Perspectives

I started thinking about some of the practices my students use today when cleaning up after centers. I have a few who wander around the room with basket or container in hand waiting for someone to put something in their basket all the while looking very busy. I have a couple who decide it is time to go to the bathroom. I have a few who just walk around aimlessly and several who really clean. My thoughts immediately think: They have been cleaning up all year, they should know what to do and how to do it. There is no way that child has to go to the bathroom every day at clean up time. Seriously? Carrying a basket is not cleaning!   Okay now take a breath, reflect, think.  This is not a problem that is these students. This is MY problem. If I really am honest with myself, this shows I did not do a good job of teaching what I expect my students to do during clean up time. I need to go back and simplify my expectations so that my students clearly understand what to do when the clea...

My Youngest daughter was in a play called "Up the Down Staircase" this past week. I had no idea what the show was about, so I went in not sure what to expect. Watching the young girl playing a new teacher in a classroom of adolescence was interesting and brought back so many memories of my first year teaching. The contrast ended there though as I taught a classroom of 4 year olds. The story was touching and one line in it really got me thinking about the children I see every day. The seasoned teacher told the new one to look past what the students were saying to hear what they were actually saying. In PreK we need to look past the actions to find out what our students are saying. Since our students are just learning to express themselves with words, they express themselves best in actions. Looking on my classroom it made me think differently about how I can best teach them and the tools I need to provide to help them learn to express themselves. As I am thinking and brainstor...