I caught this exchange between my kindergartner and her friend as I drove them home from school today.
Abby: Squeezy Baby is my favorite doll. I got her from my Uncle Rick.
Erin: You have an Uncle Rick? I have an Uncle Rick too!
Abby: Is his name Rick?!
Erin: Yes, his name IS Rick!
Abby: Do you call him Uncle Rick?
Erin: Yes!
Abby: Me too!
Erin: We both have Uncle Ricks!
Abby: Is that the big guy I met in your basement?
Erin: No, that's my Uncle Johnny. Does J-J-J-Johnny sound like Rrrrrick? No.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Some KInd of Help
I don't give a lot of homework, but the homework that I do give is actually important. I also offers kids choices and/or flexibility. For the most part, it's only as boring as you choose to make it. Despite that, there are still little buggers who won't/don't do it. Even the ones who go to homework club after school don't get it done. That's a real puzzler to me.
The consequence for not doing your homework is finishing it at one or more recesses. That means I miss my lunch "hour." I've been doing it for months and there are still the same few who are in every day. I suspect one of them of just wanting to spend time inside or one on one with an adult. While appreciate his issues, I've been getting tired.
So. I decided to get some other teacher friends to team up with me. I asked three of them if they wanted to take turns running a lunchtime homework club that would keep kids from all of our classes. Two were takers and since my class actually has two teachers we could cover all four days that we need to cover. Good news. We were up and running this week.
This whole set up got me thinking and then sent me off thanking the people who teamed up with me. I thanked them for letting me take their kids over my lunch time. Letting me do that is important because it really illustrates something about helping that I've know for a long time, but I feel like it's a big secret. The thing is that if you don't let me help you, then I can't ask you to help me, and I REALLY need help. If you're too strong to need any help, then I'm just a sad sucker who can't get by. That's too hard to live with, so instead, I try to be super strong just like you are and get by without any help.
The truth is though, I'm not super strong. I get tired, burned out and depressed when I'm on my own. While I need alone time, I don't want to move through life alone. I need a team. I suspect that you do too, but you don't want to be the sad sucker either. So, how 'bout this, you ask me for help, without keeping score, and at some time the seesaw will tilt and I'll need your help. Or, if you'd rather, I'll ask you for help now, trusting that eventually the balance will shift and I'll be the one giving help. Just promise me that my trust is well placed.
The consequence for not doing your homework is finishing it at one or more recesses. That means I miss my lunch "hour." I've been doing it for months and there are still the same few who are in every day. I suspect one of them of just wanting to spend time inside or one on one with an adult. While appreciate his issues, I've been getting tired.
So. I decided to get some other teacher friends to team up with me. I asked three of them if they wanted to take turns running a lunchtime homework club that would keep kids from all of our classes. Two were takers and since my class actually has two teachers we could cover all four days that we need to cover. Good news. We were up and running this week.
This whole set up got me thinking and then sent me off thanking the people who teamed up with me. I thanked them for letting me take their kids over my lunch time. Letting me do that is important because it really illustrates something about helping that I've know for a long time, but I feel like it's a big secret. The thing is that if you don't let me help you, then I can't ask you to help me, and I REALLY need help. If you're too strong to need any help, then I'm just a sad sucker who can't get by. That's too hard to live with, so instead, I try to be super strong just like you are and get by without any help.
The truth is though, I'm not super strong. I get tired, burned out and depressed when I'm on my own. While I need alone time, I don't want to move through life alone. I need a team. I suspect that you do too, but you don't want to be the sad sucker either. So, how 'bout this, you ask me for help, without keeping score, and at some time the seesaw will tilt and I'll need your help. Or, if you'd rather, I'll ask you for help now, trusting that eventually the balance will shift and I'll be the one giving help. Just promise me that my trust is well placed.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Ironic
A while back there was an email hubbub involving some parents from my kid's school. It was really between just two people, but they both kept choosing to reply all. It was not appreciated and someone finally cut them off.
One of the people is a professor or some kind of instructor, at a university. The other person is a stay at home mom. She may have been involved in the business world at some point, but I don't think she is at the moment. Anyway, professor guy started it, sort of. He had an objection that I thought he raised in a calm and clear voice. Mom objected to his objection and reacted emotionally and with confusion. He didn't react as well the second time as he did the first time; now he was mad. Unsurprisingly, she also got madder. And this is where she ticked me off. At this point (and for reasons I'm completely clueless about because this comment has nothing to do with the debate) she told him, "I guess it's only in the real world that people are accountable for their performance, not like in education where you can just bumble/muddle/something like that along and no one calls you out." (quote not exact, it was a few months ago)
As I listen to the debate on how to bail out the banks and other companies,I realize that no matter how it is eventually handled, the many culprits of bad choices and blind greed, are not going to have to pay for it. They will not be held accountable.
Maybe they'll loan me some money when I get fired because my undernourished, in food and experience, students only make a year's growth while they're with me, but still aren't caught up.
One of the people is a professor or some kind of instructor, at a university. The other person is a stay at home mom. She may have been involved in the business world at some point, but I don't think she is at the moment. Anyway, professor guy started it, sort of. He had an objection that I thought he raised in a calm and clear voice. Mom objected to his objection and reacted emotionally and with confusion. He didn't react as well the second time as he did the first time; now he was mad. Unsurprisingly, she also got madder. And this is where she ticked me off. At this point (and for reasons I'm completely clueless about because this comment has nothing to do with the debate) she told him, "I guess it's only in the real world that people are accountable for their performance, not like in education where you can just bumble/muddle/something like that along and no one calls you out." (quote not exact, it was a few months ago)
As I listen to the debate on how to bail out the banks and other companies,I realize that no matter how it is eventually handled, the many culprits of bad choices and blind greed, are not going to have to pay for it. They will not be held accountable.
Maybe they'll loan me some money when I get fired because my undernourished, in food and experience, students only make a year's growth while they're with me, but still aren't caught up.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Busy Contradicting Myself
Yep, I absolutely just said, one post ago, that I wasn't about bringin' the news. That is completely true, in that I don't want to bring you news about myself. I do however need a place to post this video of Rachel's mystery guest project so that I can share it with her far flung fans. I apologize for the crummy lighting. I should have just asked the teacher if we could set up on the opposite side of the room, facing the window instead of in front of it. I was worried about being too demanding, but you see the result. I put a couple of still shots in with better lighting so that you can see the objects and details that are in shadow in the video.
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