Social Emotional Learning vs. Learning Loss (Just My Thoughts)

     It has been said the behaviors of preschoolers have become more "significant." Let me just throw out my thoughts about the causes behind what I think could be causing some of these behaviors.

     First of all, let's take a look at developmentally appropriate practices. Developmentally appropriate practices look at three core considerations: 1) knowledge of early learning and child development, 2) recognizing children as individuals, and  3) multicultural competence.  " In a developmentally appropriate classroom, you would see the following:

• open-ended art projects.
• hands-on experiences with real objects.
• emphasis on children doing tasks for themselves.
• small group activities focused around children's interests.
• children offered choices.
• scaffolding for children at different skill levels.

Here in Kansas, our amazing State Commissioner of Education of Education has said, and I quote, "I believe that every child under the age of eight should have a play-based education. He says that, but districts don't necessarily follow that.  Furthermore, our classroom are definitely not developmentally appropriate. Art has been removed from the elementary classrooms, unless classroom teacher try to squeak it in somehow.

     When I first began teaching, preschool was a half-day program. Our "progress reports" looked like this:

     Now, we have fifty-four Kansas Early Learning Standards that we assess quarterly:

1.1- Responds appropriately to positive and negative feedback from adults most of the time

1.2- Recognized effect of own behavior on others most of the time

1.3- Demonstrates an understanding of what it means to be a friend (i.e. someone who cares, listens, shares)

2.1- Follows predictable classroom routines, manages transitions positively most of the time with minimal adult support

2.2- Works with others as part of a team, make decisions with other children, with adults assistance

2.3- Manages (i.e. expresses, inhibits or redirects emotions impulses and behaviors with minimal guidance from adults

3.1- Develops strategies to express strong emotions and calms self down in a socially acceptable way

3.2- States more complex personal information (eg. Names of family members, names of neighbors)

3.3- Demonstrates age appropriate independence in decision-making regarding activities and materials

4.1- Recognizes and respects similarities and differences between self and others (e.g. gender, race, special needs, cultures, language, family structures)

4.2- Displays socially competent behavior with peers (e.g. helping, sharing and taking turns

4.3- Resolves conflicts with peers, seeking adult assistance when necessary

1.1- Recognizes the difference between helpful and harmful actions toward the natural environment and demonstrates ways that individuals are responsible for protecting our planet (e.g., recycling, mending broken things instead of throwing them away, etc.)

1.2- Explores the effects of common forces (e.g., pushes and pulls) on objects and the impact of gravity, magnetism and mechanical forces (e.g., ramps, gears, pendulums, and other simple machines)

1.1- Describes some of the holidays, foods, and special events related to his/her own culture or acts them out in dramatic play

1.2- Identifies the four seasons and relates each season to basic clothing choices (e.g., shorts verses mittens, swimsuit verses heavy coat)

1.3- Names city and state where he/she lives

1.1- Counts in sequence to 30

1.2- Represent 0-12 with objects when prompted

1.3- Identifies numbers 0-12

1.4- Counts to answer 'how many' questions

1.5- Compares quantities

2.1- Child understands addition as adding to (up to 5)

2.2- Child understands subtraction is taking away from (from 5)

3.1- Describes measurable attributes of objects

3.2- Compares two objects

3.3- Sorts objects into given categories

4.1- Uses position words when describing objects location

4.2- Names shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, ellipse, rhombus, heart, star

4.3- Creates shapes during play by building, drawing, etc.

1.1- Demonstrates understanding of basic features of print

2.1- Recognizes rhyming words

2.2- Produces rhyming words

2.3- Demonstrates spoken words, syllables and sounds

2.4- Understands spoken words, syllables and sounds

3.1- Identifies and names upper and/or lower case letters

3.2- Identifies own name in print

3.3- Child produces letter sounds

4.1- Asks and answers questions about information presented orally

4.2- Participates in class conversations

4.3- Utilizes most question words

4.4- Speaks in complete sentences

4.5- Speaks understandably to express ideas, feelings and needs

4.6- Uses correct grammar when speaking

5.1- Chooses an idea to write about using pictures, letters, and/or some words

5.2- Forms letters in name correctly

6.1- Asks and answers questions about text

6.2- Retells familiar stories, including the main idea, in literature

6.3- Identifies the topic and key details in informational texts

6.4- Uses illustrations to comprehend texts

6.5- Identify/compare and contrast main characters, setting and major events in familiar stories6

6.6- Determines meaning of unknown words

6.7- Interacts with a variety of common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems, songs)

6.8- Identifies a similarity and difference between two texts on the same topic

     Does this look developmentally appropriate to anyone?  Does it look play-based?  Friends!!  On top of this, we also have MONTHLY reading and math assessments and standardized assessments that we are required to do three times a year.  There is not time for play-based. There is not time for developmentally appropriate. Teachers have turned in to data collectors. We aren't teaching. We're collecting data.

     And our poor students? They are not being allowed to play! I'm not talking about playing video games on Mom or Dad's phone. I'm talking about physical playing outside, riding bikes, playing with balls, getting dirty, digging in sand, climbing, swinging, etc. Or playing with blocks, magna-tiles and other manipulatives that help them create and problem-solve, work cooperatively with peers, constructively come up with ideas and solutions.

     Why are our kids showing signs of mental health issues, anxiety, lack of coping skills, inability to regulate? They don't get the opportunity to practice! We are constantly asking them to perform at levels above what is developmentally appropriate for them!  They are showing us that we are asking too much of them and what do we do to them?  We just continue to push them harder.

     In my humble opinion, we are doing a HUGE disservice to our children. They are telling us, showing us, that we are asking too much of them and we're not listening. We just keep pushing. We're going to end up with a whole generation of people with mental health concerns and we've got no one to blame but ourselves. It's so sad. I wish I knew where to go and who to go to in order to advocate for change. Our children are speaking, but who's speaking for them?

Let Them Be Little!

 

     I began working on progress reports ( I refuse to call the report cards) for my preschoolers today. Our progress reports are "standards-based," meaning that they address the most important skills a child should be learning at their particular grade level.  The purpose of such grading is to give a clearer picture of a student's learning progress.  Students are graded by goals, not their assignments. Got the picture? Good!

     Now. curiosity got the better of me, as I was entering the marks for my 19 students, and I decided to count the number of standards I am asked to quarterly assess my students on. Bad idea...  Read the above quote from Heather Shumaker again regarding preschool. I'll wait.  Guess how many standards there are on the preschool, four-year old progress report. Go ahead.  Keep in mind, they're four years old.  FIFTY FOUR! There are Fifty four standards my little people *should* be proficient at before entering kindergarten!  

     From the above quote:  "Don't foist academics on him... When children gain social and emotional skills and confidence in the preschool years, academic learning naturally follows."  Friends and followers, I can't even!

     On top of the quarterly progress reports, we are also asked to assess these young learners on a standards-based assessment called My IGDIs. This stands for Individual Growth and Development Indicators.  There are four assessments in math and five in literacy. Each of these assessments needs to be assessed on an individual basis.  Time-consuming. Right? Plus, in the picture naming assessment, what kid knows what an eggplant looks like? Good grief!

     Oh, and let's not forget the monthly math and literacy assessments required by the district. Assess. Assess.  Assess.  They are not little machines! They are children! We need to allow them to be children!  "A four-year old will only be a four-year old once."
 

Make It STOP!

 School shootings!  Something needs to be done. It needs to be stopped!   

Since 2000, there have been 68 school shootings. The list I am about to share does NOT include the following:

1. Incidents that occurred during wars.

2. Incidents that occurred as a result of police actions.

3. Murder-suicide by rejected lovers or estranged spouses.

4. Suicides or attempted suicides involving only one person

5. Shootings by a school employee where the other victim(s) were also school employees. These are covered under workplace killings.

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The 68 school shootings are as follows:

Year                                    #of deaths    #of injuries

2000                                           6                    3

2001                                           5                    20

2002                                           8                    7

2003                                           6                    7

2004                                           1                    6

2005                                           13                 11

2006                                           15                 19

2007                                           36                 30

2008                                           16                 30

2009                                           2                   12

2010                                           7                   12  

2011                                           7                   16

2012                                           40                 17

2013                                           17                 33

2014                                           14                 37

2015                                           23                 41

2016                                           10                 26

2017                                           18                 30

2018                                           43                 78

2019                                          20                  81

2020                                          10                  11

2021                                          16                  61

2022                                         48                   93

2023                                         6                     11  (In the first 48 days of this year)

Totals                                    387                692

     Seeing it in black and white is pretty shocking, isn't it?

     1,079 lives forever changed. Not to mention the lives of all of their loved ones!  And what has been done to stop these kinds of things from happening? Absolutely nothing!  Why?  

     One reason is the power behind the NRA. Don't get me wrong. I'm all about the right to keep and bear arms. I, myself, have taken a gun safety class and hold a Conceal & Carry permit. I'm okay with youth taking hunter safety classes and hunting with family member and family friends.  What I am not okay with is common people having access to assault-style weapons.  For real!! What everyday citizen needs an assault rifle?  

     It also concerns me that some families don't have the common sense to lock up their weapons so their kids can't gain access and hurt themselves or someone else.  Look at that SIX year old who shot his teacher. That gun was not secured where he couldn't access it. So many of the school shootings have been made possible by the use of unsecured guns that the shooter, who isn't old enough to get a permit, has taken from his/her home.

     I will also stand firm on my belief that schools need to do more, even at the elementary level.  Schools should regularly practice Intruder Drills with different scenarios. We stared doing this many years ago, when I taught in another district, and then it went by the wayside. Why?? We need them now, more than ever. It's the world we live in, unfortunately.

     Schools should also have metal detectors at the main entrances and all other doors should be locked at all times.  On top of this, school districts should spare no expense when it comes to staffing all buildings with full-time mental health professionals. This should not be a one-per-building fix, but based on a per capita formula. For example, a building of 600 students would have a greater need than a building of 45 students.  I also believe that every that houses students should have it's own school resource officer.  Schools should spare no expense to keep the students safe!

     But schools can't, and shouldn't have to, do it alone.  What is needed is legislation to ban assault rifles from being purchased by every day citizens. There's no reason anyone needs that kind of weapon unless they are in active service for our military or law enforcement.

              

                                                            

Are You Mad, Sad, Glad, or Afraid?

      Are you mad, sad, glad, or afraid? We ask our students that all the time, when they are struggling to deal with big emotions.  But does anyone ask us those same questions when we're dealing with big emotions?

    A six year old boy takes a loaded gun into his first grade classroom. Gets it from his backpack and shoots his teacher.  He's SIX!!  He's in FIRST freaking grade!! How does that even compute?  How does a first grader even know to get a gun, take it to school, and then shoot someone? How?

    Am I mad. sad, glad, or afraid?  I can tell you what I'm not. I'm not glad. That teacher's life is forever changed. any children who were in class and witnessed the shooting lives are changed. The child's life is forever changed.

     I am mad. I am mad that a six year-old child knew where he could access a gun, knew how to use it, took it to school, and intentionally shot his teacher. I'm also mad that the adults in that six year-old's home didn't have the gun secured.  I'm mad that the school didn't have proper safety measures in place to prevent any weapon from being brought into the school.  With school shootings getting more and more common, it surprises me that there were not safety measures in place, nor did the school have it's own school resource officer.  Districts need to do more to protect the safety of their students and faculty.

     I am sad. I am sad that a dynamic teacher, who loved her job, was standing in front of her class of young students and was shot by one of them. Again...the shooter was SIX.YEARS.OLD.  No one expects a six year-old to shoot their teacher. Sadly, that's where we are now, as a nation. Kids with access to video games that are nor age-appropriate, who are too young to tell fact from fiction, that a video game is just that, a game.  Children's brains are not yet developed enough to differentiate the game from reality. I am sad that some parents don't monitor what games their kids are playing closely enough to prevent this.

     I am afraid.  What I am seeing in the classroom in the past few years is children who are angrier and angrier.  Children who struggle more and more with the boundaries set forth in school buildings.  More and more kids are dysregulated. Something has to change and that change needs to be drastic and dramatic.  Otherwise, I am afraid that situations such as the one that happened last week will continue happening.

Because They Cared

 This post is going to be long because it's about my favorite teachers and why they were my favorites.

     Many of you who follow my blog know the story of Mrs. Moore, my 2nd grade teacher, and why she was my favorite. For those of you new to my blog, let me give you a brief overview. Shortly after beginning 2nd grade, my dad's plane went down in Vietnam, just 3 miles short of the runway. In my 7 year-old brain, my dad died while I was at school, so if I went back to school, my mom would die, too.  Mrs. Moore went above and beyond to get me back into school and into the classroom, allowing me to come in before the rest of the class and "help" her prepare for the day. We even stayed in touch with each other after I left her classroom and after my mom remarried. When I moved back to that city for college, I went to her home to study, talk about all things education, or just get away from dorm life for awhile. She is the reason I became a teacher!  I dedicated the book I wrote to her.

     Our house was  the hangout for teachers after football and basketball games. The teachers and their significant others would bring their snacks and guitars, snack, sing, and talk every Friday night.  Every Spring Break we went snow skiing....with the teachers.  One year, in particular, my parent had pulled us from school a couple of hours early to start the drive to Wyoming. At 1 a.m. there is a knock on our hotel door.  It was a van-load of teachers!  They had figured how far we would have made it, that we would be staying in a hotel with an indoor pool, and wanted to being in their sleeping bags and crash on our floor! Of course we let them!  What fun!

     Mr. Fletcher. (He and his wife just happen to be at my parent's house as I'm writing this blog post)  Mr. Fletcher and his wife were hired together to teach in my small home town.  He, as high school English teacher and a coach and she, as an elementary teacher.  He made learning so much fun! We played games with vocabulary words and he would write silly comments in the margins when we were asked to use those words in sentences.  

     Our section of English was all of the band kids, since the other kids in our class of 26 had English while we were in band.  We loved playing Password with our vocabulary words.  We always played boys vs, girls.  The uber-competitive boys could never figure out how the girls ALWAYS won.  Well, my mom was a speech pathologist. She had a student who was deaf. When she taught him sign language, I learned it, too. Then I taught it to all of my friends.  It was our "secret language."  We'd just spell out the vocabulary word under the desk and get the word on the first try!  Now you know!  

    Mr. Fletcher also made sure I was always one point form and A at the end of each quarter.  Then he would say, "Hmm? Some chocolate chip cookies would sure be good." or "I'd like some brownies."  My senior year, I was feeling full of myself, with a dose of senioritis and refused to bake anything.  To this day, on my high school transcripts, the is an A with FOUR minus signs beside it.

    Also, my senior year, my boyfriend of 2 1/2 years and I broke up. (He didn't want me to go to a four-year college)  Mr. Fletcher drove out to my parents' farm to make sure I was oaky.  Because he cared.

     High school band. Mrs. Knutson.  We were her first school after she graduated from college, too. We LOVED her! Her talent is indescribable! While my family is incredibly musical, I don't hold a candle to most of them.  Mrs. K, however, was able to pull talent from me that even I didn't know existed, through her excellent tutelage at my weekly private lesson. By my Sophomore year I was playing clarinet solos and in woodwind small groups.  That lasted all the way through my senior year.  In addition to playing in concert band, marching band, small groups, and solos, I also played piano in the high school jazz band.  Mrs. K and her husband, were also mainstays at our house on Friday evenings. I am blessed to know her and to have benefited from her amazing knowledge and musicianship! She made me a better musician....because she cared!

     High school choir. Mrs. Norvell (now Sipich). What a sweet, sweet woman! Mrs. Norvell was our high school choir director, however I also saw her for private voice lessons.  Under Mrs. Norvell's amazing direction, I sang in mass choir, girl's sextet, swing choir, small groups, and solos.  I loved singing in high school! I still love to sing, though I am WAY out of practice. When I graduated from high school and left for college, I took choir as a music elective. I learned that, on city campus, I was way undertrained against those kids from much larger schools who had opportunities that I was not able to have in small-town, rural Nebraska.  I found an amazing choir on East campus that was much more suited to my level of training.  I remember talking to my advisor when I was signing up for classes and she said, "You don't need and  more music credits."  I told her my mental health needed to be in choir. So I stayed in choir throughout the rest of college and even became the director's librarian! All because Mrs. Norvell cared!

     Mrs. Connealy. High school government. Ugh. Mandatory class to graduate. Who wants to study government? No one! Mrs. Connealy truly made it come alive for us, though! She made us think! She challenged us!  She is the ONLY teacher I had in high school that made us write a research paper, complete with an outline, notecards, rough draft, edits, bibliography, citations, etc. And thank heavens she did!  That knowledge came in so handy in college.  I can't imagine going to college and not knowing how to write a research paper. I credit Mrs. Connealy for that!

     Mrs. Connealy was also the Queen of Handouts! She would find current events and also ask us to find and present current events of our own (Hello? Public speaking) and have class discussions. I would venture to guess that so much of what we learned in American Government did not come from the curriculum, or was very loosely based on a curriculum guide.  That being said, we learned so much form her, probably more than we would have ever learned from the boxed curriculum.  Why?  Because she cared enough to teach us what she thought was important for us to know.