An Open Letter to New Teach for America Recruits.
A must read, well-reasoned letter from a Chicago teacher to Teach for America recruits.
Playing and learning with preschoolers in a developmental preschool classroom
02 Jul 2013 Leave a comment
in education issues Tags: corporate takeover, education deform, education reform, Teach For America, TFA
An Open Letter to New Teach for America Recruits.
A must read, well-reasoned letter from a Chicago teacher to Teach for America recruits.
11 Jun 2013 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: anti-common core
“The notion of a single set of standards for all appeals to authoritarian types with a rage for order, uniformity, predictability that is, at its core, inhumane.”
via Robert Shepherd:A Fundamental Question About Common Core.
05 May 2013 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: corporate tax loopholes, lazy legislators, public school teachers, reform, revenue problem, teacher pensions
When I started this particular blog a couple of years ago, I wanted to write about the joys of being a special education teacher of preschool children with developmental delays. However, I spent just a little more time on two other blogs: Inspired Illusions , my art blog and PlayLearnTeach.org, both on my own website. This one fell to the wayside.
So, the revised focus here is to highlight the political aspects that govern every area of teaching. Because there are so many politicians who are either bought by corporatists or just fail to see the impact of going along with the majority, I want to add my voice to the conversation.
In Illinois, like so many other states, the big issue is the misinformed “pension problem”.
There is NO “pension problem” in Illinois.
There is NO “pension crisis” that needs “reform”.
A problem that our legislators have historically failed to address as they lied and robbed the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) over the years. And now that they have themselves in a situation that is being proclaimed as dire, rather than closing corporate tax loopholes, they want to steal from retirees and make teaching in Illinois a temp job rather than a respected career.
Teachers are among the most highly educated group in our society. Teachers need to step out of their classrooms and look around to what is going on. They need to
My favorite education bloggers and pension advocates are among the following:
26 Feb 2013 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Common Core, Diane Ravitch
first read of the Common Core standards I was highly skeptical. Just like I couldn’t believe that the mandate for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) would ever become the law of the land. Imposing untested (as in no field studies) standards and onerous sanctions, along with the carrot of the promise of ridiculous amounts of money to the States is a combination for disaster. I am always amazed to watch administrators at every level in education toss out any common sense they have to blindly follow along the latest
mandate.
Read Diane Ravitch’s blog post for more background on this topic and why she has come out in opposition to the Common Core.
26 Aug 2012 Leave a comment
in planning Tags: organization, Pinterest, workspace
So, you look at that photo of a round table in the classroom and you may wonder, “Why did she take that picture?”
I’ve been back in the classroom for only two days and I’m not yet acclimated to the “school schedule” of going to bed earlier than midnight. But, before I go to bed, I wanted to be sure I could move a photo from my phone to Evernote and then to the blog.
I spent the evening making a file folder game for sorting basic shapes and my favorite professional development activity of pinning to my Pinterest boards. It’s taking a long time to move preschool – related pins to the new account from my very diverse original account of art, home, and school pins.
Later today I’ll post my new lesson plan binder and forms as well as a poster I’m making for Sensory Break ideas for two little ones in the classroom.
28 May 2012 Leave a comment
in planning
People who live with teachers know that summer time is not a time of week after week without a thought of school. It is rare for a day to go by without making at least a mental note of something I want to do when I get back to my class in August.’
In the past several days that I’ve been “on vacation” I’ve accomplished the following:
20 May 2012 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: autism, behavior support, bribing, coaxing, first-then, grandma's rule
I recently read a blog post of a young mother with a darling 2 year old daughter. Mom was relating how she had succumbed to the “bribing” style of parenting, and was not too happy about it.
I used to feel disconcerted when I thought about this as “bribing”. With a different frame of mind, I’m able to think about the process as a learning opportunity.
In the classroom we refer to this as “first – then“. Some folks call it “grandma’s rule“.
Any behavior that a child likes to do
can be used as a reward
for doing a less preferred activity.
For children who need more support than just a verbal, we use a little card, with removable pictures of the activity you would like them to accomplish, and then a picture of the activity the child would prefer to do.
I’m not at school right now, but doing a search on “first then visual” will take you to lots of examples of what I talking about, like this.
21 Sep 2011 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: cooking with preschoolers, homemade applesauce
We made applesauce in the microwave today and then ate it at snacktime. Here are some industrious preschoolers carefully cutting apple chunks into smaller pieces with appetizer spreaders.
Recipe:
In a microwave safe bowl covered with vented plastic wrap, heat for 10 minutes:
8 peeled, cored, and chopped apples
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2-3 Tbsp sugar (optional)
Stir after 10 minutes, then return to continue cooking for another 5 or 6 minutes. Mash soft apples with a potato masher. Cool and serve.
11 Sep 2011 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: climbing playground, fire safety, outdoor play
Our classroom is located in a building that has students from preschool through seniors in high school, so we use the playground that the PTA generously funded and constructed for the elementary students. The preschoolers enjoy the climbing equipment and three slides. There is always something that is just out of their ability reach, so they typically do not get disinterested when playing out there.
B. conquers the spirals last spring. H. takes a breather on the tri-colored ladders.
J. has found a way to climb higher on the dome.
There are days when we don’t have the time to go all the way out to the main playground (it’s a very long trek down a long hallway and then past a softball field. On those days we play on the grass and sidewalk right outside the preschool classroom. Most of the time we bring out sidewalk chalk or play simple running games or circle games. However, this week, we’ll also bring out some water to paint on the sidewalk. We are talking about fire safety this week with a visit from the local fire fighters on Friday. So it seems natural to bring out the buckets and brushes and fire helmets and see what fun the children create for themselves.