At the end of Year Two: Consistency! Professionalism! Humor!

We're wrapping up the 2010-2011 school year, and I'm feeling great. My second year teaching has been a lot smoother and more  productive than year one. This, despite some upheavals in my personal life that have perhaps been a distraction (aka divorce!).


As an intervention specialist at Rural Charter School, I work in small groups and often one on one with students needing remedial work in reading and math. (This is where the possibility of a math specialist endorsement starts to look good. Maybe a reading endorsement later on down then the line. Then... PhD?) In addition to getting to know these kids really well, I've been fortunate to see some real and measurable improvement from many of them in these oh-so-important skill areas. Despite my mixed feelings about standardized testing, I have to say I like to see some good solid at-or above-grade level scores!


I'm so impressed with the work being done at Rural Charter School that I've enrolled my youngest daughter here for next year's kindergarten class. Her older sisters will stay at their respective schools, Favorite Elementary and Urban Middle, mainly because of their friends and the fabulous music and theater opportunities they have there. Both older girls play in the band/orchestra, sing in choir, and participate in musical theater. Their academics are strong (straight A's in 4th and 7th grades this year!) and they like their schools. Ain't broke, so no fixing required. However, the budget stinks so bad I have no adjective for it. This will mean half day kindergarten in the city and probably about 30 kids in a class. Not so awesome for my special snowflake of an almost-5 year old. I'll bring her with me to work at Rural Charter and she'll get a ton of individual attention, differentiation, and a really wholesome atmosphere. No gang graffiti here! Yes, the other schools my kids go to have such ugliness on the playgrounds. I don't want them growing up unnecessarily naive, but that's a bit much. Plus, I have a tradition of taking my girls to school on their first day of kindergarten and then sitting in the car and crying. With Littlest here, I won't have to give that up! And with all the commotion in our lives of late (aforementioned divorce and an impending move to a new house this summer) being with Mom at school will probably be good for her.


I saw the principal of Favorite Elementary and let him know whose class I'd like Middlest to be in next year (the one with the awesome tech grant for iPads!). I also informed him that I'd enrolled Littlest at Rural and he was completely understanding. He said that when he could hire me for Favorite she and I could both come back! Such nice affirmation!


So I'm winding down the year with a comfortable sigh of contentment. Job well done, kids are reading, daughters are well taken care of, and I can spend the summer settling into the new house, probably working part time, addressing my ongoing reading list, and enjoying the anticipation of 2011-2012!

teaching my favorite students

With the oldest daughter away this week at SOU's Academy camp for fabulous above average talented and amazing kids (I'm so proud of her!), it's just the little big kids here at home. And with grad classes only two days this week (plus an interview on Wednesday! Crossing fingers!) I have a lot of time to spend with my 8 and almost-3 year old girls.
My 8 year old is a willing guinea pig and experimental mathematician, so we've been playing with multiplication and trying out some new (to me) ways of finding these types of math facts other than rote memorization and the old fashioned standard algorithm. She eyes me skeptically when we try the array model I learned recently, but she's game and lo and behold the answers are correct! I think she'll do well in third grade next year.
Littlest kid is mostly running around sans pants and working on remembering about that special potty chair in the bathroom. I'm trying to introduce some more alphabet games, but the formal education stuff is mostly mom reading to kid. That's the most fun anyway, and it's like finding out that your most favorite comfort food is nutritious and slimming. We'd rather just read a good stack of library books anyway. To her credit, Littlest has been exhibiting some good self analysis. When questioned on her reasons for a half hearted bite she gave her poor sister, she allowed that she'd been bothering 8 year old and should go play by herself. After a mandated apology, she happily bounced off to her play kitchen, and peace again reigned in the living room.
My sweet husband's out filling a box full of helium balloons to send to Eldest Daughter at camp. What better way to be reminded that your quirky family misses you than to open a box and have a swarm of balloons randomly fill your dorm room?