Gratitude and generosity are two important things that I hope to model and teach each day to my first graders. They are two important pieces related to being kind to one another. I chose these two because my goal this year has been to teach my students how to be kind and accepting of one another, no matter our differences. Today, we live in a world where so much hate occurs and I hope to help edge out the violence that occurs in our society. 

This school year my class has participated in doing Random Acts of Kindness. I make sure that when we do these acts of kindness that we not only complete them but also talk about how they make us feel. My goal is to teach the students how good we feel when we are generous and help others. I believe this also makes them grateful for the people and things in their life. 

From doing acts of kindness in school and at home, I have seen and received feedback from parents about how their child is focused on being kind and wanting to continue doing small acts. I believe my students have gained the understanding that helping others can provide us happiness, satisfaction and a sense of purpose. This has taught me how important implementing Random Acts of Kindness into my teaching has been. I will continue to do this each year and find other ways to incorporate gratitude, generosity and kindness into our school day. 

"Don't wait for other people to be loving, giving, compassionate, grateful, forgiving, generous, or friendly... lead the way!" - Steve Maraboli

 

To trust is to believe in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something. I believe that trust is something that takes time to give and to receive. Trust is built off of communication and is something we have to work for every day. 

I give trust to people after I get to know them. Once my trust is given, the relationship builds and grows stronger. I start to build this trust by trusting myself  in the situation first and then I learn to trust others. To build trust, I show others that I care by communicating, showing support, and offering advice, help and guidance. 

I believe trust is one of the most important principles in building relationships with others. The more trust you have, the stronger relationship you will have. Trust is something I strive to have with people in my personal and professional life. The more trust I give and receive the happier I will be in every part of my life. 

The Significance of a Name

Parents spend a lot of time picking out names for their children whether it's
because of family, the meaning or they simply that they like it. As Clare McLaughlin says in the article "The Lasting Impact of Mispronouncing Students' Names," names bring stories. As educators, we should be sensitive to student's names and learn how to pronounce them. This will let the students know that they are important and respected by you.


Rita Kohli found that if a teacher mispronounces, disregards or changes a student's name, they feel shame, embarrassment and that their name is a burden. They then in turn begin to shy away from their language, culture and family. As teachers, we need to let students be themselves and embrace their identity. We need to find a way to learn each child's name and work on pronunciation because it would be a shame to take away a part of the child.

Rocks In My Shoes

The rocks that hold me back are my own thoughts. I tend to worry about what others think of me and take things too personally at times. I get stuck thinking about everything I did wrong or what I could do differently and tend to take the blame for things that I shouldn't. 

This year I have slowly learned what works best for me to deal with my thoughts and blame I put on myself. I lean on my coworkers to vent and get advice from. They help reassure me of my actions and help me not put blame on myself. I also find exercise a great way to change my negative thoughts and blame. Exercise helps me deal with my rocks and move forward. 

Being aware of "my rocks" and learning to deal with them has helped me focus on positive things and to be more confident. Each day I am learning to continue to move forward and not let others bring me down or make me second guess myself. My goal is to remove these rocks and bury them. 

Rethinking Recess

Why are there so many kids who can't sit still in class? How do we get kids to sit still in class? These are the questions that pediatric occupational therapist, Angela Hanscom writes about in her posts about movement in classrooms. Valerie Strauss from the Washington Post, writes the article How Schools Ruined Recess- and four things needed to fix it from Hanscom's research and posts. 

Angela Hanscom took a trip to Auckland, New Zealand to talk to the principal at Swanson School, Bruce McLachlan. His school has a very unconventional but very successful approach to recess. During recess there are no rules! When the rules left, so did the behavior issues. Having no rules allowed the children to be creative, take risks, be independent and pay attention in class. This made me think, why do we put so many restrictions on our kids during their play? If we let kids play, they would learn how to problem solve and learn  lessons on their own. So why are we taking away the skill development that we want them to be learning? 

Bruce McLachlan's recess has 4 main things that has changed their recess. He refers to these as their "recipe" for a successful recess:

1. Space: We need to give kids ample amounts of space to play in. If we keep kids in a restricted area, we will have more behavior problems. It is important to let the kids run and go explore, bring their bikes for recess and do the things they like and want to do.

2. Trust: We need to trust the kids by having adult supervision less obvious. We should let the kids lead the play. If adults are less noticeable the tattling will cut down and students will learn how to solve problems on their own. 

3. Time: McLachlan's school has two recess periods for 40 minutes each day. We need to allow our students to have enough time to explore and move their bodies, work through their emotions and dive into their imaginations. Allowing students to get outside and move will help reduce the attention problems in the classroom. 

4. Loose Parts: McLachlan added old tires, wooden planks, etc. to the recess area for the kids to explore. Having objects like these allows the children to create their own worlds and try new things. The more objects we provide them with, the more experiences they will have and their creativity will unfold before us. 

As educators for our children, we need to help our students improve their attention in the classroom by rethinking our recess and including these four pieces. Recess is an important time that kids need each day. We should look at recess as a learning time for students instead of just time for kids to get out their energy. Recess is important for learning social skills and kids need to this time each day to work on them. Recess will not only improve children's social skills, creativity and problem solving skills but also their attention in the classroom. When student's attention in the classroom is improved, then more productive learning will take place. It is a win-win for teachers and students.  

INCLUSIVE

According to the University of Michigan, inclusive teaching involves deliberately cultivating a learning environment where all students are treated equitably, have equal access to learning, and feel welcome, valued, and supported in their learning.

I believe that culture is essential to learning because it plays a role in our communication and thinking processes. It is important to include all student's cultures into the classroom and learning so we can understand each other. I also believe that when we learn about each other's cultures, then we gain respect and build relationships.

Having an inclusive classroom where culture is brought in is very important to me as a teacher. The biggest goal I have for my students when they leave my classroom are to be kind, respectful and accepting of everyone. Having an inclusive classroom and bringing culture in will help me attain my goal as a teacher and help the world become a place of acceptance, kindness and respect.