Reflecting on Thirty-Four Years of Teaching

Those of you who know me well know that this school year has been a real struggle, to put it lightly! I've always believed that God never gives us more than we can handle and He must have had a lot more faith in me than I did in myself.

The year started off with a new-to-me- district nearby, going from two half-day classes of four-year olds to a full-day class of four-year olds. I was skeptical that four-year olds could handle full-day preschool. However, my sweet children rose to the task and I ended up absolutely loving it! Building those always-important relationships with kids, and their families, is so much easier when you have the kids all day. What made it even better is that the school and district administration support play-based education! As our State Commission of Education, Dr. Randy Watson, said at a conference I attended, “I believe that every child under the age of eight years old should have a play-based education.” AMEN!!

The tough part was that our district was part of a collaborative agreement with another entity. While our district was very flexible, the other group was not. I found myself battling their procedures and practices at every turn. Every turn! I have twenty-one pages of documentation. Some of what this entity stood for, in theory, is right and noble. The way that they were going about enforcing their policies and agenda, not so much. It was SO tough and much for what they wanted me to do was that ugly old monster,”that's the way it's always been done,” and no one could show me where it was a policy. I ended up on high blood pressure medication and more frequent visits to my amazing chiropractor to get rid of the tension in my neck and shoulders. Were it not for my prayerful, sweet mentor, and the amazing and supportive staff in the building and district offices, I'm not sure I would have lasted the year. It was that bad!

     And oh, my gosh!! Let's not forget the children! I was blessed with some of the sweetest children to ever have graced this Earth! Their smiles and their eagerness to learn made coming to work each day a blessing and something to look forward to. They truly LOVE to learn and made it so easy to teach them more. And crafts?? They loved doing crafts! “Mrs. Jenkins! What's our craft today?!?” They wanted to create and had a blast doing it! I feel that what they loved the most about crafts was that I gave them permission to be different. What they created didn't have to look just like mine. They were free to use their imaginations, and that was okay!

     At the end of the school year, we had a celebration, and our class of preschoolers rose to the occasion once again! We recited The Pledge of Allegiance with our families, sang our Days of the Week Song, followed by two songs, Dr. Jean's "May There Always Be Sunshine" and Jack Hartmann's "One Small Voice" with sign language, and finally, The Kindergarten Rap. Then we shared punch and cookies with our families. The children were precious!

     Year thirty four taught me to trust in my abilities and lean on my tribe and lastly, to never, ever, forget my “why.”

 

It's Up to Us!

     I got an email the other day. It was entitled “You have the power to change a child's life.” I thought to myself, “Yes! This is what teaching is all about.” Teachers are tasked with making a difference in the lives of the children in their classes each and every year. Not just the children they WANT to have, but each and EVERY child that walks through their door.

     The startling facts are that some of our students have a less than idyllic life at home. There is poverty, substance abuse, joblessness, and a myriad of other events going on in their homes that takes away from them just being a kid. Many are handed a screen to keep them occupied, rather than healthy, family conversations. Many go to bed with a television blaring in their rooms, rather than cuddling with an adult, calming down from a busy day of being a kid, and hearing a bedtime story. Many have parents who are “just too busy” to spend quality time with their children.

     This is where teachers come in. We can't fix what's happening in their homes. But what we can do is provide our students with a place where they can learn, explore, and be challenged all while being loved, supported, and safe. We can let them be a kid without baggage. Just let them be little!!

     The email I received last week made me think of a student I had in kindergarten a while back. After Christmas Break, the children were all so excited to tell me what they got, that I had to stop what I “thought” was important and just let them take turns sharing. Little did I know that this would be such a memorable activity for everyone in the class! I am changing this particular child's name to “Adam”for his privacy. Here is his story:

     “Adam” is one of three children and the middle child. Mom was volatile and in a volatile relationship. All three children slept on the floor and were usually awakened by screaming matched between the adults in the home every night. Grandparents stepped in when they could or were allowed to. Fast forward to the day after Christmas Break. As we went around the Sharing Circle and each child shared about their Christmas gifts, we came to “Adam.” The question I had asked each child in the room was, “What was your favorite thing about Christmas Break?” (knowing that some of my students would not get the high-dollar items that others did. This gave them an opportunity to share anything they felt was special).

“Adam,” who didn't share much on a regular basis, launched into the most beautiful story I have ever heard from a young child! He told his friends about his favorite Christmas memory. It was a story about cuddling up in a rocking chair with his grandma while she read him the “real story about Christmas,” and watching the snow fall. As he told the story, the rest of the children got very quiet, their eyes were huge! It was almost as if they were in that rocking chair, cuddled under a blanket with him. 

 For me, this was the affirmation of what I believe: children don't really want things. They want time. If they aren't getting time at home, we can, and should, give them time at school. It's all about relationships!

"That Kid"

     When you dig as deeply as I have into children coming to us from trauma backgrounds, you see things through a very different lens. Now, whenever I watch tv or a movie, I see the circumstances of the characters differently.

Take, for example, “that kid.” You know the one. The kid who gets under your skin. That kid that you have to give a personal invitation to in order to get them to follow directions you've already given. “That kid.”

     I've learned that you shouldn't take that child's behavior personally. That kid is simply communicating an intense need. It is our job to build relationships with our students, to understand them, to know their likes and dislikes, to comfort them, to encourage and support them.

     Deep down, they're all good kids, with potential, with dreams and things that they care about. With many of these kids, we, as their teachers, don't get to see this. This is what they are feeling inside, why they act out. They are afraid. They are in pain. They are sad. They show us this with their anger and their defiance. They are the children who have been let down by important adults in their lives. They have learned not to count on anyone or anything. Because of this, what we see is acting out and defiance. It's a cover for the pain they are feeling.

     This is their cry for help! They want the same thing everyone else does. They want safety, security, and to be loved. These kids are fragile. They want the same thing every other kid wants. They just have so much junk in the way, in their homes, and in their developing minds.

     Here's how teachers can help. Ask them questions. Give them a safe place to be. Maybe, slowly, they will learn to trust you. Or it could take a long time, and you won’t see any progress in your time with them, but your patience, love and kindness toward “that kid” will plant a feeling, an idea, that could grow and bloom several years later. Just love them. Everything else will fall into place.

I Can't Do It...

As the end of yet another school year is quickly approaching, I cannot, and will not, countdown to the last day with my students. I simply can't do it. I've never been able to. Have there been times in the past thirty five years that I've thought about it? I'd be lying to you if I said “no.” Still, I've never been able to countdown.  

    Why, you might ask? There are many reasons, but     what it boils down to is that in my tiny little classroom, year after year, we've become a family. When you spend 150+ days together, it's hard not to. Of the sixteen students currently in class, thirteen of them have been with me since Day #1!

This year, I found something a little different to do with my students. I took a picture of each of them and asked me to tell them something they felt they were good at. Next, I put their picture with their statement they gave me on the bulletin board. Each day, I'm going to take down the one belonging to the Special Helper for the day, glue it into the middle of a piece of poster board, and ask each child in the class to tell me something they like about that student. I'm going to write it on the poster board surrounding the Special Helper's picture and give it to them as a keepsake for their time in my classroom.

     I started today. Let me tell you, when it came time for the rest of the class to tell me something they liked about the child in the center, I almost cried in front of the whole class! They were so sweet and kind! I thought to myself, “If all I've done this year is to teach them to be kind to one another, then that's good enough for me!” This group of children who came together with me, a new teacher in the building and some not knowing one another have become a tight-knit group of children. I pray that they continue to be these caring, compassionate children as they grow. The world we live in needs more of this.

When I think of this year's class and their kindness and empathy, I am constantly reminded of Isaiah 11:6, where it says, “and a child shall lead them.” That's how I feel about these children! They can be leaders with their kindness.

Each year, I know I'm going to miss my students and each year it's for a different reason because each class is unique. Building relationships is hard work, but oh, so worth it!!

Thoughts & Prayers for My "Flyover State"

My “Flyover State”

The flooding in Nebraska has hit close to home. I was born and raised in Nebraska. The state slogan, “Nebraska-The Good Life,” could not be more true. I can't even imagine growing up anywhere else. The wide open spaces, the gorgeous sunsets, baby animals every spring, the flower and vegetable gardens my mom so lovingly tends to, riding my horse in the hills around our family farm. Sounds picturesque, doesn't it? I had the BEST childhood ever!! My parents still live on our family farm.

The devastation caused by both the flooding and the blizzard in the western part of the state is nothing short of catastrophic!! It will take years for our nation to recover.

Nebraska produces 27% of the nation's beef. It is calving season. Hundreds of calves have been lost to either drowning or freezing to death...hundreds!!

If you don't know a farmer, I can introduce you to several. They aren't thinking in terms of last finances. They think in terms of loss of life. The loss of life of any farm animal those farmers take to their very hearts. It takes a special man to want to be a farmer. A man who put in incredibly long hours caring for the land and the animals he raises. A farmer's heart is undoubtedly larger than other human's. He is the caretaker of God's land and it's animals. That takes a big heart.

Nebraska is also a leading producer of corn...the ethanol that you all put in your gas tanks, the food on your table. All of this has been dramatically compromised! Your produce prices are sure to go up. That's the process of supply and demand. It's not what a farmer thinks about. A farmer is concerned about feeding his livestock, of being able to care for those animals who count on him every day. If you have never fed an orphan calf from a bottle or let a calf such on your fingers with it's rough tongue, you are really missing out!

 

Then there are the roads and bridges. Nebraska's very infrastructure has been decimated! Bridges that have withstood waters for years have been completely washed away. Highways are half to mostly gone.

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Do you know that if I wanted to go back to the farm today, I couldn't get there from here in Kansas, unless I flew in to Sioux City, IA and came back into Nebraska from the north, and maybe not even then, but that would be my best bet.

The farmsteads that have withstood centuries of families who want nothing more than to work the land and care for God's creatures are gone. Yes, gone! Washed completely away! Centuries and generations of family farmsteads just gone. The pictures do not tell enough of the story. So many people are displaced. So many people have lost everything. (That's ice chunks in the photos below)

 

It's hard for me to even wrap my brain around.

I can't begin to tell you how sad I am for the good people in my “flyover state.” There are no words.

When Life Throws You a Curve Ball

Things are just clicking along, running fairly smoothly, and BAM! Life throws you a curve ball. 

 It happens to everyone at some point in time, often several times in one's lifetime. How you respond to those curve balls defines your character. 

You could curl up and ignore the world, hoping it will go away. However, the damage is done and nothing can change that. 

You could be pissed off and angry at the world. What's that going to solve moving forward?

Or, you could accept it as one of life's many challenges, learn from it, and move forward. As quote from Winston Churchill says, “If you're going through hell, keep on going.” Rodney Adkins even made it into a song.

Make your peace, scream, cry. Do what you need to do to come to a resolution in your own mind, but never give up!

The Kansas Division for Early Childhood Conference

Whenever I go to a conference or workshop I like to post about it, so here goes!

On February 28^th & March 1^st I went to the Kansas Division for Early Childhood Conference with two other preschool teachers in our district. The keynote speaker was from the University of Washington and spoke about a project there dealing primarily with children who had been identified and placed on the Autism Spectrum. Following her address, there were breakout session the rest of the morning.

The first session I went to talked about the positive aspect of flexible seating, which I would LOVE to incorporate into my classroom environment somehow. I am currently researching the cost and feasibility of this idea! Next, it was time for lunch.

After lunch, we thought we would attend a session entitled “Move & Grow Together: Creative Movement Groups for Young Children. We thought it might get our blood pumping after a delicious lunch. We were sadly mistaken. While the information shared was good, it did not involve attendee participation.

The next session I attended was “From Frustration to Success: A Social-Emotional Journey.” I was thrilled to hear the speaker talk about all of those piece of classroom practices that are near and dear to my heart. In addition, she mentioned my three edu-heroes: James Moffett for Derby Hills Elementary School in Derby, KS, Jim Sporleder my guru from Walla Walla, WA, and Rebecca Pancratz-Lewis from ESSDACK, right here in Hutchinson!!

The last session of the day that I attended was “Strategies to Meet the Social and Emotional Needs of Early Childhood Students. This covered some of the same ideas and strategies I already use in my classroom, as well as some other ideas I may look in to.

The next day there were just two sessions: “Beyond the Typical Preschool Classroom” and “Exploring Kansas MTSS and Alignment Through a Preschool Lens.” The one about beyond a typical preschool classroom was amazing and interactive! We learned about different ways pf engaging families, implementing flexible seating, and STEM activities for Preschool. So much fun!!

The last session we attended was, honestly, a stab in the dark, but we were so glad we went to it! The facilitator talked about how preschool is foundational in the public school setting. Since we will be having a district preschool meeting this next week, we are taking the ideas shared in this session to that meeting.

Reflecting on those two days, I would have to say that I learned a great deal, my brain is spinning, and I was blessed to spend two days with our fabulous preschool team...even though I missed my students terribly!!