Negativity breeds

There is an alarming trend sparking up in schools and other workplaces all over... negativity.

Negativity breeds and festers when exposed to other, even minute, pieces of negativity in its surroundings.  Especially when it is in a contained environment, like any school or workplace.

It all starts with one person being in a bad mood to spoil the day for everyone else.  One little comment to grow the negativity inside everyone else exposed.  

Now I am not saying we all don't have those days, because, believe me, we ALL do.  We have those days where we just need to spend 30 minutes and complain with or to an understanding friend to get that off our chests, or vent.  In those situations, it is not negativity but an attempt to find a life raft in a friend when you feel like you are drowning in a particular situation.  Some kind of empathy is really what is needed.  Support and open ears.  After that time, the build-up is gone and life can proceed as normal.  

Then there is negativity.  An ugly thing that is attracted to others with similar negativity.  Where complaining and negative comments are made, just to be made, rather than to find some sort of constructive outcome to them.  In this case, negativity grows and festers within the infected until life itself is viewed with a negative lens.  Where nothing is ever perfect enough to meet the impossible standards that everything is held to and since nothing is ever perfect enough that is even more irritating, causing a vicious cycle of rudeness and negative emotions.  

What is the purpose in this negativity breeding?  Only to destroy those infected.  The people who have this negative outlook on their current lives, future possibilities and limitless variables that occur in every second of our day, can and will never be happy with themselves  Then that negative outlook must be projected onto others in a feeble attempt to elevate their own personal standings.  

It is important for all of us to have those days where we vent and use the friends that we have built in colleagues or other relationships to express our feelings.  However, it is important to take the time to reflect on the role that we all have in those interactions in daily life and try to find some solution or action that can be taken to improve on what happened.  Those people who cannot take a negative time in life and turn it into an important learning experience will never be happy and will only create a self-fulfilling prophecy to more negative and unpleasant experiences to reflect back on.  It is a sad state to be in, and I after having seen the effects of such negative and rude interactions daily between peers I truly hope I never get to a place in life where I am so miserable the only way I feel like I can be happy is to make everyone else around me more miserable than I am.

Two days in

So I am two days into my student teaching full time so far, and things are going pretty well.  The kids are definitely trying to test out the waters to see how much they can get away with but things are getting back to the normal structure - though it is 3 days away from Spring Break so the behavior issues are to be expected.  

I didn't realize until today how much literature can really impact a student.  I am reading "Because of Winn-Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo as the class read-aloud right now and boy are the student enjoying it!  Today, though, I am near the end where the main character, Opal, is talking about how much she misses her mother, who abandoned the family when she was young, and how she just wants her mother to come back.  No sooner had I excused the students back to their desks, I had a student crying.  Not the fake, I-want-to-get-out-of-math, crying, but genuine tears.  I pull him aside and put my arm around him to see what's wrong and tears pour out of him.  Finally he manages to get out, "I just really miss my dad!"  Wow,... he had been fine all day and the thought of this girl missing her mother so much just tapped right into those powerful emotions that he had been fighting.   My heart absolutely went out to him.

Situations like that really put things into perspective again as a teacher.  Days get frustrating because students are fidgety and not paying attention.  As a teacher you think they are distracted by the upcoming break, and I personally wonder, "Am I not being engaging enough?  What else can I do to capture the attention of those students?"  Then you take a step back and have time to process the situation and then you really understand that life in general, especially the lives of 28, 7-year-olds is filled with more than school, and school alone.  These children have to deal with things daily that is mentally taxing, leaving little attention and effort for academic content at times.  Poverty, family situations, abuse, alcohol, and a laundry list of other things plague student on a daily basis, yet we expect all students to come and check their baggage at the door?  While I am not suggesting that we never do any learning because someone might be having an off day, I really am learning to realize that there is not one blanket statement or consequence that can fit every situation.  And how important it is for us, as teachers, to provide a strong support system for students in our classroom, since the continuity, security, and predictability of the daily classroom life may be the only thing that students can count on in life.

MATH!

While in a fourth grade classroom earlier this week during "independent math" where students independently work on different problem solving activities in the classroom I saw students engaging in an activity called Zupelz.  Needless to say, I searched for them as soon as I got home and I found the coolest math manipulative, problem-solving company called Origo Mathematics.  (www.origomath.com) The are a company that has math manipulatives and activities for all ages to build the problem solving aspect of mathematics that is so important for students to possess.  I highly recommend this website to anyone trying to build math problem solving skills and overall understanding.  It is fantastic!

Full time on the horizon

Tomorrow I officially start my full time internship!  I am SO SO excited but also realizing how much more planning and whatnot is involved!  :)  It will be so nice to be full time though.  Having the class all day, everyday will be a nice change from the every other day plan that we have been on since we will be able to see the everyday workings of the classroom and not miss a thing.

As it is getting so close I am already having dreams about it!  Last night I had a dream that when I got to school tomorrow I was told by the principal that I was getting 3 new students.  Yikes!  That would put my class at 31 students altogether!  I was stressed out because I had to single-handedly remodel and rearrange the entire classroom to fit three more students.  Seems silly that 3 more students make such difference but it really would.  I have no idea where we could even put 3 more kids!  :)  

I am sure that such a thing is not going to happen tomorrow (fingers crossed!) but either way I definitely can't wait to start the final part of the internship!  

The Job Market

On Tuesday there was a presentation all day at Western specifically catered to finding a job as a teacher.  It was really helpful because there were several sessions that we could attend for more information, including how to look good on paper (writing resumes) and more information about certification and endorsements for teachers.  Then after our lunch break we got a chance to spend time with administrators and principals from local school districts telling us about the interview process.  That was really helpful because I always have been really intimidated by the interview process for teachers so this session helped me put some of those nerves at ease.  Plus the assistant superintendent of the Burlington-Edison school district was there and I have met him before so it was nice to hear about interviewing and whatnot "from the source".  

The theme of the day seemed to be "be patient" and "be patient".  All of the administrators agreed that jobs for the coming school year about going to be posted very late in the year.  One administrator even said that there might not be jobs open until after the school year already starts and they realize the size of the classes in the schools!  Yikes!  That would be one of the most stressful first years as a teacher... after things have already started.  Talk about stepping up the learning curve!  

It was somewhat stressful to hear that jobs are going to be posted because I am a person who likes to plan somewhat far in advance, so to not know what I am going to be doing or where I am going to be in 6 months is somewhat nerve wrecking.  It is just part of the territory I suppose.  But there was a glimmer of encouragement when the administrators said that if you are flexible and want to move, there are plenty of jobs out there.  This works out for me, because I am looking for a change of pace, a new adventure.  So moving might be exactly what the doctor ordered for me!  

Either way, life will run its course, even if changes and events happen seemingly last minute.  That is part of what makes every day exciting and worth while after all!

The Bulletin Board is Officially Moved

Yesterday Kim, our vice-principal, and I made the short trek to the district office to put up the black history bulletin board. Thank goodness it was a big board because the artifacts are fairly big and take up a lot of space. :) It was a lot of fun to see all of the work that I put in, as well as all of the learning and creating that my students, being put on display for the district to see. I am really proud of how it turned out for sure!

And the Snow Fell...

We had a building day scheduled from 8-4 pm today. From roughly 9-11:30 or so the snow fell so hard it was almost a whitewash outside. I haven't seen a flurry like that in quite a while. Our school principal let us out early (at 1:30) to make sure that everyone was going to be able to get home safely. When it was time left it was cold out, but as I got on the freeway, the roads were clear and wet, but nothing serious. The most serious thing was a small fender bender that happened, unrelated to the wet roads. Crazy how that goes!