NO GREATER SORROW

No greater pain can be known than outliving your child. Violence will not solve any family ills nor personal grudges; in the end only grief and regret are left.
My thoughts and prayers are with ALL the school staff, students, parents, extended family members, responders, emergency staff, hospital staff, and even the media staff.
A wise quote from Robert Fulgham gives us the direction for what we all need to lead us in the aftermath of this tragedy:
"All I ever needed to know I learned in Kindergarten".
Let us learn to open our hearts and minds to keep public education and be ever vigilant for the safety and protection of our current and future students.
   

TIME FLIES ...

I used to laugh at my Gramma and my Mom when they would say this when I was little... Funny That!  I am NOT so little NOR young anymore!  I truly can't believe how fast time can go; especially as I watch my daughters grow up and I make my way through University.

This semester has caught me off guard.  Ealy Elementary in West Bloomfield is home to my field placement currently.  In 8 short weeks the Kindergarteners there have changed so drastically...but what was even funnier...they noticed that I had.  One young man "Nathan" told me that "I looked smarter".  I had to giggle...outta the mouths of babes! I feel smarter.  Three of the Professors I have had this semester have changed my life.  I would not be writing this very blog if it were not for Professor  Li's faith that I could learn technology.  He had MUCH more faith in me than I did...but I have been relentless in wanting to learn as much as I can!  I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!!!!! I am truly thinking of changing direction for my Masters.  Digital Literacy has such potential for reaching students and helping them to learn.  I am saddened by the thought of this class ending.  I truly believe this class should be mandatory and taken E V E R Y semester to be able to keep up with the ever changing technological wave.

Professor Li believes in FLOW.  I believe in making a difference.  He has said that I have changed his view of students...I am hoping he means that in a good way. HAHAHAH!  One never knows with me...However; I can say...the class I thought I would hate...I LOVE THE MOST and I don't want it to end. THAT MY DEARS...IS HOW YOU CAN TELL YOU HAVE DONE SOME PROFOUND LEARNING AND IMPACT ON YOUR STUDENTS!!!!!!!Professor Li, I thank you with a very grateful heart! My fellow classmates are and have been incredible...without James, Patty, Chelsea, and Amanda.... I probably would have made at least one computer airborne! For you see... time is not the only thing that can fly if I am trying to use a computer...GIGGLES!

All I Really Need To Know
I Learned In Kindergarten

by Robert Fulghum
- an excerpt from the book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten

All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do
and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not
at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the
sand pile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life - learn some and think some
and draw and paint and sing and dance and play
and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,
hold hands, and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody
really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even
the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die.
So do we.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books
and the first word you learned - the biggest
word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any of those items and extrapolate it into
sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your
family life or your work or your government or
your world and it holds true and clear and firm.
Think what a better world it would be if
all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about
three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with
our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments
had a basic policy to always put thing back where
they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you
are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

        © Robert Fulghum, 1990.

Found in Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, Villard Books: New York, 1990, page 6-7.

My field placement is at Ealy Elementary. I love the atmosphere there!!!!!! They have a wonderful staff and go above and beyond for their students!!!
These words always ring true ... every time I hear them. I hope they make your heart smile too! Kindergarten is the "GOLDEN" time of our life!!!!!

OLD PEOPLE ARE NOT STUPID!

 

My mentor for at 102 years old 

she still is yearning to do some learning.

GOOD MORNING!!!

A few years ago I tutored a wonderful third grade young man.  For one of his Persuasive writing papers, he chose the idea:  "Old people aren't as smart as Children". His initial working title was "Old people are STUPID". Obviously, since I was one of the "old" people I asked him to explain himself.  He started to tell all of his facts to explain and  justify his argument.  He felt very strongly and didn't even get upset when I told him he needed to write them out; not just tell me.  This is a excerpt of that paper from his rough draft:

             "My mom and all old people can't use cell (phones). How stupid are they. 
              All children can use cells ("c's"). They always ask me dial the cell? What
             dial? All you have to do is push the buttons or tell it what number
             to call. They can't use computers right. Nobody in my house especially
              the old people can use my computer but me. They break it. When we 
             went to store my mom can't check out her food. My Dad always makes 
             sure my mom has money because she can't make the ATM work." 

What made me laugh at the time isn't quite as funny now since I am not only being "old" but also a student.  Every reason he felt "old" people were STUPID was tied to the technology of today.

Oh, and I should explain; the first time he told me about "c's" I didn't know what in the world he meant.  He blatantly rolled his eyes and sighed loudly at me when I said "Oh...you mean cell phones"; and replied "Yesssszzzz Mrs. Gray" in his aggravated voice. Computers, ATM's, cell phones were not even common when I was his age. When I told him this; he didn't believe me for he had known them all his life.

Before my current class in Technology Education; I was scared and afraid but still trying to adapt.  Now, I am excited (just like him!) to learn all these new fangled things and to make them a part or extension of my lessons.  One idea that I shared with my field placement teacher (kindergarten) was of letting the children take their cell phones and do a scavenger hunt with the alphabet.  This idea came after observing the number of cell phones (more than half) that were in the students cubbies and backpacks. Just for a giggle...let me explain; my FIRST cell phone came at 30 years old NOT 5!!! 

I felt it would make a great connection to the alphabet and learning each others names; allow the students to work in groups, and later students could give the phonetic sounds to go with the letters.  The teacher did not agree with my enthusiasm nor lesson plan. I was told it was too much for the students.  So we continued to use and view the chart at the front of the room for the rest of my time there for the alphabet at carpet time.  I felt a "golden" opportunity was missed.

As the picture above shows, I believe in the ideal that we are all "life-long" learners. Someday, that may be me sitting in class with my grand kids learning how to use new technologies not even thought of yet. She is a mentor with whom I have never met but greatly appreciate.  As I told my student, all he had to do to make us smart "old" people was to teach us.  He grinned and said "NO!" for I was the "teacher" and he wanted to make video games. I laughed and told him that he was already teaching me vocabulary with the "c's" and how to use my cell phone.  He hadn't thought of it that way...and sometimes that's how the best learning happens...with out even knowing it between the "old" and the young.

HELLO!!!!
Welcome to my official new blog! Please feel free to add any advice for teachers or about teaching as well as any of your favorite children's books.
Thank you!

Always remember..... G.R.A.Y.: Great Readers Are You !