A Fair Shot

As my children prepare for pre-k graduation and the move to kindergarten, I cannot help but wonder about their futures.  Will Karen become a doctor?  Will Awana have the chance to choose between being a ballerina or a doctor?  Will Aniyah’s behavior regress and threaten her academic progress?

I have worked to introduce school to my class as an exciting and fun place where they can make friends, learn, and be successful.  Anecdotal evidence and various forms of assessments suggest that my students have already started to realize their potential and are on the path toward high achievement in school and beyond.  Parents’ strong attendance at our class events and interest in enriching their child’s learning over the summer also bode well for my students’ academic prospects.

Yet my students still have many years during which their attitudes toward school, themselves, and their peers could change for the worse.  Most of them will continue to live in unsafe neighborhoods and struggling school districts.  The research showing that students in inner city schools who have had high-quality pre-k do better than those who have not gives me hope.  I know that my instruction in the classroom and the active support of family members during this critical stage in children’s development will have life-long benefits.  I also believe innovative changes are occurring in the K-12 system, many of them spearheaded by my fellow Teach For America alums.  But, on an individual level, it is still hard to predict how high each child in my class will build on the pre-k foundation he or she gained this year.

My time in the classroom has been, above all, about providing the kinds of opportunities for my students that they deserve.  The playing field is not level, even for three and four year olds.  High-quality pre-k teachers alone cannot ensure that a child won’t face educational and societal inequities down the road, but the vibrant and challenging learning environments we provide are the first step toward giving all children an equal chance at success.

The Tough Questions

Many of my children, though only four or five years old, have already dealt with difficult situations such as foster care, parental incarceration, and homelessness.  While all of these issues can effect a child’s perspective and ability to trust others, parental incarceration recently posed a challenge for me as a teacher with a responsibility to educate children about the positive role of police in our society. 

Last week, we held Career Day at our school.  To prepare, we discussed possible jobs and as a class composed a letter welcoming the Career Day participants.  During our pre-writing discussion, I asked the students how they felt about Career Day.  Tyrone responded, “I feel angry because the police gonna come and lock everyone up.”  His comment reminded me of an earlier comment from Aniyah that also expressed distrust of the police and suggested we physically hurt the police so they “won’t do that anymore.”

I began to explain the reasons why people go to jail and emphasized the positive role of police officers in making us safe.  I couldn’t help but glance at two of my other students who currently have a parent in jail.  They didn’t say anything, but I wondered what might be going on in their heads.  “Is my mommy wrong?  Is she making people unsafe?  Is it a good thing that the police took my daddy away from me?  If the police are good, is my daddy bad?”

As I considered these thoughts, I began to backpedal.  I talked briefly about people making mistakes and responded to a question about everyone going to jail “for life” by stressing that many times people in jail get to leave and be with their families again.  I then wondered, for Tyrique - who will be fifteen when his mother gets out and is just developing a sense of time - what is the real difference between a life apart from his mother and ten years spent apart from her during his crucial childhood years?

I am aware of the sensitivity of these issues and the larger reality of mixed attitudes toward the police in inner city neighborhoods.  What is not clear is how to deal with them in a way that will both preserve strong ties between children and their families and define the police as a source of protection for the people in those neighborhoods.

Coping with the Bad Days

Like adults, pre-k students have good days and bad days.  How we as teachers deal with the latter can significantly impact our relationships with individual students, their academic and social growth, and our overall classroom culture.

Just as we differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students, we must also individualize our approach to motivating them.  Karen, though upbeat and highly participatory throughout the day, periodically comes to school in tears, clinging to her grandmother.  She is quite comfortable using writing and drawing as a creative outlet, so  I suggest that she write a note or paint a picture for her grandmother during choice time.  This helps her remain connected even when she cannot be with her family.

Her grandmother and I have also worked on stressing responsibility with Karen.  I thank all of my students for being responsible when they correctly follow our morning routine as they enter.  Karen’s grandmother and I use that same terminology when we are trying to stop her from crying.  This process usually takes a few minutes.  She then calmly puts away her belongings, washes her hands, and is eating breakfast with her friends in no time.

Awana occasionally comes in sobbing and lethargic, particularly if she has been absent or we are returning from the weekend.  If she says anything, it’s usually a very quiet, “I want to go home.”  Her mother is not nearly as present or supportive as Karen’s grandmother, nor does she use writing and art in the same way as Karen.  She does, however, respond well to good old-fashioned hugs.  I usually ask her how she feels, let her know how I would feel, remind her of our classroom routines, give her a hug, and send her on her way to “have fun and learn with her friends.”  Kevin or David sometimes chime in with their own hugs and a “We missed you when you were out, Awana.”

Aniyah often arrives late and upset about something that happened with her brother on her way to school.  Despite our daily “fresh start,” she sometimes carries over some baggage from behavioral problems the day before.  I am quite familiar with her affinity towards cheer leading and use this knowledge to motivate her.  I often greet her with a cheer to her name or ask her to help me out with a cheer for one of her friends.

Understanding and effectively addressing mood fluctuations is an important part of my job, and through this process my students gain self-confidence and the trust in me they need to be engaged members of the classroom community.  When we as teachers succeed in this role, disruptions to the class are minimized and children are less likely to use negative behavior to get attention.

Tackling the Digital Divide

“Google it,” “blogosphere,” “download it” - If you are reading this blog, chances are you are familiar with these terms, use technology on an everyday basis, and know many others with a similar knowledge base.  But what about children in low-income communities with little, if any, access to technology at home?  When trying to close school-readiness and achievement gaps, the impact of the “digital divide” can’t be overlooked.

I consider technological awareness, just like math, literacy, and social readiness, one of my main priorities as a pre-k teacher.  Children also need to understand the function of the Internet and email because of their vital role in communication, education, and jobs in our society.

We are fortunate to have two computers in my room, which children can use to play educational games and explore basic applications like Microsoft Paint.  I set up the activities before choice time each day and introduce them during our tour of the centers in the beginning of the week.  The children can then choose to use the computers during choice time, alone or in pairs.  I have also set up an email account for the class and invite family and friends to send interesting stories, photos, and questions.  We respond as a class using the large “Smart Board” projection screen in our school’s Computer Lab.  Last year, my friend Alex sent pictures of llamas from his trip to Peru, and the students contemplated and answered his question about whether they would want to ride a llama or a horse.

This week we learned about researching online.  The students came up with questions about animals and brought them to the Computer Lab along with clipboards and pencils.  I searched on Google for answers to their questions while the students took notes using drawings and words.

Our first question was, “What do zebras eat?”  We walked through the search engine process and discovered that zebras eat grass.  The students drew the zebra they saw in the photograph and labeled it.  One astute note taker, Aniyah, raised her hand when I scrolled down to the picture past the words and said, “Wait, Ms. Pappas, go back so I can write zebra.”

We also explored bear and bat caves, lions, and dogs. The only disappointing part was when we had to leave, as many of the children wanted to look up additional animals.  We will have to wait until next week.  Luckily, though, their exposure to various uses of technology won’t have to wait because it isn’t available at home.

Honoring our Contract

She did it!  After three weeks on her individualized behavior contract, Aniyah finally earned enough points to present a special cheering show in front of the whole class. 

As she stepped into the spotlight, Aniyah was surprisingly shy, unlike her attitude when giving frequent, disruptive cheers at inappropriate times.  This “command performance” cheer was a bit more subdued.  Yet as her friends cheered her on, her face brightened, and you could hear a sense of pride reverberating through her voice.

She cheered while clapping out each letter, “A-N-I-Y-A-H, A-N-I-Y-A-H, Aniyah, Aniyah, I am Aniyah! Aniyah, Aniyah, Aniyah!”

When I shared news of Aniyah’s show with her brother and mother the following day, the pride became contagious.  Her family members smiled widely and seemed relieved that Aniyah was showing progress.

Aniyah’s road to victory was not quick and easy.  She initially responded to the point system just as she had to our whole class color card behavior system, asking me angrily why I gave her a one or a two or a yellow or blue card instead of connecting her behavior to the negative consequence.

As we had one-on-one conversations each day, focused on her specific behaviors and the number of points that corresponded with them, she began to grasp the relationship between her choices and the consequences.  Towards the second week, I would ask her how many points she thought she earned for the day, and she could usually guess correctly based on her own assessment of her behavior. 

What does Aniyah’s behavior look like on the rug now?  She usually listens to her friends and me attentively and rarely creates a disturbance by calling out.  We, of course, still have our cheering moments, but these have become exceptions.

Perhaps best of all, Aniyah’s behavioral improvements have facilitated intellectual growth.  She engages more actively in discussion during stories, making predictions and thinking critically about how to solve the characters’ problems.  Just last week, she posed the “water car” solution to the problem in Leo Lionni’s classic, Swimmy.  After losing his school of fish to one deep sea predator, Swimmy found another school of small fish so petrified of big tuna fish that they would not swim around the ocean.  Aniyah’s solution required the small fish to drive a water car out of the ocean away from the big tuna fish.  Aniyah was so focused that she not only suggested the idea but also wrote “wtr car” on our solutions list without guidance from me.

Her behavioral and academic progress have gone hand in hand, and I look forward to more improvements in the months ahead.  This is one contract that both sides of the table are happy with.

R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y

Certain birthdays represent meaningful thresholds in our society; times at which someone decided we are ready to take on new responsibilities.  After seeing Aniyah today on her birthday, I’m beginning to think we should add the big ZERO-FIVE to that list.

Aniyah often has difficulty concentrating on group work and respecting others when they are speaking, but today I saw improvement.  During clean-up time I noticed Aniyah reminding her friends to put their name cards back.  We all know that if we forget, we will have to wait a couple of minutes before going to choice time the next day.  As Aniyah told classmates to “put your cards back, and be responsible” with a sing-song tone, I rushed over and thanked her for being such a great cheerleader.

We decided, spur of the moment, on a new title that connects her affinity for cheering to the classroom activities: Responsibility Cheerleader.  Her face lit up, and she smiled as she repeated the cheer while heading into the bathroom to wash her hands before lunch time.  I plan on applying this role to other parts of the day and think that, if she takes ownership of the cheer and receives encouragement and appreciation from me, the new role could, in fact, make her more responsible and respectful of her friends.

Aniyah also did a great job focusing during whole-group time on the rug, usually a challenging activity for her.  When she did call out disruptively, I did not call on her.  She ended up crying, because she did not get a chance to convey her thoughts.  I consider that a breakthrough as it indicates she is caring more about participating in discussions than doing her own thing.

Now, I’m not really sure if it was a heightened sense of maturity on her birthday that led to Aniyah’s super day or her mother’s promise of a Princess Barbie birthday party in return for better behavior.  So, I’m covering my bases and have spoken with her mother about an individualized behavior contract, which I plan on creating with Aniyah tomorrow morning.  As I have learned from experience, if we can isolate those behaviors we want to change and design rewards around a child’s interests, the child, the family, and I can more effectively focus on specific problems and lasting solutions.

We shall see…

Bringing it Off

Aniyah, Aniyah, Aniyah…where do I begin?  First, I feel frustrated with shortcomings in my own efforts to develop a strong relationship with her over the past four months.  While we have some days and weeks during which she responds positively to my attempts to engage her in classroom activities, I see little constant progress in her behavioral skills.   

Second, I cannot help but feel frustrated with her.  Aniyah has done well academically, but persistent obstacles to her social development make me concerned for her overall progress in the future.   She frequently likes to “do her own thing,” as Ms. Morrison calls it.  For Aniyah, her own thing is pretending to be a dancing cheerleader, regardless of what the other children and I are doing.  We focus a great deal on respecting each other by listening to friends and the teacher during discussions.  Aniyah, however, frequently does her cheers while the other children are responding to a question or trying to focus on my lesson at the whiteboard.

In addition to using positive reinforcement to focus her on our class rules, I give Aniyah many opportunities to express herself freely, both within the context of our large group activities and on her own before the activities begin.  I integrated her interest in dancing into our morning meeting by allowing the students to dance during our greeting song.  We also frequently cheer the names of our friends (to the tune of B-I-N-G-O) and we use cheers to learn our high frequency words (e.g., “Give me a ‘T.’  Give me an ‘O.’  What does that spell?  To!).  I have also built in free movement and singing time right after naptime and before gross motor time.  I tell Aniyah she can cheer and dance all she wants for a few minutes on her own, but then she has to join the group for a quieter activity.
Still, Aniyah chooses to “bring it on” at inappropriate times, literally, with the cheers from the movie of the same name. 

For a little while, these compromises worked.  But, lately, her disruptive behavior has increased.  When I try to talk to her about choices and different activities for different times, Aniyah just keeps saying that all she wants to do is cheer and rolls her eyes.  She has even said, “I want to cheer.  I don’t want to learn.”  Positive reinforcement to keep her focused on the rug now works only sporadically.  She more often looks away or down at her shoes. 

I understand that cheering is her interest, and I really want to give her many chances to express herself.  Yet if I allow her to “do her own thing” all the time she will not only miss out on our lessons, but she will have serious difficulty adjusting to kindergarten where the teachers will most likely give her little or no time to express herself on her own.