The End of One Journey Leads to the Beginning of Another

          The ending of GO Project Summer 2014 is bittersweet. There has been much growth from the students and the teachers in my opinion. Although there is still so much room for growth, the relationships built and the lessons learned have been valuable. I see the children helping one another. I see the children learning games and routines. I see the children responding faster. This also means that we as teachers have to provide more to stimulate their minds.

            The teachers of KC created a small yearbook for the children so they can remember their first summer at the GO Project. We had them all dictate messages to their friends and we all got sentimental over our time together. One student mentioned that her favorite thing about GO was Harambee. Another mentioned how much she loved her new teachers. The creation of this book has helped us all reflect on the past five weeks in a positive way. It has been a great experience for both the students and the teachers, which is evident in the works and comments we have shared with one another.

During my pre-student teaching seminars, I had heard the GO Project brought up in discussions. “Go Project is tough.” “The kids have problems.” “There are a lot of IEP students.” Despite the opinions of my fellow classmates and teachers, I did not have any strong impressions upon starting the student teaching experience at GO Summer. My entire teaching career has been at a school for low-income families. Many of the students in my school are bilingual and/or have IEPs. I was not concerned with teaching children who are “difficult”.

            As the summer progressed, I was pleasantly surprised that some of the children that we were warned about were not exhibiting the behaviors noted of them. I will say that the children do get rowdy, but they are children. Learning should be exciting and engaging. I do not blame them for getting loud. Although learning is supposed to be serious, a controlled amount of exuberance and enthusiasm is so welcoming to see from the children.

            I try not to have biases towards the children. It actually helped that I did not begin to look at any of the children’s personal files, which included their IEPs until the third day of GO Summer. I was able to make unbiased observations and then use their files to support some of the behaviors that I observed. After I got to know the children, then I began to learn more about them and their academic needs, it helped me put the pieces together. I was able to think about ways to work with the children, or when the child had reached his or her limit of desk time.

            GO Summer has provided me with the experience to build a classroom from the start of a term to the end. Previously, I had made observations in classrooms that already had routines in place. It was hard for me to make observations and learn how the teachers implemented their routines and adjusted the to the individual needs of their classroom. For KC, we revised the line spots for the children and were able to quickly pinpoint different strategies to motivate each child.

            The month at GO Summer has impacted me greatly. As a new teacher, this is the first time that I have taught in a co-teaching environment where we work together well despite our different personalities. In fact, this is the first time that I have been in a teaching team that has been as smooth as it has been. We do have our “hustle time” where we rush to complete things for the children and minor miscommunications (such as cutting out templates meant for the kids to cut independently), but we all worked through them and did not let that be a point of resentment or frustration. We also were very in sync with each other as to what needed to be done each day and allowing each other the flexibility to do our parts. This means that if I needed to type up some letters and worksheets, the remaining teachers had the classroom learning and management under control while I completed my task. This also meant that if another teacher was occupied with another task such as math goals that needed to be submitted immediately, the others were able to step in and lead.    

            There was a lot of support and solidarity amongst the teachers in KC. We supported each other in classroom management and had the children clarify their understanding to all teachers present. Also, if one was busy with a task, we all stayed in during lunch (which happened often) to pitch in a hand. This was not a classroom environment where one person was left to do much of the work, while the others did not assist or also take responsibility to help. I believe that this teamwork demonstrated to the children that we were all on the same page in terms of goals and expected behaviors.

            Although there have been many great moments this summer, it was a great feeling when the child that we had been dealing with his emotional outbursts had a fantastic week. On Tuesday, he even smiled and told Ms. K that the “good Joey* was here.” (*Name changed for the privacy of child.) He has had an excellent week and even made the recognition portion of Harambee twice this week. He came in late for class on Wednesday because he has therapy.  When we told him that he was called out to Harambee for a great job, he was sad. So as a class, we spontaneously reenacted Harambee for him. This made him so happy that he pumped his fists in the air and said, “all right!” This was a great moment, because as skeptical as many are about Harambee, it means a lot to our Kindergarteners. I hope it continues to be a positive symbol as they grow within the GO Project. This also show that despite the rough moments a child may have, the positive ones still make a strong impact on him/her.

            As I grow as a teacher, I would like to collect the things that I have learned from all the teachers I have met along the way and incorporate my favorite strategies, ideas and songs into my own teaching. I would also take some of the strategies that I disagree with and address them as I teach. If I disagreed with the gendering of children, I would make it a point to say to my classes that colors are for everyone. Pink can be for boys and blue can be for girls. I already have plans to incorporate some of the morning meeting songs into the new school year.

            In the long run, I would ideally be teaching in a diverse classroom setting. I also strive to teach in a cooperative setting where the teachers and children have responsibilities and have the confidence to be active within the classroom. I plan to begin this long-term goal by having my summer volunteers and teacher’s aide to lead read-alouds with the whole class upon my return to my classroom next week. When the children and teachers have purpose, learning is actively occurring. I am not a believer of passive learning. Through the gained independence of all parties within the classroom, I hope to gain more time to incorporate more assessments and utilization of the assessments to inform my instruction. However, this must all come from more careful planning and organization this year. I will make it happen!

There is no cheat sheet for classroom management...

         Since September 2013, I have transitioned from being a classroom aide to an assistant teacher and then suddenly from the assistant teacher to the lead teacher. Due to the circumstances, I began to quickly understand how important classroom management is. Classroom management encompasses so much from making transitions educational to managing behaviors. I remember how at the August 2013 professional development workshops for my school, I steered clear of the behavior management workshops deeming them “boring” and not as pertinent to learn than content specific workshops such as an inquiry science workshop. When I began the school year as an assistant teacher, I realized how misguided I was. I am beginning to understand why classroom management and behavior management is a topic that requires discussion and feedback from your colleagues and peers. Learning will not be effective if a teacher is not able to manage her classroom.

            From my personal experience, I have learned that a teacher must first be able to connect with and engage their students. The initial connection may not necessarily have to be on an academic level either. The children must first know that you care but also know that just because you care, it does not mean that they can run amuck and do as they please. The most effective way, I have found to manage children is by just talking to them and listening to their interests. Once you have found a way to engage them in conversation, you can find ways to connect what you have learned in to something more academic. When I taught about the topic of transportation, I pointed out how a child built bridges but they kept falling over. And based on my knowledge that the boys in my room love bridges and vehicles, I was able to point out specific examples of their structures and how we might make the bridge stay up.

Something as simple as even including the children in stories I read is an effective way to include and engage. I may read The Three Little Pigs and choose three children who have been responsive to directions that day and read their names in place of “the first little piggy”,  “the second little piggy” and “the third little piggy”. And when there is the line of “Not on the hairs on my chinny chin chin”, I have them say the words. I even include the wolf and have that child say, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!”

On an even more seemingly minor instance, I just might hug the student who looks sad and acknowledge that they seem like they just needed a hug. I believe classroom management begins with respect and trust between the child and the teacher. Although, it is easily written about, respect and trust can be difficult to establish and may take some time.

In the GO project, I have learned that although many of these kids come from “rougher” home situations, they still want to have conversations with people. They want to be seen as capable beings. Once a topic of interest is reached, the kids become animated and have a lot to say. They are more apt to share their thoughts and opinions.

Despite reaching common ground with children, there are some who still have a hard time controlling their emotions and behaviors. This is one of the biggest challenges that I face. Many times, I approach the children who have difficulty with their behaviors calmly and patiently. There are those who respond to this and those who look to outsmart the teacher who has this approach. They are agreeable and quick to apologize but no real behavior change occurs. When this happens, I attempt a negotiation tactic where I make them deals. I either use the positive or negative reinforcement approach (you will get stickers or you will need to finish your work when everyone else is having free time). My other approach is to get loud and stern. However neither approach is effective when the consequences/outcome have no value to the children.

Throughout the GO project, I have seen children who are consistently punished with no recess, but the behaviors continue. It seems to me that the children do not fear going without recess. When the situation comes to the point where the child does not fear or mind the repercussion of having recess taken away, I become worried and feel helpless. To me this is a sign that the child is heading for bigger trouble as they age. There is a child like that in my class at the GO project and it is very disconcerting. Kindergarteners should not have so much anger and indifference.

Our cooperating teacher is the one who takes the extremely stern role with him and it seems to work. While my fellow co-student teacher and I take the calm approach, all of our efforts do not seem to have a long-term effect. We theorized that he may be looking for negative attention, but as the weeks have passed, I truly believe that he has not found a method for releasing his emotions that work for him. This is an issue that concerns me. It is tough to be a teacher who cannot get through to his/her students.

I tried to talk to the child and provide positive praise as often as I can, but the outbursts seem to be occurring more frequently. When we try to discuss his behavior with him, he often says, "Go away", "I don't want to talk to you" or "I don't want you to be be near me." During the beginning of the fourth week of GO, we discussed these concerns with the grandmother of the child. She commented that the behavior difference from week one to week four as “oh, that is just him getting comfortable.” I do not doubt the unconditional love of the grandmother, but I am concerned about how to help this child cope with his emotions. He is extremely reactive. He acts before he thinks when he is socially overwhelmed, especially when he is angry. When he is happy, he is great to be around. I have discussed this child with my teaching team at GO and this has helped to gain insight on all the sides of this child. Despite this, we all have our good days and our bad days with him. We have another week to continue to show this child that we care and help him find ways to manage his outbursts, but it continues to be a struggle.

As my role as a teacher, social emotional development and behavior management has become more of my focus with children. As an educator early childhood, I hope that with proper guidance and learning in the early stages, that the children I encounter find acceptable and positive outlets to release their emotions. I also hope to gain more strategies and insight as to how to deal with children who have difficult behaviors. I feel exasperated, but I do not want to give up hope that the children who need help managing their emotions and behaviors will find an acceptable way to do so. On a positive note, there are twelve other students in our room who are showing improvements in their academics and their social emotional development. I do not believe one ever fully learns how to deal with all the different personalities and possible “difficult behaviors”, but it is important to not give up and continue to adjust and adapt to each individual’s personality. An educator I know has the belief that, “Once you connect with a child, they will follow you anywhere.” I hope she is right.