Back at it!

I fell out of habit of writing... LOTS of things have happened since I last posted. I am at a different school, where I am the principal, and I am expecting a new little boy in May (I was pretty sick for a while). I hate how easy it was to fall out of habit, but you all know life happens....

 

Now that I have gotten things under control and I feel like I have a better grasp on life, I am giving myself time to write again. My first entry will be about what I have experienced so far in my new position.

 

1. Elementary and Middle School are as different curriculum-wise as I previously expected.

      Best practices are Best practices; it doesn't matter what age level of kids you are teaching.(note: I do acknowledge that there are better practices for each grade, but I feel that falls into knowing your kids category.) I have tried to spend as much of my time in the classrooms to get to know the kids, teachers, and curriculum as I can, but as I always say- "You never have enough time to get into classrooms."

      I walking into a classroom and a student asking to show/read/tell me about what they are doing. I was amazed by what my Kindergarteners are able to accomplish! They are able to read books to me, to which they expect me to ask them questions about it when they are done, they love to read their writing to me (And I must admit, this is my favorite thing they do!), and they are enthusiastic to explain their math to me. Yes, teaching reading in K-2 is different than I am used to. I have also learned that teaching reading 3-5 is very similar to 6-12. Our teachers are amazing and I am learning so much about what they do and how they do it. Love transparency. :) 

 

2. There is a HUGE difference in Elementary and Middle School discipline.

     This is not something I want to focus on, but we all know that this is apart of everyday live in a school. When I was at the middle school, I had a lot of options from a variant of detentions, ISS, OSS, DAEP. However, in the Elementary I do not have as many options, I pretty much have time out and it is in my office. I have channeled my inner counselor and with the help of my counselor and CIT have not had any situations that we were able to find a solution to.

 

3. Kids are Kids

      Kids are honest, opinionated, and fun. They tell you what they think, what they want, and what you should do.  When I left my previous school, many of my kids called me a trader and were mad. I thought it was sweet, they cared that I was leaving. :) They have since gotten over the mad and I get hugs now when I see them.

     Whenever I would cover a class at the middle school I never had a student ask me what qualifications I had, they knew I had taught before. My elementary students are a little more cautious: 

      I have gotten the opportunity to cover a few teachers' classes in the past few weeks, which I loved. In one class I was able to have writing conferences with the students over a history DBQ (document Based Question), one student asked me if I knew what I was doing; in another class we looked for text evidence to support our conclusion and a student stated, " You can teach?" I responded with, "Why, yes I can."   

   I came in three months after school started, they didn't know who I was. Most knew I came from the middle school, because they had a sibling there. So, to give me "street cred" I have started asking them more "teacher" questions when I am in their classes. I still ask my "administrator" questions, but I want to make sure my kids know I can help them as well. (ie. "Teacher" question- How does your wording here affect the tone of your writing? "Administrator" question- How are you using your rubric while you are writing?)