Stories and Notes

I'm sitting here. Listening to children bicker. With me, with each other, with the instructions in a book. They're doing a cursive paper. But they're so caught up in the technicalities of it all (15 minutes, a minute on each line, grade your own paper, turn it into the bin, who's done first, who's staying with the class, where are we supposed to be? etc etc) that I seriously doubt they even remember it's Cursive they're supposed to be doing. Tattling on their neighbor rather than sticking with what's in front of them. It's so much easier, to mind someone else's business. But it's the ones who are silent and just focus on what they're doing, who do much better. Not racing to finish 'on time' they manage to do a nice job, in the time allotted.
Tonight is our sleepover with the girls. Finally, these poor kids have been waiting long enough. One of the mother's was kind enough to volunteer her home and so we will be partying it up in the basement. As exciting as a parent and teacher supervised 3rd grade girl's party can be. haha :)
It's the weekend, but I've been feeling so out of it this week. I woke up this morning at 4:30, coughed, and thought "Crap!" Just like that. Because coughing is what every one else around me has been doing. Not me. But then again, not anymore.
Art went well today. We took pictures of people I'd cut out and then drew backgrounds and such to go along with them. Some are typical looking, a girl in a ballerina suit dancing in a studio, a baby stepping forward walking from one person to the next, a baby holding a rubber ducky in the bathtub. But others were a little more imaginative.
A girl with her hand over her heart -looking like she is going to cough soon, which is what she was doing in the real picture- turns into a salute to the American flag. That same picture of a baby with a rubber duck (I had two of them) is no longer in a bathtub, but near a pond, in the snow, watching other real ducks on the water. A boy throwing a temper tantrum becomes a boy looking out the window through some binoculars. And so it goes. I think we shall do this exercise again. It helped the kids be a little creative, and I personally want to see what else they can come up with. There is one boy in particular who always seems to, defy logic, if you will. And he did really well with this exercise.
Just goes to show, If they aren't learning the way you are teaching, change what or how you are teaching, rather than changing the way they learn.
This principle was again proved today. When, going through all the kids' stories with them, I learned how to reach one of my students who does not take criticism of ANY kind, 'constructive' or not, very well. If you say something is wrong, even a little imperfect, he automatically deflates. Doesn't matter if you are trying to help him or not, if it sounds the least like what he just did was even slightly not 'good enough', he hangs his head and becomes dejected and sad looking. He's already given up.
After telling him a few observations I'd had about his story I told him to maybe remember some of them for the next time he rewrote it. He then informed me that he couldn't remember, that he wouldn't. We didn't have time to have him sit down right then and apply anything that I'd suggested. Besides the fact that he was not in a good mood to do such a thing. I told him to write notes about it to help him remember, to which he replied he didn't know how to write notes. I said, you just think things, and write them down. This is how the conversation proceeded:
"C'mon, think of something that you need to change in this story"
"ALL of it!" *saddened look*
"No, I just want you to pick ONE thing, that should change, just one thing."
"Nothing. I can't think of anything"
"Don't give me that answer. Come on, think of something"
-he sat there and I thought for a moment before rephrasing my request.
"[the students name], you think of one thing YOU know you could change, that you can see needs to change"
-he thought for a second. "Well I could tell why they are getting into a fight"
I write down on a paper 'getting in a fight' and, after asking his permission, add one word after it. Why?
"What else can you think of that might need to be added?"
"Well the Pokemon are having a battle, I could tell what ones are in the battle"
'Pokemon having a battle' -and again, after asking his permission to add something, I write 'which ones?'
"Ok, think of one more thing that you can change this next time you write this story."
"I could tell at the end of the sentence what Pokemon does what so that they know"
"What about making sure their names are spelled right? Could you do that? Do you have a book or something that you could get their names from?"
(here comes the sad look again) "No I don't"
"Do you have some friends you could borrow a book from?"
"I don't know that I can go over to their house before tomorrow" (getting sadder)
"Hey silly, you don't need to have the story done by tomorrow. In fact, lets wait til a little bit later and just work with what we've got now"
I write on the paper 'Pokemon at the end'. -This doesn't really make sense to me, but then I am learning that truthfully, it doesn't always need to. It's his story, his notes. As long as he understands, the notes are accomplishing what they are meant to do.
"Ok, so now next time you are writing this, these will be here to help you remember, go ahead and put the story in the bin and let's move on to Science" He happily trots off to put it away and get out his book.
And just like that, we are done. Probably made more progress in that little exchange than has been made in all the week and a half we've already been writing. And he actually did alright with it. No whining, no head banging, no sulky looks or pouty face as a result.
This child also asked me a few days ago if I'd be teaching next year. I told him that truthfully, I would not. And since then- he's been getting better. He's always been getting better. But maybe realizing that I am not always going to be here, for him, makes it so he appreciates the time that I am. It's been good.