The last day is always so hard...This year has been amazing and I feel so blessed to have been a part of each one of your lives. I wish you all the very best and if I can ever help, please let me know! :)
We have laughed, cried, sang, and yes even danced...You guys are simply the best! :)
Oh these faces!!!
And sorry this one is sideways for some reason...I tried and tried to rotate it but it won't...sorry!
You guys are so funny!
Then we learned about nouns a little more in depth. We learned that nouns can be concrete- a person, a place, or a thing. Concrete nouns are something you can touch. BUT nouns can also be abstract-something you cannot touch such as an idea or a feeling. This fantastic author took her beautiful coloring page and brought it to life with the app Quiver (formerly ColAR Mix). This app uses augmented reality to insert virtual images in a real environment. Then she wrote a poem using concrete nouns on the left, the word of down the center, and abstract nouns on the right. Then we played around with Microsoft word for editing and used a font and clip art to fancy it up for hallway and blog publishing. Meet the author of Change and watch as she goes from a simple coloring page, brings it to life with technology, writes a wonderful poem, and finally her magical story Change you can read by clicking on Change.
I am so proud of this author! She is a fantastic author period but she has also worked hard to improve many things all year long. She has also worked very hard to incorporate the things we have been learning about: figurative language- onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, synonyms, vivid vocabulary, proper nouns, dialogue, sensory images, Showing Not Telling....the list goes on and on! She has worked hard on this all the while working to improve her handwriting and spelling using the world around her. Self-motivation and determination like this will take you far! Keep writing K.J.! I am so honored to have such a talented author in our classroom. Thank you for sharing your talent with us and teaching all of us. :)
After reading all of my students' pieces "What I wish my teacher knew..." I thought and thought for hours. I poured over each piece and I wrote back to these sweet little ones who have captured my heart. I found I had so much to say it overwhelmed me but I knew I had to take the opportunity to say it because as one student reminded me..."I wanted to say goodbye, but I didn't get to say goodbye."
All too often in life, we miss opportunities to tell people in life things we want to say. I decided then and there I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me or my students by. I wanted to let them know what I really thought and felt. The next day, I fought back tears and read and hand delivered a copy to each one of my students because I decided, I will never NOT tell them what I wish they knew because they are too important and they need to know that. What if I never tell them and they leave and I never see them again? And what if NO ONE ever tells them? There are too many what ifs there for me...All it took was a little time and a lot of tears. But I will never forget these kids who have touched my heart in so many ways. This year has been a true blessing and I mean every word. After you open that door, listen and respond. They want to be heard.
All too often in life, we miss opportunities to tell people in life things we want to say. I decided then and there I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me or my students by. I wanted to let them know what I really thought and felt. The next day, I fought back tears and read and hand delivered a copy to each one of my students because I decided, I will never NOT tell them what I wish they knew because they are too important and they need to know that. What if I never tell them and they leave and I never see them again? And what if NO ONE ever tells them? There are too many what ifs there for me...All it took was a little time and a lot of tears. But I will never forget these kids who have touched my heart in so many ways. This year has been a true blessing and I mean every word. After you open that door, listen and respond. They want to be heard.
What I wish my
students knew…
1. You are not
just my students…you are so much more. You are like family to me. You are like
my own kids. I care about you and want you to fulfill your dreams and grow up
to be anything you want to be.
2. When I am hard
on you it is because I want so badly for you to work your hardest so that you
can have the best possible life in the future and that requires an education.
3. I don’t think I am the best teacher. I make a
lot of mistakes but you always make me feel like I am a good teacher and that
it is okay to make mistakes. I hope that you feel that it is okay for you to
make mistakes too. Life is all about second chances.
4. I don’t want to
go with you to third grade. I am not saying that to be mean. I am saying that
because there are some amazing third grade teachers that know a lot of things I
may not know and I want you to have the opportunity to learn from all kinds of
amazing teachers even if that means I have to let you go.
5. There are times
when I am upset with you for making choices that might not be the best but I
will never dislike you or stop caring for you. I will always do my best to
treat you with respect. I won’t treat you differently because of something that
is not your fault.
6. I wish I had
the answers to all of your questions. I promise to do my very best to find out
if I don’t know something or to find someone who can. Some of your questions
don’t have answers yet…I strongly believe someday you’ll be the researcher or
scientist to find the answers!
7. You have taught me so much about being brave
and being awesome and being cool. I bet you didn’t know, I’m shy too. I was
more shy than some of you when I was a child.
8. I am so very
proud of the enormous number of new things each one of you has learned this
year. If I showed you the long list of things I begin the year with to teach
you, your eyes might pop out of your heads!!! You are amazing and have learned
so much!
9. I bet you won’t
believe that you teach me just as much or more as I teach you! You make
teaching the best job in the world!
10. You have the
kindest hearts and make me feel so special and I will treasure each one of you
forever for unique reasons. I have special memories of each of you.
11. I like fun
too. Actually, that’s not true. I love fun. But that list is very long and we have
to learn all of it and I try my very best to make it as fun as I can. I am
sorry if things aren’t always fun. I really do try.
12. Your writing
sounds beautiful to me, even if your spelling isn’t perfect. Remember, your
ideas are the most important thing- ALWAYS.
13. The most
important thing to me is that you TRIED. There is nothing that is more
important than trying.
14. If I can ever
help you, I will.
15. No matter
which table you sit at or which school you go to or where you are in this
world, I promise, you will all be VIPs to me! Forever and always!
16. I have really
enjoyed getting to know you and your families and pets this year. That is why I
love your writing so much. It helps me know you and Shadow. J
17. Thank you for
making my world a better place 2A.
Love Always,
Mrs. Katie Lawson
4-29-15
Many of you have probably seen the post gone viral on Facebook and Twitter and all over the news of the third grade teacher Kyle Schwartz, who gave students an assignment in an effort to get to know them better. It was simply titled, "I wish my teacher knew".
"She allowed students to write anonymously but found that most wanted to include their name and even share it with the class. She said:
“Some notes are heartbreaking like the first #iwishmyteacherknew tweet which read, ‘I wish my teacher knew I don’t have pencils at home to do my homework.’ I care deeply about each and every one of my students and I don’t want any of them to have to suffer the consequences of living in poverty, which is my main motivation for teaching.”
Here is the link to the full article with pictures from her kids' and teachers around the world who have shared their students' responses. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/17/i-wish-my-teacher-knew-poignant-notes-from-students/
This post touched my heart deeply. Shanna Peeples speaks of bonding with her students. This is a lesson teachers know well. Without knowing your students, teaching is not possible. You have to know their interests, have knowledge of their families, their worries, their dreams, their favorite color, their cat's name, and any other "in" you can find in order to help them feel safe in your classroom. Some of these kids desperately need a safe environment or at the very least an adult who is interested in them. This doesn't apply to all students, some of them come from happy, stable homes with loving parents but these students still learn more when they know their teacher genuinely cares about them as a person.
I was inspired by Kyle Schwartz and also our National Teacher of the Year- Shanna Peeples to try the "I wish my teacher knew..." writing assignment. I gave my students several different options. 1. The writing could go into their writing notebook, never to be seen by my eyes or anyone elses...the writing goes home with them at the end of the year. 2. They could write and then share with the class. 3. They could write and then give it to me privately. 4. They could write and then throw it away.
***Another twist, they also did not have to be writing to me...They could be writing to a previous teacher or perhaps a teacher at an after school program or a Sunday school teacher. Any teacher in their life at any point.
I have to tell you. I have never been more moved or inspired by the young people in my classroom. They are so brave to put themselves out there the way they did. Each student was willing to either share with the class or give their writing to me to read privately. I don't think at only 8 years old, I would have had their courage. Some of them shared things that I never would have had the words to say at their age. And they were so HONEST. So very HONEST. Many of them have given me permission to share their writing on our class blog. So please join me in honoring these brave young souls. I did promise to remove their names though. Some of them were more than one page- the dotted lines separate new pieces. *****Please keep in mind- these are the pieces that my students wanted published on the blog. I had permission from each student to publish these and removed the author's names from each piece as promised. and some of them are NOT directed toward me or even school teachers at all. Some were writing to previous teachers or teachers in different settings they are involved in. Several students wrote nice things about me that made my heart sing but there are others here that nearly broke my heart and even more unpublished that opened my eyes and heart even more. Teachers, you just never know until you ask. If you have just a short time...I would recommend this. It was truly powerful for getting to know my students even better and allowing some of them an outlet they desperately needed. Writing has always been there and they have always been able to write about topics of their choosing but sometimes they just need that door opened up for them.
Open the door.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
