Teach.Travel.Find.Design

Today was the Graduation Matters Assembly at Browning High School.  All of District #9, students, teachers, employees, administration, etc. gathered in order to kick off the new Graduation Matters campaign. Here's the coverage from the Great Falls Tribune:   http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20130131/NEWS01/301310030/Graduation-Matters-Browning-School-celebrates-diplomas As if the day wasn't exciting enough, we also practiced an evacuation drill on the way to the assembly. Each teacher knew whose class to follow and what bus to board and the students took the drill very seriously as they walked out of the school with a sense of urgency despite knowing it was just practice. The assembly was inspiring.  Here's a video I made of some highlights:

We sent two students home with what seemed to be the flu today.  One girl said, "Ms. Rich, I throwed up four times."  "It's 'threw up,'" I said and caught myself.  "That's not important right now, let's get you out of here!" Today was also my first formal observation by my University Supervisor.  My supervisor is the Assistant Superintendent and I'm honored to have a woman in such a prominent position critiquing my teaching.  She watched as I taught Reading Mastery and the students did a great job despite one repeatedly falling asleep!  When she woke up she told me she didn't have her morning coffee.  So THAT explains it!  Oy vey! The students were invited to participate in a school wide "Graduation Matters" assembly, a precursor to the district wide "Graduation Matters" assembly that will take place on Thursday.  Thursday's celebration will be the largest assembly in District #9's history as stud

Week 4 began with a beautiful commute: full moon overhead illuminating the sky while glances in my rearview mirror lent quick glimpses of a colorful sunrise.  Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting" blared through the car stereo as I was looking forward to this jam-packed week. If you don't already love the song "Cloudbusting", listen to it here: Cloudbusting by Kate Bush on Grooveshark With week 4 comes more responsibility in the classroom.  I am teaching Reading Mastery regularly,  running my small math group daily and have picked up Language for Writing as well. Language is the most difficult subject for me to teach.  The curriculum is scripted and I am feverishly trying to familiarize myself with the sequence.  My biggest struggle is the time of day. Language is the last block of the day and the students are restless to put it mildly. Management is the key to success in any classroom and everyday I learn new lessons from my students.  They are masters at d

In other news, I got my VISA for CHINA!  The last major piece of the planning puzzle has fallen into place.  Now, all I have to do is board the plane on March 8 and I'm good to go.   I am excited for this phase of student teaching as it is rare in life when you are afforded an opportunity to live among another culture for an extended period of time.  For most jobs, you get two to three weeks vacation if you're lucky.  My friend Lizzy and I will spent 11 weeks in China; 8 teaching English in Guiyang and 3 traveling.  We are open to travel suggestions.  My number one destination is Xian to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.

Week three was a short week - the students had Friday off and the teachers had a PIR day.  On Thursday, students were recognized for doing a great job during the quarterly "WOW Assembly".  Teachers recognize their students by allowing them to fill out "WOW tickets" when they are doing a great job, turning in all of their homework on time, helping anther student, and for perfect attendance.  The tickets are collected and entered into a grade level drawing.  Once a quarter, a celebration is held where students' names are drawn to win prizes, compete in games against other students and even their teachers!  It's a fun way to end the quarter!  Here's a video of the students whose names were drawn to dance for everyone to "Gagnam Style"!!!  Too cute. After school, Ms. Grant invited me to join her at the SBE meeting at the administration building.  The meeting was a time for administrators, principals, and teachers to come together to plan the

This morning I woke up a little sleepy and said to my roommate "Another day, another dollar."  Then I remember I'm not being paid. http://www.sadtrombone.com   Last week, I worked on re-testing Ms. Grant's math students on Star Math and we saw much improvement but still had four students (3-Urgent Intervention and 1- Intervention) that need extra help with basic math concepts.  Upon brainstorming with the Math Coach and Ms. Grant, we decided that I would pull these four students daily and work on CMC (Connecting Math Concepts) with them, ensuring they have the mastered the basic foundations in math. Today was my first day with the small group and we had 15 minutes to meet.  I was convinced we would get through the first lesson in no time:  counting money, place value, measurement, math facts, we could do it!  Ms. Grant looked at me like I was crazy, she knows her students much better than I do.   Did I mention my University Supervisor was on hand to conduc

After school Monday brings the weekly staff meeting.  This week, the focus was on Reading data from ISIP (Istation's Indicators of Progress) testing. The ISIP test is computer based and places students into different reading levels.  It is generally administered monthly in order to guide instruction by identifying the skills students need to work on.  One half-hour test gives specific information on a student's reading development.  Phonemic Awareness, Alphabetic Knowledge, Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Fluency are all evaluated and each of area scored individually allowing teachers to tailor their reading instruction.  The different reading levels are:  Red = Low Intensive, Medium Intensive, High Intensive; Yellow =  Low Strategic, Medium Strategic, High Strategic; Green = Low Benchmark, Medium Benchmark, High Benchmark.  The 2nd and 3rd grade teachers are passionate about helping their students become lifelong readers.   In order to paint an overall picture of the 2nd g

Today was one of those days that you just knew deep down in your heart that it was a Monday.  I'm not sure what the students did or didn't do over the weekend but I swear they all came in sick or injured!  One gal had a sore throat, another an earache, one diarrhea, one sent home for I'm guessing head lice, and one lost a tooth!  Poor little buggers.  I sometimes wonder how the children can focus during days like these when students are in and out and I realized that some focus better than others. In fun news, we had a birthday today and the birthday boy treated us to cupcakes!  I am treating you, blog readers, to photos of 2nd graders with frosting on their faces!

Week two flew. I decided to drive over to Whitefish this weekend.  My roommate in Cut Bank has pneumonia and I thought she would like to have the weekend to herself to recover.  So, I write as I'm cozied up by the fire in my home away from home. I consider today to have had three wins: On Tuesday, I attended a meeting with the other 2nd grade teachers and listened as they discussed their results from Star Math, a computer program designed to assess individual students' math skills in order to guide teachers in their instructional planning.  The results were puzzling.  The students were broken down into groups by their score:  Green - At or above Benchmark, Blue - On Watch, Yellow - Intervention, and Red - Urgent Intervention.  The majority of the students were in the Red and although I only work with Ms. Grant's math group, several of our students scored much lower than I would've guessed just from observing them in class.  The teachers hypothesized that the low s

Since Ms. Grant was gone for most of week 1, I spent most of week two observing her classroom, her teaching methods, getting familiar with the schedule, learning the sequence of the curriculum, jumping in with hands-on projects and helping students one-on-one when needed.  I have to say, it's already Thursday and the week flew by in this fast-paced classroom.  Ms. Grant does not waste a minute of instructional time, her dedication to her students is inspiring and she employs a variety of teaching methods and activities to engage her students. I am loving the Browning Radio station, KBWG during the morning commute.  The morning DJ gives the best ever weather report including a detailed account of how much longer each day will become.  It seems we are gaining about a minute of light per day.  During week one, it was dark when we left Cut Bank at 7am dark when we arrived at the school.  Today, however, I noticed that as I was about 10 miles out, the sky allowed a faint, periwinkle o

Lovely weekend in Whitefish, always feels like home when I return to see my favorite friends that can only be described as my Montana family.  The train ride home was awesome, I felt like I was undercharged at only $44 roundtrip!  The train leaves Whitefish at 7:46am and heads east arriving in Cut Bank at about 10:45am.  The ride was absolutely breathtaking, gliding through the mountains as the sun rose.  I sat in the observation car all morning, drinking coffee, taking in the view, and chatting with fellow travelers.  Here are some photos:

Week one is done and done.  There was NOT a snow day but I’m happy to report that the commute was much better this morning than yesterday.  My roommate drove today and has 4-wheel drive and that helped when we arrived in Browning as the snow was piling up.  Fridays are early-out: the students get out an hour early and wow, the day flew by.  I’m guessing it was because I taught the bulk of the day and was learning the Friday schedule that is slightly different than Monday through Thursday.  We had a substitute again and I was thankful she let me jump right in and practice teaching.  The curriculum is scripted and I need all the practice I can get.  The highlight of the day was hands down walking out of school, no offense to the students but the snowstorm had ended, the clouds cleared and for the first time all week, the sky was blue and you could see the mountains.  I am writing while on Amtrak headed over to Whitefish.  The train was on time in Cut Bank and fo

Well, it didn’t take long for a nickname to come my way.  One little boy claimed he heard another say it.  I said to the class “It’s going to be a long 8 weeks if that’s what you think of me.” One boy’s eyes widened, “No, we do not feel that way at all!”  Phew. No luck on the phone front, I’ll get a replacement this weekend.  I took a walk to the library tonight in some unpleasant weather: 12 degrees, blustery wind, snow clinging to my eyelashes, to print out a train ticket – Whitefish here I come.  New phone, old friends; it will be a great weekend. My university supervisor stopped by today and introduced herself and soon we will plan my observations and  paperwork extravaganza. Throughout the week, I have been fortunate in that other teachers have invited me into their classrooms to see various programs at work.  I observed Roots, Wings, CMC (Connecting Math Concepts), Reading Mastery, Language for Writing, and Language for Thinking, to name a few.  Even i

Day two was a mixed bag – professionally awesome, personally, well, I hope I am reunited with my iPhone tomorrow.  I must have dropped it outside the school, oopsie. I miss my little robot.  It keeps me connected as I am so very far away.   Back to the important stuff – SCHOOL!  Today was great, I observed another teacher, Mrs. Tailfeathers' Reading Class.  She is using the program “Wings” and the students in her group are considered at grade-level.  The kids were awesome, actively participating and Mrs. Tailfeathers provided a nice mix of activities that allowed the kids to learn in a variety of meaningful ways.  They acted out words which allowed for much needed movement, they worked with partners, and read as a whole class as well as independently. The kids were never bored.  My cooperating teacher, Ms. Grant, went to Billings for a conference for the rest of the week and I am fortunate to work with Mrs. Bullshoe, an awesome substitute teacher.  She is great

Car-pooled with Betsy and Elizabeth, drive was a little longer than I remembered but enough time to chat, drink coffee and ease into the day. The biggest challenge of the day was not knowing where my second cup of coffee would come from – a challenge for which I am thankful for. I’m guessing the next few days will be a bit more trying – my cooperating teacher is heading to Billings tomorrow afternoon and for the rest of the week, it’s me and a substitute.  In order to maximize my 8-weeks, I will spend part of those days observing the literacy and math programs being implemented in other classrooms in order to broaden my understanding of how the students are doing and what they are learning. On a Cooling it in Cut Bank note – remember that bumper sticker at Two Sister’s?!  I joined the Cut Bank Civic Center this evening so I now have access to a treadmill and a hot tub.  What more can a girl ask for in January on the Hi-line?