Welcome, Martin!

Here's what I've been up to since the last post...

Martin joined our happy family in June. We didn't know there was anything missing, but he sure has completed our puzzle. He's just right!

Martin was a big guy from birth; he eats and sleeps well. He's a happy baby most of the time.

I can't promise frequent updates. You wouldn't believe me if I did, since I haven't been diligent in my posts. But, I'll try!

Holiday gifts for teachers

Recently, a friend asked what would be a suitable and welcome gift for her son's preschool teachers. Now, I don't teach preschool, nor do I ever want to, but I have received some pretty poor, well-intentioned gifts from students and their families. As a service to all blog readers, please allow me to make some suggestions.

You can buy supplies for the classroom...new books, construction paper, ink for the printer (if they have one), a Staples/Office Depot gift certificate.

If you want something specifically for the people who teach your child or children, I'd suggest nothing that lasts...soaps, lotions, coffee, Starbuck's gift cards, etc. They don't need or want another coffee cup, figurine or paperweight.

Something you make with your child to give to them: Christmas cookies, a homemade ornament, get butcher paper and make stamps by cutting sponges so you can make homemade wrapping paper, a simple card with a picture from the student and a note from you, the parent or parents.

Hard for a working mom with two more little ones, but: you could volunteer time in the classroom, helping out with an art project that requires more hands, organizing a field trip or assembly. Write out an I.O.U. and give times that might work for you, e.g. Any Thursday or 9:00 to 10:30 on three mornings of your (teacher's) choice, whatever you can do. If your child is a bit older, you might even be able to volunteer at home. Certain assignments are easy to grade, but 30 at a time takes a while. Write a note to teacher that says you could grade one assignment a week if she sends it home with an answer key. (Be sure you can get them back to school in a day or two, though.)

Cash is always nice, especially if you team up with another parent or group of parents. It sounds crass & unfeeling, but you'd be shocked at how little these teachers make and how much of it they put into their classroom supplies, especially in Catholic schools.

Happy gifting!

How to make 35 days go quickly

I have to go to school 35 more times before we're out for the summer. I can't wait.

For a while now, I've been counting down the days. I want to be enthusiastic about my work. I want to like going to my job. I am having a really rough time keeping up appearances. I just don't want to do this anymore.

I have been making lots of plans to keep myself really busy outside of work. I am making social commitments left and right. Oh, and job interview appointments, too. But more "stuff" on the calendar gives me more things to look forward to, other than the day when the countdown of school days left is zero.

Any suggestions?

What Red Tape?

So today I spent many hours in service to the government.

At the risk of sounding downright Seuss-ian...

I changed my name. I changed my name with Social Security. I changed my name with the United States State Department. I changed my name with the Secretary of State. I changed my name with the State Board of Elections. I changed my name with the State Board of Education. I changed my name at the bank. I changed my name with Blogger. I changed my name at the grocery store. I am not finished changing my name.

Even after having spent all day changing my name, I still have some faith in our government. No one made me wait in an extraordinarily long line. Each transaction was pleasant...except the DMV guy who changed my birthday to make me nine days older. It was just a mistake, and quickly corrected. But still, couldn't he have made me YOUNGER?!

All in all, it was surprisingly easy. I guess people change their names every day.

Things I Love About Christmas

I know, I know. I have been remiss in my postings. Sorry.
So, I thought you all should know why I love Christmas. Maybe the holidays have got you down & you need a reminder what the fuss is all about. We need this special time of year to bring out the good in people.
- Many people who aren't too generous the other 11 months of the year give around the holidays: to local food pantries, in lieu of gifts to loved ones who already have enough (I love this idea!), to churches they ignore the rest of the year, and one of my very favorites, sponsoring a family's Christmas meal and gifts anonymously. I used to know a lady who took her son to pass out gloves and hats and scarves to the homeless each Christmas Eve. What a fantastic lesson for her son!
=I love that people go out of their way to be with family at Christmas. Those frazzled travelers at airports and cars loaded up for roadtrips to grandma's are beautiful to me. Go to the trouble to be together. It's worth it.
-I love that people give to coworkers at Christmas. Even if it's just a card, it means that somebody who sees you as a (fill in job title here) most of the year, recognizes you as a whole person, at least for the short time it takes to write and deliver that card.
-I love Christmas cookies and cookie exchanges. So does my honey! He's a cookie monster. I love baking all year, but there's something extra special about baking at the holidays. This year my niece was a big help with the cookies. Baking with children takes a little extra patience, but what fond memories it creates for adult and child. I have fond memories of my mom coming home from her annual cookie exchange with a box full of colorful yummy cookies. She has a friend who is the daughter of Japanese immigrants. She'd make these snowflake cookies I looked forward to every year. I don't have any idea if these were Japanese in nature, but I thought they were because I knew the lady who made them was. I'll have to ask her.
-I love giving the unexpected gift, the gift idea mentioned in passing months ago, logged in a memory bank and found, purchased, wrapped and placed under the tree without a whisper. I especially love the surprised, grateful look when it's opened.
-I love that people still remember the reason for the season and go to church. I wish they'd go in August, too, but Christmas is better than not attending at all. Note to all the Chreasters out there: Your kids would be better behaved in church if you brought them more than twice a year. It's a struggle, I know. Try.
-I love Christmas carols. I know all the words, even second and third verses. I never forget them. I love new carols, too.
-I love squinting at a lighted Christmas tree in a darkened room. Try it. You can achieve the same effect without squinting if you have tears in your eyes. Tears of joy, I hope.
-I love wishing people Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas!

Scary

No, not Halloween kind of scary. This is REAL scary.

School shootings in Pennsylvania and again in Colorado.

MamaChristy wrote a comment that got me thinkin'. As a teacher of adolescents, I suppose I am in a position to "finger" some kids I feel might be at risk. I have. Well, not in so many words, but I do point it out to our school Social Worker if I notice a pattern of bullying, playfighting, aggressive tendencies. I don't say, "Student X may bring a weapon to school soon if you don't talk with him/her." I wouldn't say anything at all if it was just a student having a bad day. Lord knows I myself have those, too. But when one or two students stand out, angry at the world, yes, I have an obligation to bring them to the attention of someone more skilled in counseling than I.

Thank goodness for school social workers. They provide a tremendous and tremendously needed service. Shouts to Miss Helen (wherever you are) and Miss Sloane.

In what I've heard and read, I don't think anyone is ready to blame teachers for not spotting kids who could potentially come to school with firearms. On the contrary, I think most people have the notion that teachers are doing everything they can for their hormonally challenged and mixed-up kids. In these most recent unfortunate incidents, the teachers were just as scared as the poor students under attack.

I hope I never have to feel what they felt.

Underway

So, school has been in session for two weeks. It's about what I expected. Seventh and eighth graders can't be THAT much different from school to school, can they?
One room of eighth graders has really given me a hard time about the fashion in which I teach mathematics. I take a problem-solving approach. In a 45-minute period, we may solve only one or two problems. This is very much unlike any math class these students have experienced before. They are accustomed to a style I call "plug and chug." Computation problems are given and answers are expected, typically 50 at a time on a worksheet. Learn a skill, apply it a hundred times, then forget it, or get it confused with another skill you have memorized.
The difficulties here are two-fold. 1) This method relies heavily on memorization of steps, and not the concepts underlying the steps. 2) Most teachers in the United States learned this way. They figure that if they learned by plugging and chugging, it must be effective. Not so.
Today, I read on another blog, that bloggers are narcissistic. So, here, I toot my own horn. I have had several students in my three-year teaching career thank me for making math understandable for them. They hated math because they never understood how or why it worked. This proves my point. Once they understood WHY the steps worked, they had a much easier time remembering them.
The problems I pose require deep thinking and multiple mathematical skills. They allow for many different, but equally effective solutions. The idea is, after a while, students get comfortable with many problem-solving approaches, and they get a feel for which strategies work best in various types of problems. They get pretty good at recognizing patterns. Their estimation skills improve.
I suppose I could go on and on about how much more effective this style of teaching is, but the blog's personal, not professional. I will merely say that I bet this particular class comes around soon. I'm the only math teacher they've got, so they had better get used to me!