Volcanic Eruption

Tuesday was a low for me as a teacher. I had lost control of myself and my kids. My negativity was throbbing in my fingers and enjoyment of my profession had ratings near George Bush. Things were bad. I got on myself for yelling which made Wednesday not so great as well. This, coupled with personal situations, had me getting ideas of negative self worth. But then I had a nice talk with a couple of colleagues which prompted me to think about what it was that I was doing wrong and what I could do better to get out of this funk. The results were astounding.
Be positive. My goal going in to yesterday was to be overwhelmingly positive. This is a great group of kids but they are just a little chatty and loud. They deserve positive feedback as much as possible, no matter what the situation. Two kids in particular have been driving me batty, but they need that positive engagement more than anybody, even if one walks in with a coffee on Thursday morning. So I doled it out. I went positive crazy. Just that mindset can do wonders. First thing in the morning every kid remembered to move their lunch sticks and put their book bins on their desks. They were working quietly. So I complimented them on this and told them that if they remembered "one more thing" before going to Music, I would reward them. So when they were excused one kid reminded them, "Push in your chairs." They all got their rewards. Tears filled my eyes as they left the room.
Later that morning. A girl brought her writing to me to read. I could not help but be astounded at her attention to detail since our last meeting. She had gone from:
"One day my dad bought be a fish. I named him blue. There was also a big, glass aquarium with rocks. I named him blue."

to: One sunny day I was playing in my room when my dad walked up the stairs. I peeked around the corner of my door and saw him carrying a clear plastic bag full of water with something in it. I ran down the stairs to see what he had. He said, this is your first pet. I screemed with excitment.

Finally somebody had truly received the message their teacher was trying to convey. It felt so good for me because I was started to think I was doing something wrong with my instruction due to such lack of improvement. My senses were telling me that the kids were not getting so much enjoyment as well. Talk about feeling down.
But then this little writing miracle happens and I go crazy with excitment which causes about ten kids to turn in their writer binders to be read and other kids to want to work on their personal narratives on a constant basis. This was a huge success for my classroom and one that their teacher needed for the sake of his sanity.
At the moment I finished the above paragraph came the realization that I was not at fault for an arguement with two colleagues last Friday. We were talking about the timing for teaching various writing expectations and they said handwriting must be first and foremost. Well, being me, I disagreed saying that we need to get the kids to write first and then worry about handwriting. But they had pulled me in to an arguement of what is most important. All I was saying is that we need to get the kids to write first so that they feel as though they can get the words out with less problem. A minilesson regarding the importance handwriting plays for the reader on an individual basis could be fine but handwriting is not necessarily the starting point. High expectations can assist in getting kids to write neatly for the reader but there do not have to be lessons on this each and every day as these two colleagues also believe. Every writing time is its own lesson and we can work that out during class. Anyway my heart was racing and I did all I could to talk calmly when one of them said third graders are not developmentally ready to write paragraphs. And when I asked for research she made sure to tell me "I have been teaching for many years so I know the level these kids can reach."
My hope is that her pupils do not know she is holding them to a low expectation, holding them back from ultimate achievement on their part. This fact is sad to me and makes me not want to work with her. Perhaps reading to her the piece mentioned above, with its beautiful handwriting, will change her mind. Probably not. What a pity.