Questions

This blog has always been designated specifically to my students. However, tonight as I ponder the "why's" of what MCE teachers do everyday, I am compelled to write this post for those of you who may question why.

The most frequently asked questions I have heard this year are 1) "Why do you read so many depressing stories in 5th grade?" and 2) Is this a Common Core "thing"?

Please indulge me for a moment while I express my joy over the literature we read in 5th grade. Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder. The literature that has been chosen for the fifth grade reading curriculum has come about over a span of five years. It has been a progression of realizations that has led us to our author study on Lois Lowry. Some may say that her books are too depressing...not appropriate....needing to be censored and edited too much. I say, those who think that either have not read her books, or have not seen the beauty that I take from her stories. Her Giver quartet gives a picture, when read together as intended, of true redemption and compassion.The lessons and discussions that come from each of these stories include seeing the beauty in our world, realizing that without despair, we could not cherish hope....without fear, we could not value freedom....without pain, we could not appreciate joy.  How many of us adults learned such beautiful life lessons such as this as fifth graders? Empathy, compassion, grace, mercy, and diversity are just a few of the topics discussed within these stories. Lois Lowry enables us, through her stories, to see the beauty in our own world from seeing the struggles in her characters' worlds. Many of us do not have the slightest clue what it is like to struggle, to need. These characters know pain and turmoil on a level that we have never known in our safe worlds. Because of their struggle to escape their conflicts to find harmony and beauty, we see their pure joy over the wonders of a world as safe and colorful and happy as our own. So for the word "depressing" to be used to describe Lois Lowry's literature, I cringe just a bit. Only because my heart is full of joy as I end each story with my class. My smile is a mile wide at the end of each story as my students realize the same truths I have time and time again. I have read The Giver twelve times now. Never once has it become old or mundane, because of the discussions and emotions that come about as a result of it. Please bear with me, if you are a concerned parent. Please trust that I teach these stories from a deep heartfelt place of love and compassion. Please know that my goal is not to check items off of a list to teach your child, but to give them a lasting memory of what beauty looks like. Beauty from words is the best beauty of all in my opinion.

Is this a Common Core "thing"... The simple answer to this question is a resounding no. I think the best way to express what I believe Common Core to be is to tell you what Common Core is not.
1. It is not a book of worksheets to be run off.
2. It is not a checklist of skills to be taught.
3. It is not an item that can bought at school aids.
4. It is not giving 5th graders 7th grade work and calling it a day.
Common Core, to me, means that as a teacher I am teaching in the most deeply connected way that I can. My students should be able to see how science, social studies, and reading all come together. My students should be able to tell me why an author feels the way they do based on the textual evidence from our stories. My students no longer have to tell me what is being personified in a poem, but how that personification contributes to the overall theme of the story. Deep thinking is required. Therefore, deep thinking is modeled on a daily basis.

I am not an expert. I am only a teacher with a very idealistic view of what teachers do and what students should learn. I value my profession more than you know and strive daily to build a community of learners in my classroom, who will one day become a community of leaders.

I will leave you with just a few of my favorite Lois Lowry quotes.

“Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything.”
― Lois Lowry, The Giver

“Be proud of your pain, for you are stronger than those with none.”
― Lois Lowry, Gathering Blue

"But now he knew that there were communities everywhere, sprinkled across the vast landscape of the known world, in which people suffered. Not always from beatings and hunger, the way he had. But from ignorance. From not knowing. From being kept from knowledge."
- Lois Lowry, The Messenger

“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”
― Lois Lowry, The Giver

“They were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them.”
― Lois Lowry, The Giver

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

In class we are reading Holes, by Louis Sachar. Poor Stanley Yelnats....keeps ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time. While at a juvenile correctional facility, (there for a crime he didn't commit) Stanley has to dig holes all day. One of his group mates, X-Ray, is the definite leader. He's the one who tells the boys how to line up for water breaks. Of course Stanley is last. But one day, Stanley does something pretty impressive. X-Ray decides to move Stanley up one space in line for water. We have discussed in class how this gesture symbolized respect.

Today....a sweet, loveable, innocent teacher (did I mention sweet?) was definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time. UNDER THE SLIME BUCKET! My students worked hard all week to bring in money to raise awareness for being drug free. The teacher whose class brought in the most money won the prize. PRIZE?????

It was a prize for my students to watch me get slimed today. It was a prize for me to see them smile...although I am pretty sure some of those smiles were because they were witnessing the one who gives too much work get slimed.

So, in honor of Stanley Yelnats, I relinquished my phobias of both germs and large crowds of people staring at me to hopefully move up one place in line.

Book Clubs

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.”
― J.D. Salinger



After day 3 of meeting with his book club, Dayne Luby decided that there really needs to be a sequel to Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nyhm. So he wrote the author a letter.

We have begun our book clubs, with much excitement. The students were ready to begin as soon as second nine weeks started. They have met three times with their book club groups and have already decided these days are their favorite days of the week. I am having so much fun floating from group to group listening to the students read stories that I have loved since childhood. One group is reading a book that my fifth grade teacher read aloud to my class. That was the moment I became a reader. As I listened to Mrs. Bell read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nymh, I became enthralled in the lives of those characters. I hung on her every word. I wanted to know how it was all going to end. As soon as she finished the book, I walked to my small town's library and checked out the thickest book in the children's section I could find. I didn't even look at the title. It ended up being one of my favorites...A Wrinkle in Time. Now, to pass along that joy of reading (or attempt to at least) that Mrs. Bell instilled in me, I am so  excited about the conversations I am hearing. The students are having such great discussions about their books. I have heard them laughing, getting mad, sympathizing with characters, and even asking for just a little more time to read further. Many groups are actually assigning themselves homework. They are reading for pleasure, not for testing. The joy of reading is becoming our theme of the year! Way to go readers!!!! Keep up the fabulous work!!!!!

Books we are reading: Walk Two Moons, Tiger Rising, Hatchet, Cathcing Fire, Mockinjay, How to Eat Fried Worms, Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade, I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nyhm

A Journey Just Beginning

Today ended our first nine weeks of the school year. So many amazing things occured during this term that I am finding it difficult to gather the words to capture it. However, I feel that I must try to give a written voice to the emotion and progression I have been privy to.

There are not too many days when I don't drive out of my school's parking lot feeling blessed to be a teacher. It really is the best profession, in my opinion. I have the highest honor each and every day of guiding children along their path, molding young minds into deep thinkers, and above all building relationships that will last a lifetime.

We read the final chapter of Gathering Blue this week. Upon finishing, many students raised their hands immediately to be called on. I knew the students would want to discuss the book. They have bombarded our class discussions this term with such intellectual connections and thoughts. They have genuinely learned how to analyze literature. It has almost become a friendly competition to see who can be the deepest thinker, or who can find the most literary elements within a chapter. It was truly amazing to see the passion these fifth graders had over literature.

I have been moved to tears on more than one occasion this term. My students have exhibited emapthy towards the characters we encountered, and have begun to carry out that empathy towards one another at school. 

This is not a profession where you can create a to do list....I cannot simply check off items to be taught by the end of the year, so that my students perform well on a test. I cannot even think the word TEST. This is a profession of heart. This is a profession of creativity...finding  a way to create a journey for my students to experience. Each book, each lesson, each you tube video, each class discussion has a central theme. It has to. Otherwise there is no sense of purpose for the students. Knowing the end of this journey they will travel, gives me such excitement and anticipation for what they will come to realize.

I look forward with that anticipation to experiencing this year with them. Such a reward. Appreciatively, for now I am their captain. For now, I am their guide. But, just wait. They are hanging on the edge of their seats to be let free....free to make their own choices, to be their own guide. What successes they will be.