My "Why"

My “Why”

     Backstory:  A couple of weeks ago, I received a letter from one of the first students I had in kindergarten when moving to our current community.  It was so touching that I literally cried!  I contacted the student’s teacher and asked when their class goes to lunch, so I could surprise this student.  Working with her mom, I learned that her grandmother is in hospice.   Her mom called my previous school to give me permission to come at lunch.

     I walked into the lunchroom.  The class wasn’t there yet.  However, my last kindergarten class, now second graders, was.  I was greeted with lots of “Mrs. Jenkins!!” and one particular little girl jumped up from her seat and into my arms!  She said, “I thought you forgot about us!”  With tears in my eyes, I told her, “Never!”

     By this time, the sixth grade students had begun filing in.  I didn’t see my letter-writing friend, so I asked her teacher where she was.  Her teacher pointed to the lunch-from-home table.  As I walked over, she didn’t see me coming.  I sat down next to her.  She turned, her mouth dropped open, and she threw her arms around my neck and started crying!  Other students that I’d had in kindergarten came over and were giving me hugs and high-fives.  The whole time the young lady held on for dear life! 

     Friends!  This is my “why!”  This is why I do what I do and love what I do.  It’s about making a difference in the lives of my students!  When I needed that reminder the most, God provided it with all the love I was able to feel in that school cafeteria.  Lunch was supposed to be about the young lady.  However, my bucket was filled, as well!  I am so blessed!

Being Trauma-Informed

     It is rare, so very rare, when you hear someone speak and what he has to say touches your very soul.  I was blessed to have this experience Thursday, October 12^th, right here in Hutchinson, Kansas!  I didn’t even need to leave town.

     We were honored to have Mr. Jim Sporleder speak to the public.  Mr. Sporleder is a retired principal from Walla Walla, Washington.  Under Mr. Sporleder’s leadership, Lincoln High School, an alternative education school, became a Trauma-Informed school, gaining attention across the United States due to the dramatic drop in out of school suspensions, increased graduation rates and the number of students going on to post-secondary education.   Because of these changes at Lincoln High School, the successes caught the attention of Jamie Redford, who spent a year filming a documentary, Paper Tigers, which tells the story of Lincoln High School.

     In Jim’s talk on Thursday, he stated that, we, as educators need to break away from the tradition mindset of testing being tied to teacher evaluations and from the traditional, fear-based, forms of discipline, which only add to a student’s trauma and use fear to manipulate the situation.  He went on to say that our children are the most hurting population in our communities across the United States.  He says that people use punishment to cause pain and this type of action feeds into the cradle-to-prison pipeline.  He also stated that the children of affluent and middle class families are the most hurting.

     With regard to ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), Mr. Sporleder says that these are hands no one should have to hold.  He went on to say that the ACEs pyramid (pictured below) is a very adequate predictor.

                                                                                                  

     When anyone experiences trauma, that person goes into a “flight-fight-freeze” mode.

·      Flight-Avoidance, anxiety, or fear.

·      Fight-Irritability, defensiveness, loss of temper

·      Freeze-numbing, detachment, giving up easily

When a person is exhibiting one of these responses to trauma, their brains go into a “survival mode,” and it is physiologically impossible for them to de-escalate.

     Mr. Sporleder said that the traditional way of discipline was that the behavior was recognized by the teacher, then the teacher reacted to that behavior, and this caused the student to escalate.  This is the type of reaction is the kind of reaction we need to break away from.  He said this is a dysregulated adult dealing with a dysregulated student.  As adults, we need to work at building caring relationships with our students.  To do this, Mr. Sporleder gave those in attendance the following keys:

·      We, as teachers, need to be self-regulated

·      A child’s behavior is a reaction to fear of failure

·      Intervention needs to be a calm, teachable moment

·      Approach the intent with a positive intent

     When dealing with a student who is experiencing trauma, the teacher needs to allow the student time to de-escalate and to self-regulate.  Ask the student what caused the behavior.  More often than not, the behavior has nothing to do with the current situation, but something happening outside the school setting.

     Trauma-Informed holds kids accountable to a higher level.  A caring adult give the child hope and helps them heal, when that adult is asking and responding, not reacting and telling.  The influence of one caring adult can change a life path for a child.  The unconditional love of that adult teaches love and forgiveness.  Being Trauma-Informed wipes out racial and social lines.  Mr. Sporleder says, “Being trauma-informed is not what we do, it’s who we are.”  He challenges us all to be that one caring adult for our kids.

     I will leave you with two quotes from the evening:

“You cannot reach 100% of your students, but you can love them all 100%.”

“Not every story can be a success story, but every story can be a love story.”

Expectations

     Recently, there has been a huge push, nationwide, to teach more and more academics to our youngest students, even if the expectations given to the teachers are not developmentally appropriate for the students entrusted to our care.  The push for academic excellence is starting younger and younger every year.  This is my 33rd year of teaching and the changes, quite frankly, are scary and unbelievable!  Kindergarten expectations are what first grade expectations were when I began my teaching career.  Now that I am teaching preschool, the expectations for my students used to be the expectations in kindergarten.  And so it continues.
     There is research out there that shows students that are frustrated will act out.  In an article written by Van Thompson in "Classroom" magazine, he states that students who don't understand the classroom concepts are more likely to act out, struggle controlling their impulses, tun out, and even exhibit mental health disorders.  Could it be that children are being expected to learn concepts that they are not developmentally ready to learn, that their young brains are still unable to comprehend?  I believe the emphatic answer to that is "YES!"  In some cases, not all, children act out because they simply don't get it.
     Case in point:  Many public school affiliated preschools are looking at implementing full-day preschool programs.  Why?  Because there is so much that these young children are expected to learn, that it can't be done in a half-day program.  I'm getting on my soap box here:  For crying out loud! Let them be little!!
     Even preschool is becoming data-driven and outcomes-based.  This is simply not fair, nor right, and not age-appropriate!  Preschoolers should not be expected to take computerized tests.  Quite frankly, they shouldn't be tested at all, but rather given exposure to lots of different things and the ability to explore.  They're only four!  This is what a preschooler needs:  They need to be able to run, play, talk, sing, explore, get along with others, and share.  As my amazing mentor, Sheri Kay Sitzman once told me, "Play is how children learn." Not though testing.  Not through academic expectations.  Through play!
     As well-known educator, Dr. Jean Feldman says, "When I hear stories about pushing academics in pre-k I have nightmares. Seriously! The crazy thing is decision makers have lost common sense when it comes to four year olds. And, somehow, we just can’t figure out BALANCE when it comes to early childhood. When they started pre-k in Georgia over 20 years ago they wouldn’t even let the teachers display alphabet letters in their classrooms. Anything academic was discouraged and PLAY was encouraged. What has happened? Where is all this leading???"  I have to agree!

Children Matter

     Recently, there has been much discussion on Adverse Childhood Experiences (or ACEs) and the effect of those early experiences on school-aged children.  Because of the child's adverse experiences outside of the school setting, children come to school not ready or able to learn.  They are too worried about what may be happening at home to even begin to concentrate on learning.
     This is why it is so vitally important to meet each child where they are.  Here are some basic ideas about how best to do this daunting, but necessary task:

• offer a comprehensive, systematic approach that groups identified protective factors for mental health.
• provide ideas for strengthening the protective factors that early childhood education and care services can influence to reduce the impact of risk factors.
• consider how relationships, the environment, policies, practices, events and children's development and learning influence the well-being of our children
• involve all members of the education and care community including children, educators, directors, families and external community services 

     Additionally, children need to be a part of a caring community.  They need the opportunity and guidance to develop appropriate social and emotional skills.  Parents and caregivers need to work together for what is best for the child.  If a child is experiencing mental health issues, that child needs to receive the help of a trained professional in the mental health field.
     In order to teach the whole child, we, as educators, need to meet each and every  child where they are, not where we wish they were.

It's All About Relationships

     .....especially in PreK.
     In many ways, teaching preschoolers is like having two classes, the precious children AND their parents.  For many parents, this is their first experience with the public school system.  As their child's teacher, it is my job to help them navigate that new world.  This is a task that I DO NOT take lightly! Building relationships with those families is of the utmost importance to me!  If the relationship is intact, the teaching is the easy part.
     Building relationships with my students has always been critical to me.  Children learn better when they feel safe and valued.  I spend the first couple of weeks setting the routines and procedures, as I'm sure all professional educators do.  What I also teach, and build on for the rest of the year, is the safety and valued piece.  We talk about being a good friend, conflict resolution, and a wide variety of social skills. 
     There is a great educator, who was gone too soon, that sums it up best for me.  She said, "Kids don't learn from people they don't like."  I love her!!  Please enjoy this clip.https://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion/transcript?language=en

Communicating With Parents

     As a new school year rapidly approaches, I thought I would share with readers my thoughts on communicating with the parents of the students who will be entrusted to my care in the upcoming school year.  Hold on to your hats!  Some of you will not agree with me.  I'm telling you, this works for me.  It may be outside your comfort zone and that's okay.
     Each year, after I get my long awaited for class list, I call the parents of my new students.  I use this call to introduce myself as their child's teacher for the upcoming school year, ask if they have any questions or concerns before school starts, invite them to Back-to-School Night, and ask if there is anything they would like to tell me about their child.  I feel like this helps to get the school year off on a positive note.
     In addition, I give parents my cell phone number.  I know many of you are cringing at this, so hear me out!  I tell parents that I will only respond after 6 a.m. and until 9 p.m., and not while I'm teaching.  To assure this is followed, I turn off the volume on my phone.  Outside of the time constraints, parents are welcome to leave a message.  I have unlimited calling and texting.  In one instance, I had a mom call and leave a message at 1 a.m.  The student's grandmother was being life-flighted and mom wanted me to know that her child had had a short night and would need some extra TLC.  It's about building connections, people!  Honestly, in the eight years I've been doing this, not once has a parent abused calling my phone.  The fact that it's a cell phone makes tracing it to my home address nearly impossible.
     Another way of keeping the lines of communication open is through Facebook.  Nearly all of the parents have this already.  I make the setting for our class Facebook group "secret" so that no one outside of the group can see what is posted by me or by other group members.  This comes in very handy for posting reminders, giving new information, and sharing pictures or articles.
     While I also speak to parents in face-to-face conversations and newsletters and notes home, I feel these other forms of communication adds to and helps to build those crucial family relationships.

Reflection on Year #32

     This school year, I took a step out of my comfort zone of the past five years and asked for an inner-district transfer from Kindergarten to Preschool.  This included a change of school buildings, as well.  Looking back, this move was completely a God-thing!
     This past school year has been nothing but blessings! 
     The first blessing is a non-material blessing in the form of our classroom aide.  She has the logic where I have the determination to stay the course.  Sometimes I had to let the plans go and just let the students go outside and be kids.  She saw that when I was being bull-headed and wanting to teach.  In addition, our aide could have taught the class, and sometimes did!  She was a God-send and I am looking forward to her being in our class again next year!
     The second blessing was a kind, caring, and compassionate team of teachers. I  knew there were many out there, but to have a group such as the one I worked with this past year, all in one place, was life-changing.  The things these teachers do, day in and day out, for their students is inspiring!
     The third blessing was being given free-range, with the exception of the district phonics program, to do whatever I thought was best for my students.  Our students learned without even knowing they were learning!  Not only that, they learned to be kind to one another.  This was evidenced in the end-of-the-year assessments.  Such growth in the students!
     Last, but certainly not least, the relationships!  The relationships with the students.  Such an amazing group of "littles." Their parents.  Open communication with parents of students through phone calls, texting, a private Facebook group, monthly newsletter, other notes home, and face-to-face communication built relationships that will last way past their child's classroom experience.  Relationships with the faculty.  I've been awarded the opportunity to work,on  a daily basis, with truly amazing, edgy, caring people.  All of these people have made me excited to come to work each day.  I thank them all!
     After thirty-two years of teaching, I can honestly say I am renewed and inspired.  The best is yet to come!