter." About that time the lizard flew out of his hand and was headed toward the grass on his own. Everything would have been fine, but Curious George just had to take a closer look at him and went to grab him. George squeezed a little too tightly and the lizard's eyeball squished out. About that time the rest of the herd of sixth graders came running up to see what treasure had been encircled. Let's just say we had to have a playground burial of our first victim of recess.

All went well for the rest of recess until the whistle blew. Rambo came running up to me hollaring, "Barney and I just got pelted with rocks." I looked toward the direction from whence the commotion had happened and lo and behold, there was Fred and Ricky acting innocent. Ricky had the audacity to thrust his shoulders forward and gesture with his hands, "What! It wasn't me." I motioned for them to come to me, however, natural consequences were beginning to happen because by that time the rest of the line of sixth graders were headed inside for lunch. I finally determined with a lot of effort of interrogating the group that Fred, Ricky, and another boy were throwing rocks. They were trying to see if they could get the rocks to land on the roof on top of our tall gymnasium. It seems that Fred and Ricky didn't have much of an arm on them because their rocks ricocheted off the side of the building and hit Barney and Rambo in the back of the head. OR, did it really happen that way afterall? God loves teachers. Barney and Rambo had terrorized the art teacher the day before. Isn't it interesting that two pebbles ended up hitting the back of two heads that just maybe needed some sense knocked into them?

Disclaimer: No one was seriously injured in the telling of this story. Neither boy wanted ice or complained of a knot on their head. However, we did lose a lizard...may he rest in peace.

When You Don't Think They are Looking

I knew it was about to happen, but I still jumped out of my body. The deafening sudden buzz of the fire alarm went off. My students had practiced and after the initial shock of what seemed to be percussion grenades going off in my room, we all came to our senses and scurried into drill formation for our first official fire drill of the year. My students "walked with a purpose" down the ramp and the door and lights were taken care of swiftly by some very responsible students. When I reached the bottom of the ramp, I saw the lead student from the classroom next to me on a head-on collision course with another outbound class of sixth graders. It seemed like a game of "chicken" when I hollered, "We turn left. Go left!" Fortunately she made the turn at the last possible moment and we were off in two side by side lines headed to the white top of the playground. All of the sixth grade classes arrived and stood precisely with feet pointed straight and shoulders facing front. I was amazed that in under two minutes the entire group had evacuated the building and were standing in ABC order. I noticed the alarm continued to sound and the administrators were outside the building as well. I thought, "I wonder if the building is REALLY on fire?" A few moments later, the alarm was silenced and we were motioned back to class.

Later I took my students on a restroom break. One of my little "talkers" tugged on me, "Hey, that's my sister in the purple shirt." About that time I turned and saw this sweet little girl come out of the jungle room in third grade. She was trying to juggle her binder, water bottle, and bag of grapes. Her big brother stepped out of line and helped her get situated. It just made me smile all over to watch him help her.

During lunch, the first grade teacher came over to me and said, "Look at all my guys mesmerized by the 6th graders." I looked over to see such great role models in line and the little eyes looking up to them. At the end of lunch, we take all the classes to the restroom. One of my kids pulled me aside and said, "Thanks for the shirt." This was a rough and tough boy that had a reputation for getting into trouble all over the building. I was amazed to hear how grateful he was. A few minutes later I had to get onto him for making an aggressive move, and another teacher took up his cell phone he shouldn't have had, but hey, he had such wonderful manners for a few moments. Maybe we can pull more moments like that one out of him.

On the way back from lunch a swarm of yellow jackets decided to hang out around my portable door. We had to walk in the front of another class going on to take an alternate route inside my room. The teacher commented on how each child walked through without any issues. The overhead was on and I secretly held my breath expecting some little shadow animals to appear, but they walked through without any interruptions.

The more the day went on, the more I saw my students learning and displaying such wonderful behavior. There were a couple of students that gave me a couple of challenges, but for the most part, they had listened. They were in their routine and on a day that was already cut short with minor interruptions, I was still able to get everything taught. When the final dismissal bell rang, there was a little boy that came up to me, the one I had commented to a colleague earlier "he is standing on my very last nerve,"...he said, "I'm sorry for all the talking. I'll try to do better tomorrow." Wow! What a great day!

Do you want to know how to make someone a thief? Tell him, "You're a thief, you're a thief, you're a thief." Eventually, he will be a thief. If you want to make a child good and achieve more, tell them how good they are, how important they are." They will never let you down.

Grandpa V.'s Legacy

"I am blessed," the grandfather of our school would say as he would give free hugs to anyone for the taking. He was known by many names, but the halls would frequently ring out with children going to help "Grandpa V." as he was affectionately called with his letters and numbers. He was our oldest kindergartner at the age of 97 and had been in kindergarten for over 30 years at our school. He would arrive early to school to take down all the chairs in the kindergarten wing. After the 88 chairs were down, he would start helping the kindergarten teachers in any task needed. I watched him cut out 90 giant toothbrushes during the Dental unit, and I saw him hang 90 Fire Prevention posters in the hall. After the announcements and Pledge of Allegiance he would have kindergartners in each hand and several following close behind to go down the hall to "help" Grandpa V. learn his letters.

At the age of 97, Grandpa V. volunteered over 1000 hours a year. In his lifetime at our school he easily chalked up over 30,000 hours. I remember one time I had slipped on some spilt milk in the cafeteria and needed to go have an x-ray. He volunteered to drive me to the hospital. Normally I would have accepted the ride, but I had seen Grandpa V. drive and it resembled that of my teenage son at times. He might have been in an old body, but he was very much young at heart. When he was in the hospital after having a heart attack, I told him I had tried out for the school Talent Show. He had me sing to him my act. He was "rockin'" out to the music in his hospital bed. After visiting with him, I was the one that felt better.

There was a time I nominated him for a state award. I was working with our Communications Director on describing how important Grandpa V. was to our school. I was grasping for words when I saw Grandpa V. running past my window with a kindergartner holding his hand. After his 90th birthday, Grandpa V. could still be found going down the slide on the playground. His broken hip only slowed him down slightly because he had to depend on a walker.

When flu season broke out, he still insisted on showing up to school. There were many times his attendance at school exceeded the teachers' attendance. He was a part of our faculty and a part of our family. We always included him in faculty lunches. He made it a point to show up to school board meetings each year to advocate for teacher salary raises.

Anytime anyone would ask Grandpa V., "How are you doing today?" He would always respond, "I am blessed." In June after Grandpa V. had seen the school talent show, and after the last student had dropped by his house behind the school to get him to sign their yearbook, he was "promoted to glory." I had the honor of being able to hold his hand as went into Heaven.

I especially missed Grandpa V. today. There were a couple of guys in my 6th grade class that just needed a grandpa today. Also, I know there's a couple of kindergartners that could really benefit from his help. I really miss seeing him in our hallways, but more than anything, I miss his hugs. He would give me a hug that would often come at the end of "one of those days" and I would tell him, "Oh Grandpa V., thank you so much!" He would smile and say, "Oh no, thank you. I am so blessed."

We should all be so lucky to have a Grandpa V. around us. Our lives are forever changed for the better having known him. As a reminder of his committment and dedication to education, on the back of our faculty ID badges, we have a his picture with the inscription, "I am blessed because I knew Grandpa V."

Testing for Safety

On Friday, I finally gave my students their first test, "Lab Safety." We had spent a great deal of time on safety. I drilled the students on when to use goggles, a fire extinguisher, and a fire blanket. Before the test I quizzed the students, "If the teacher somehow is on fire, you would use the....." and I paused to let the students fill in the answer. Every single class was going to put me out with the fire extinguisher. Well, the correct answer would be to use a fire blanket in this instant AFTER stop, drop and roll, but my students knew that we didn't have a fire blanket. SO, we had to have a side lesson on if we had every safety equipment apparatus in our room that we could ever use, we would choose the fire blanket to put out a human and not go with the chemicals. I just hope I never catch myself on fire, because I'm simply too old to stop, drop, and roll and I certainly don't want to be chased by 22 students armed with a fire extinguisher.

While grading the tests, I allowed a bonus question on the back and I was eager to see the answer. "If the teacher calls for a "Safety Freeze", what should you do?" The answer is to use common sense and then freeze. The common sense would be used to get out of the way of danger and then freeze. I wouldn't want a student to freeze when a boiling substance was headed right toward him, or freeze near something on fire. We don't really have drastic things going on in our science lab, but I definitely want my kiddos prepared for the unexpected. I'm sure my elementary teacher wasn't expecting me to experiment with a magnifying glass and sunlight coming through the window, but sure enough, I ignited paper in my desk. When working with students, I know that anything is possible. I was ecstatic to find everyone got that one right. I also discovered lots of flowers, cartoon animals, and "My Science Teacher Rocks!" notes all over their papers. With each new paper I graded, I discovered a personalized note. I made the mistake on writing a personalized note on the first test I graded, so I felt obliged to continue writing on each paper. Needless to say, the test took me an exorbidant amount of time to grade, but each of my students have a personalized note back from me. I love teaching my 6th grade scientists.

Change

During the first week of school I discovered one little detail had been forgotten when planning for our new students--bathroom breaks! The team of 6th grade teachers decided I would take every science rotation to the bathroom as a group. The only problem was that I had forgotten to do this. During the second week of school I wrote bathroom breaks into my lesson plans to try to avoid the urgency of dancing up and down tail waggers.

During third period my standard first three boys and first three girls went into the bathroom and the others lined up outside to await their turn. I noticed one of my boys allowing others to go in front of him. I checked my watch and discovered we were late for changing classes. I hollared in the bathrooms and said, "We're leaving!" I joke with colleagues that some teachers' classes are all in quiet, perfect straight lines in the hall, but not my class--especially when we are running late. We go through the hall with wild eyes, hands waving, and one big mob. I had no choice but to "walk with a purpose" leaving a few little lambs in the bathroom. Quickly apologizing to the math teacher, I did my best to hurry up the children and do a quick head count telling her who we were still missing.

One little boy appeared at the top of the steps at the door to the school building on his way out to my portable in slow motion. I hollared, "Hurry up, Little Dude!" My next rotation of students had already taken their seats and were copying down the MOOSE assignment. I noticed the little boy had his hand in his pocket. "Come on, Little Dude, run, run, run!" He kept coming with his hand in his pocket. When he went by me he jingled all the way to his desk and back out of my room. "Little Dude," I said, "What do you have in your pocket?" He said, "Just a bit of change." I had to laugh because I noticed every pocket of his cargo pants was bulging with coins. I think if he would have run, he would have spilled.

My last rotation of the day was filled with my "try-harders." Many of them don't bring back their MOOSE signed. I really feel many of them don't have the luxury of a parent watching over them to guide them. By the time they reach science class, their little brains are about to explode. Many of them come to school without supplies, homework, signatures, or clean clothes. There are many times I offer a few extra shirts and they are scooped up like treasures. This little class has the strugglers and many of them already feel like they just don't count. To me, they count even more. When they don't have a pencil, I try to not just give them the standard yellow #2 pencil, but rather a cool, fuzzy one. It's amazing how willing they are to write for me when they have a cool pencil. My little guy from the third rotation had lots of pockets with lots of change, but my 4th rotation had pockets with holes. When kids repeatedly come with ripped shirt, I tuck a couple of shirts into their backpacks. It's amazing how much grades improve when students that "have none" can look like the students that "have alot". These little guys are only 11 or 12 years old. I don't want them to have the message "I'm not good enough." For years I have taken donations from a local clothing store to our district PTA clothes closet. However, even despite the encouragement of our nurse, many families won't take advantage of this resource. If the horse won't go to the water, then I'll just bring the water to the horse. They might not be the brightest crayons in the box, but they are still in the box and contribute to the rainbow. I didn't sign on to be a teacher to just teach the smart kids or the ones that could afford supplies and nice clothes. I signed on to be the best teacher I could be to ALL kids.

Explosion in the Lab

After a week of teaching lab safety and having students and parents sign a safety contract, it was time for our very first lab. All week we had talked about using a fire extinguisher for flames. For whatever reason, my students from the previous year always chose a fire blanket over any other safety equipment on the six-weeks exams. I even said, "Boys and Girls, Do we even have a fire blanket?" My favorite answer from a child was, "What is a fire blanket anyway?" I asked, "Thank Goodness! Someone who didn't answer fire blanket. Honey, what did you choose for an answer." The kid said, "Oh, I put down the fire blanket." ARGH! So, this year I was especially determined my students would be prepared and not answer fire blanket unless they absolutely had to do so.

After demonstrating the procedures at each station, I allowed the students to choose their own lab partners and get started. Every student put on their safety goggles and the girls and boys with long hair pulled their hair into ponytails. It took some convincing to get the boys to get their hair up, but it was either "my way or the highway" on this issue.

I was at station three since it had boiling water. Turning 6th graders loose in a lab with boiling water would have been a HUGE mistake. The lab was working perfectly with whisper voices, science vocabulary words being used, and procedures being followed. I had just said to myself, maybe this was a good lesson to have right after Curriculum Night afterall. I actually had the rare treat of being seated giving my swollen feet a chance to rest. After the students at my station had measured and recorded room temperature water, and ice water, I prepared the boiling water. I explained the safety procedures of where to stand and that I would be performing the measurement of the water. This was their turn to merely observe. I no sooner placed the boiling water in a coffee mug on the desk and somehow a student knocked over the cup. I never saw the kid touch the cup, but in a blink of an eye there was boiling water on the desk. Call it 24 years of teaching experience or call it the mom experience, but I knew to have paper towels ready to cover a spill. All of a sudden a student started hollaring, "She used the fire blanket! She used the fire blanket!" Oh brother! "Boys and Girls," I said loudly and drawn out, "we have a fire extinguisher, goggles, and the "heat resistant gloves" or oven mitts as the girls called it in our lab. We don't have a fire blanket. Do you hear me? No, fire blanket!" "Wow!" a student exclaimed while pointing at me, "Looks like we had an explosion in the lab afterall." I had to laugh. Was there safety equipment for an exploding teacher?

Meet 'Em, Greet 'Em, Meet 'Em Again, and Again

During Thursday of inservice week my school held an open house where parents and students could find out their teacher. Students could bring their school supplies and unload their goods into their desks. The open house was held in the evening after school hours. During the second week of school we held a "Curriculum Night." This meeting was held to tell the parents about new school policies, and listen to teachers talk about class procedures. During this meeting parents were encouraged to sign-up for teacher-parent conferences to be held three weeks later. In two weeks the school will hold a PTA meeting at night in which teachers are highly encouraged to attend.

It was 8:45 PM when I finally ushered the last parent out the door. I had been on my feet non-stop since arriving at school at 7:30 AM. I'm really curious what occupation has their salaried employees work 13 hour days without the benefit of a "flex" or "comp" day. I don't know of a school that offers this arrangement to teachers. I really do "get it" about the need for parents to have access to teachers. I always attended my children's school events. I really appreciated the long hours the teachers put in, because I was in their same boat.

When I arrived home, my daughter and husband had tried making "spirit overalls" in which I had insisted they not start until I was home. My daughter was determined to start without me and I did my best to give directions. Even still, they had spent hours cutting out patterns and letters, but had missed a vital step. Prior to cutting out the shapes, the "wonder under" should have been ironed to the fabric. After eating dinner which consisted of a quick bowl of cereal, I was finally able to take off my teacher hat and be a mother. We started the project over from scratch. Shortly after midnight the project was half completed, but we all called it a night anyway.

My feet hurt, my eyes are weary, and in 6 hours I will awake to be a motivating teacher. Why did I plan a science experiment tomorrow with several stations? I'm not sure my feet can handle it. After school I will look forward to a 2 hour training for science teachers. I really like the science trainings because I usually get to be a kid and investigate all kinds of experiments. However, the family has been instructed once again to eat without me.

I know this is all part of the job, but it's hard with the time demands to strike a balance between family and work. The old saying of the best part of being a teacher is "June, July and August" really only boils down to a few weeks. The rest of the summer is heavily scheduled with trainings, curriculum writing, or building summer inservice.

Although I wouldn't trade my job for anything in the world, it's tough when the job entails putting other kids in front of my own. My daughter needed me to be home tonight. The time I missed with her was time I simply won't get back. Hopefully, I can figure out how to have the best of both worlds, but a night like tonight makes it pretty hard on my heart.