Wow, What a Day!!!

Spent the day touring the Algona Community School District. I was treated to walk through tours of all the buildings, discussions with staff on programs and philosophies, and great opportunities to watch teachers in action. It was so interesting and reminded me of why I do what I do. Everyone in education should have the opportunity to do the same. Thankyou Algona School District!! Now to bring the conversations back to staff...

My Grama Has A Dog With Three Legs

I really do not have to time to write another post for this blog...but sometimes you just have to do this.

Reflect on the pure joy of teaching children of all ages.

Time to enjoy and hope you do also!!!

A beautiful pig tailed 5 year old student waved her had back and forth during breakfast at school last week. This usually means she has to go to the bathroom and wants permission to leave her tray and then come back to eat. Not today. With a look of concern she said," Mrs. K. my Grama has a dog with three legs." of course my response is "I hope that the dog is okay". She nodded yes and then said, " Grama says two legs got ran over Mrs. K.". Okay what to say next? I could not think of anything, my mind was busy with the thought process of ... does that mean it only has one working leg? ... or it had five legs to start with and now only has three?. I am going with the five legs to start since that is what I think a five year old might think. What fun to think like a 5 year old.

Switch age levels....

Same day a tenth grade boy walks into my classroom/office with a huge smile on his face. "Mrs. K. he says did you hear about my ticket?" I said no of course and asked about what happened. He told me he was pulled over for speeding 93 miles per hour in a 55 MPH area. I wanted to ask a couple of more questions to see if he had learned anything about the experience (teacher in me). I asked "What did you say to the officer when he came up to your car? The student replied "The officer asked me if I knew how fast I was going and I told him yes of course, I had my cruise control on!" Enough said...
Now add to my list of stories and of course I will too.....

Let the other Team Score!!!

My son had his last basketball game of the season. It went really well and I can say he played his heart out. Second game the team stepped on the floor and the crowd could tell they were no match. Okay 3rd grade are in it for the experience so play. That being said my son is a good 12 inches taller than most 3rd graders and for this game maybe even more than that. When the game was getting ridiculous his coach (generous man that he is ) told many of the players (my son being one) to play only outside the zone. Okay I did agree with that. Our team has been on whipping end of the game before and at 3rd grade I think that was appropriate. My sons comment after the 2nd game was "I thought basketball was supposed to be fun, what fun was that?" He has trained the entire season to rebound and shoot and the two things that he does well he does not get to do?
So how does this blog relate to education?
Well think about it. How much money is spent on struggling schools when schools that are successful go without? How much time and tax money is spent on legislation that concerns low achieving school districts. How much federal money is put into states that have failing educational systems. How much work goes into working with a poor teacher and not towards an innovative idea a successful teacher is trying to implement. How much time and money is put towards a drop out when the student in the middle keeps swinging and the student at the top just watches.
Now I am not advocating 'educational survival of the fittest" but I do know that is how China and India get the test scores that make the USA look bad.
What I am advocating is how can this be more balanced?
I am searching for more ideas... as always