Comfort Zone

Comfort Zone

 

EDUCATION  NEWS  

Hey! When Did You Stop Believing In Me? By Rhonda Wooten

• What happened to the days when teaching was one of the most re-spected and honored professions?

• Tell me, does the mayor run the city or does he run the department of education? I really need to know?

• And really, what are you trying to do with this “Teacher Evaluation”!

• Don’t you trust me? Why can’t you believe that I chose this profes-sion because I actually LOVE what I do! TEACH

• Please tell me, when did you stop believing in me? I was so busy writing lesson plans going to professional development, taking col-lege classes at night, paying my student loans, meeting with parents, being the dean, social worker, nurse and guidance counselor, buy-ing supplies for my students and classroom without teachers choice, and oh yeah, planning educational trips on a limited budget, grading papers, and still trying to make it home before 7pm so that I can at least have 30 minutes with my family!

• PLEASE TELL ME! WHEN DID YOU STOP BELIEVING IN ME?

 

With a plethora of resources, myriads of opinions, and necessary mandates from "outsiders," what's to do? How am I to reflect? On what ideas am I to reflect? Am I to reflect on my craft or the crafty spectators-the decision makers? Here in lies the conundrum of an educator

 

 

Who  am  I  really?  

What  is  MY  definition  of  literacy?    

What  does  the  common  core  say?  

Am  I  vested  in  my  students  or  their  scores?  

Which  colleagues  can  I  involove?  

Where's  the  student  in  all  this  discourse  jargon?  

Which  supervisor  will  hear  my  concern?  

How  do  I  negotiate  my  teaching  practices  with    

the  inrealistic  demands?  

 

 

Reflections  of  an  Educator  

 

A time ago, education was an engaging learning journey for both the teacher and child. A visual of a teachers' reflection would look like a walk in a garden filled with beautiful flowers, each with its own valued uniqueness. Today the visual has shifted to a garden full of grass and weeds. The once beautiful flowers have been strangled by the uncut weeds

What do those squiggly lines mean?

Those squiggly lines may not look like writing, but they are. In today’s public schools we are experi-encing, more than ever before, students in our classroom who are unable to communicate with their peers and teachers through the wonderful art of writing. In other words, our students are capable of informing us about how to ride a bike, make brownies, play an instrument, and even a video game. However, when it comes time to put it all on paper, their precious thoughts just seem to vanish in thin air. I have at times heard every excuse in the book such as, “My stomach hurts,” to “I’m tired,” and “I want my mommy.” I have witnessed this experience in the kindergarten, first and second grade classes I have taught over the past few years. I believe that the many excuses children give for not wanting to write, has something to do with how they feel about their writing. If students are confident about their writing in whatever form they may be, then they would take it seriously. I believe that in order for students to write they must first be able to read, whether they read “the word or the world” according to Paulo Spelling. One of the things I am learning is that writing has a difference in meaning for everyone. Some early childhood students can only make squiggly lines on paper. To us, as educators, it is just lines going in vari-ous directions. But to these young students it is writing. I believe that parents can help their children im-prove in their writing by assisting them on a continuous basis. For example, parents can take their children

on an adventurous trip to the grocery store. Both parents and children can read the various food labels while grocery shopping. After returning from the grocery store, parents can encourage their children to draw and then write about what they learned from the trip to the grocery store. This would help build their child’s confidence as well as help families spend quality time together. Finally, parents can create a book with their children illustrating what they have done. One of the strategies I could use with students is to encourage them to read texts that interest them. I would also like to encourage them to write on a regular basis in and out of school. I believe that in order for me to be able to do this, I will have to start where they are (what they know about letter sounds and about forming words) and then work towards getting them to where they need to be (writing indepen-dently in full sentences). I know this is not an easy task since our students are all on different levels, but I am determined to become knowledgeable in this area of teaching. One of the things I realize is that students are usually capable of dictating what they wrote or draw.

Shelly-Ann Guy

in More than Five Mintues a Week by Lisa Simon

No matter what those t-shirt clad, righteous clip-board-holding fund raisers say behind my back, I do spend five minutes to save the environment. In fact, I spend five hours or more each week and I’m not just talking about sorting recycling.

Of course it’s easy to stand on street corners and ask passersby what they are doing about the envi-ronment. It’s a lot harder trying to save the future of the world one shred at the time. And, let’s face it, sometimes it can look a little strange. But I’ve never been one to shirk a challenge. That’s why, if you were to visit my apartment, you might be moved to ask:

Q: Why do you have piles of grocery receipts?A while ago I started to worry about all the

paper that was wasted with my grocery receipts. These receipts were printed on only one side which,

clearly, left one side blank. I knew there had to be a way I could put that blank side to use. I tried using them to write my grocery lists on. But my grocery lists are small and I had a lot of receipts piled up. And some of them were long so I could write several gro-cery lists on a single sheet. And these receipts were on very thin paper that curled like old fax machine paper so I couldn’t easily use it as scratch paper. The piles were really starting to look messy.

Finally, after a little research and a lot of mistakes, I figured out how to fold and bind them so that the multiple sheets became a little notebook. In no time I was out of receipts and now had a lot of little books. I gave as many away as I could to friends. And I started carefully saving the receipts for more books. And also fancy shopping bags because I can cut those up and they become great covers for my little books….

How to Save the Environment

Note evolution: From messy pile to finely stitched booklets with eye catching colors, to handy notepad to write notes in!

Q: Why do you have piles of shredded junk mail? Here’s the thing. Like lots of people, I get tons of

junk mail. One month I spent hours on the phone calling all the companies that send me catalogues and requests for money telling them to take me off their mailing list. Watching TV without moving for 10 hours would have been a more effective use of time. So I get a lot of junk mail. And I’m never exactly sure that paper gets recycled. So….

A few years ago I learned how to make paper for a project. The paper I made wasn’t that great but it was paper. And handmade paper is typically made from shredded paper. And I have all this paper in my recycling bin. So I started shredding it and mak-ing new sheets of paper. It takes about 2 hours and 10 sheets of paper to make 7-8 pieces of 5x8 paper. But it’s a very peaceful and meditative process. And the result is that much less paper that’s clogging up the landfill. It’s win/win.

My latest thing is to create poetry out of the labels I remove from my dishwashing soap (just an overnight soak and I’m all set). And, now that I’ve gotten a lot better at making paper it’s not like rough cardboard anymore. Which means I’m figur-ing out now how to turn my handmade paper into books. Once I’ve got that solved, not only will the landfill be reduced but Moleskin will be facing some stiff competition.

Q: But why is all this paper in piles?Um, hello! If you don’t want to get handmade

paper that is a brownish gray color, you need to use paper that is mostly one color. So these piles are all sorted into COLOR.

Q: OK that makes sense – sort of. But what about this - why would anyone have containers of coffee grounds and vegetable peels in your refrigerator.

In what ways are what we say limited by the words we have access to?

And, wait, is that a giant bag of garbage taking up a shelf?

Several years ago I took a composting class at the botanical gardens and received my own compost-ing kit complete with earth worms. I parked it in my kitchen and added vegetable and fruit peels along with newspaper shreds and gave it time to turn all that into fabulous compost. In no times I had fruit flies galore. I couldn’t stand it and took my compost-ing kit back. But the possibility of reducing my com-postable garbage lingered like a promise. So when the nearby Farmers Market started taking compost, I was all on board. No fruit flies, no earth worms in my kitchen, all I had to do was carefully save my fruit and vegetable peels, my tea and coffee grounds and haul it every Saturday 4 blocks and donate a dollar.

Q: And what about this pile of old clothes?The thing is, I’ve learned it’s really hard to recycle

clothing. But I have been reading about how you make this amazing, one-of-a kind book covers with old sweaters and fabric so….

Pile of clothes that will one day be bookcovers

Handmade card in every sense of the word!

Handmade paper. Words provided by dishsoap

Street FrustrationsBy Jillian Massey

As I walk the crowded New York City sidewalks near where I live, or board busy subway cars, or even walk into my apartment building, I notice that a lot of people don’t seem to pay attention to what’s around them. This failure to notice often results in a lack of consideration to those around them. Many people seem so consumed in their own world that they don’t notice when they’re blocking someone else’s way or being inconsiderate.

******** After getting off a subway ride home from work,

I slowly step up the subway stairs to the corner of 86th St. Once I reach the top step, people begin to spread out and I pace down the block, my ears buzzing with a steady beat from my headphones. I slow down, though, when I see a group stretched across the entire sidewalk- a fam-ily of 6. I walk directly behind them for several seconds withoutthemnoticinguntilfinallyasmallspaceopensupto the right, just big enough so that I can say “excuse me” and squeeze through.

When people block the whole width of the sidewalk they are not considering those around them, and in this

crowded city, there are lots of others to consider. Some-times it is a family with several members, other times a group of friends or even two different groups walking in opposite directions. Whoever it is, they have posi-tioned themselves so that you can’t get by. Has this ever happened to you? “Excuse me,” you probably say, and hopefully the person slides over. I just don’t get why they don’t notice they are holding people up…..most times it would only take a simple shift to the side by one person in order to make way for others to pass.

******** Across town, I come up the subway steps and notice

a line of people going east to west waiting for the city bus. I join the casual line, listening to my iPod and textingafriend.Whenthebusslinkstoastop,Ishuffleforward behind the person in front of me. But who is this lady that just came out of nowhere? I didn’t see her waiting here, and now she’s trying to get in front of me.

Lining up for New York City buses: another time when people don’t seem to pay attention to what’s around them. Ok, I’ll give you that we New Yorkers don’t do a great job making lines, but if you observe carefully, there usually is some kind of order to it, and often a person who disrupts that order. Swooping in out of nowhere to get on the bus? That is not okay. Besidesanevilstareoraquickshuffletobeatthemout, these folks usually don’t get stopped. Occasion-ally someone will have words with them, but most of the time they get by unscathed. If they stopped to take notice of what was around them, they would probably have a better sense of the people around, including the people they have angered.

********IgetontheM86atthefirststop,soI’vecomfort-

ably found my seat in the back of the bus as others pour on. I am busy reading a book for class with my pen in hand. A few stops in, the bus becomes crowded and someone sits down next to me, cell phone attached to their ear. I can’t understand their conversation, but I can hear every word. I sigh and glance over as my fo-cusedreadinghasflownoutthewindow.Ok,Ithinktomyself, I’ll put on music. I rummage through my bag untilIfindmyheadphonestoplugintomyiPhone.IscanthroughituntilIfindsomequietmusicthatwon’tdistractmeand…PLAY.Forafewseconds,thesoothingsoundsfilteroutofmyheadphones,butthenInotice I can still hear every word of this person’s conversation.

Making loud noise: that is another way people act unaware of their surroundings. These are the people having a loud cell phone conversation while everyone around them is reading, checking email, listening to their iPod, or talking quietly. Of course they are entitled to their conversation, but with a little more consideration please? When you are trying to quietly read a book or magazine, you can’t help but look at the person who has just gotten on the bus because you’re hearing every detail of their conversation. Is it possible they could just adjust their volume a little bit? If they look around, they’d probably notice there are others around them who would like some peace.

********Next time you’re out and about, take note if you might be acting like one of these people. It’s easy to

get caught up in your cell phone conversation or absorbed by your thoughts, but remember there are many people around you. What are they doing? Is what you’re doing considerate? How are others reacting to you? Do you want to be that person? Most of us don’t really enjoy being around that person, so try to be considerate as you navigate these busy streets and sidewalks.