Thursday, September 11, 2008

I Believe

So, what do I believe?

"I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. "

Ha! Okay seriously. I was thinking, if I'm going to risk my job and not just teach what someone tells me to teach, then I better have a solid idea of what is I believe in and how I'm going to run my class.

So, this is just my rambling thoughts. Try to keep up! :)

Kids need a lot of play time!! We are cutting down so much of their outside time now because of NCLB. They get a total of 15 min. during the day to play outside. Because so many of them have asthma now, many parents are afraid to let them go out and play when they get home. Even I hate being in doors all day! We need to get outside more! And just play games in general. Kids learn through games and they don't even realize it. Plus it is a great motivator and they learn social skills and working together as a team.

I can't even sit still in a seat that long -- I can't imagine why anyone would ever come up with the idea of making a kids do it! I've already replaced individual desks with tables, but I'm using these as desks. I'd eventually like to do away with anything that resembles an assigned desk. When I work, I will choose differnent places for different purposes. At home I NEVER sit at a desk.

Students don't care about learning right now because they can't see any reason to learn it. We are teaching a list of objectives to make sure that they pass some stupid test a year from now! When this is our reason for teaching it loses all meaning for children. We need to create projects that have purpose and meaning for the students. Like instead of writing a story on a prompt they could (as a class) put together a newsletter about what they did last week in school for their parents, the prinicpal, etc. Write a play that they later perform. You know what I mean?

Kids need a job. They need to feel like they are contributing something to the world. They need mentors -- they need to be at real jobs with real people and help them with simple tasks. They will feel important, like they matter. I'm not talking about child labor. I'm talking about exposing them to the real world. So when they say why do we have to learn this -- someone other than their teacher can say -- this is why you have to know it and it will make immediate sense. Since, I doubt that will ever come to pass (unless I start up my own charter school) I'll need to figure out how to give them jobs with in the school. Like mentoring younger kids or something.

Those are my four of my very strong beliefs right now.

Harmony

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Gandhi

Well, this explains my feeling of disharmony!!

What I think:

Our school system has everything backwards! Students are not meant to do Test prep, sitting in their sits quietly, reading for points, writing on a given prompt, etc.

Our parents need to be more accountable.

What I do:

Everything I just said was backwards! Why because that is what my boss tells me to do. But, I don't believe in what I'm doing!

Don't get me wrong -- I have been slowly trying to change things in my classroom little by little to resemble the classroom I want to have and not what administrators mandate. But that is a scary thing to do. Our school is in it's 4th year (I think) of not making adequate yearly progress (this is No Child Left Behind talk) and we are at the stage where we are having to make big changes and show lots of proof that we ARE teaching. I believe we are like a year away from the government coming in and getting rid of teachers who aren't "performing". This is a scary thing. I hate being controlled by fear, but I allow it to happen a LOT!

So, I guess these are my choices:

1. Start teaching the way I believe.

2. Get used to not being happy.

3. Leave the profession altogether.

4. Find a school that gels with my beliefs or allows me to teach the way I believe.

5. Create my own charter school and do it all "MY" way!!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

All dressed up!




Somehow, I got my sari on and I think I did it right. There are many different ways to wear it. I wanted my stomach covered. I just can't get used to it being exposed. So I wrapped myself up pretty well.

How to Wear a Sari

Well, tonight is my Lilly Endowment dinner and I am going to wear my Sari for the first time. I had a friend show me how to wear it in Inida, but it is difficult (more so than it looks). So I thought I'd look to see if I could find a youtube video explaining how to do it.

Not only does this girl's version look a lot easier, she is REALLY funny. So, I had to share.

Wish me luck!