Good Book

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by Rafe Esquith is a book every teacher should read. Esquith is a 5th grade teacher in Los Angeles. He teaches beginning at 6am and goes until 5:30pm. He doesn't get to work at 6am, he starts teaching at 6am. From 3 to 5:30, he teaches Shakespeare to his children. They perform around the world. He gives great advice for teachers from all experience levels. He has been teaching for over 25 years and has won numerous awards. Some of them include Disney Teacher of the Year and he has been Knighted by the Queen of England. He also has another book titled There are no Shortcuts, it too is a great book.

Great Read

At the beginning of the semester, I read an awesome book called The Shack. The story is about a man who took his children camping and one of them was murdered. He is invited to a shack in the woods where they found his daughter's body. When he gets there he spends a weekend with God. The physical characters of this book are not what anyone expects. God allows him to see his murdered daughter over the weekend. He really gets closer to God. This book really makes you think about perceptions we have about the physical attributes of God.

What's That?

This is my dog, Patch. I talk about him often in class. They are constantly drawing pictures of him. I watched a special on T.V. about 2 months ago about a school in NY that used dogs to help students read. They trained the dogs to sit while children read. The dog would "listen" to the students and the students began to become better readers. I think I may ask my principal if I could use Patch for that. HA!

We did get to sneak a little fun into school. It's hard to see, but these are Thanksgiving turkeys. The students were able to write what they were thankful for on the turkey and then color it. We put it in the hallway for others to see. We enjoyed this activity (I did one too!).

This is a way I have chosen to use technology in my classroom. The day after my projector was installed, I thought I would "introduce" it to my students. I put a similar "good morning" message on the screen and watched as the students entered the room. Much to my suprise I had fewer "What do I do?" questions. I decided to save the message to my desktop and use it every day. I have now noticed other teachers using their projectors for the same thing.

This is the layout of my room. I had them in groups and moved to this arrangement for our Halloween party. I decided to leave them in the "U" shape because I could easily see what each student was working on and could watch for discipline issues. I can also get to any student in the room in 8 steps (Fred Jones). This is a good arrangement to try if any of you are needing an idea on how to solve the above mentioned problems.

Charts, Charts, Charts

Thes are a few examples of charts I have made over the semester. These have to do with descriptive writing. We are encouraged to make charts for everything and then anchor them on the wall for the students to refer to later. When we are observed, or we have a walk through, our rooms are looked at to see if they are "print rich." They do help the students...even though they are a pain to make for everything you teach.

Island of Behavior

This is the desk of one of my students who has a reputation of being trouble. The past few years he has been in trouble numerous times. I gave him the opportunity to sit anywhere he wanted as long as he would behave. This is where he chose. He said there was no one in the room he could sit by and stay out of trouble. Giving him an option has really cut down my stress level.

Target Test...Schmarget Test

Just when you thought you were making some progress...Target Test scores come back. I wonder am I the only one feeling like I am stinking it up? I got my scores back thinking my students were finally coming around, but when I looked at the number of students that passed I began to think differently. I had about half my class pass the literacy portion and about half of both sections pass the math portion. Half. That means the other half has no clue what we have covered the first 15 weeks. This is such a dissappointment. I wish they would keep the scores and not let us see them. I guess we can only start here and move forward...

My Family

I just added a picture of my family. My wife Crystal and I just celebrated our 4th anniversary on November 20th. She teaches 4th grade in the same building I teach in. She is a WONDERFUL teacher. God has given her a tremendous talent and love for children. In the middle is our dog, Patch. He is a 4 year old Boston Terrier. He is spoiled rotten, but the best dog in the world. We got Patch 2 weeks after we got married, so we have always been a family. Just thought I would share my family with you guys.

After School...Is it worth it?

I teach a book club after school on Monday afternoon. I have 9 boys and they had to apply to get into the club. I have been disappointed in their commitment and wonder if the $25 an hour is worth the headache. On most days, only about half of the boys show up and 2-3 of the ones that are there don't have their book. How can you participate in a book club when you don't have your book? We started the book club as an extracurricular class thinking the boys would enjoy the book and start reading more. They have enjoyed the book, There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom, but I am not too sure they have started reading more. We have had fun discussing the book, but when you're tired the last thing you want is another hour of undedicated, unprepared students. I hate to stop teaching because they are already short teachers in the afterschool program, but I don't need one more thing.

Motivated and Inspired

Today my wife and I had the opportunity to listen to an awesome speaker. His name is Rafe Esquith and he teaches 5th grade at Hobart Elementary in L.A. He has one numerous awards such as Disney, and American, Teacher of the Year and has been made a member of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth. He believes in running his classroom based on trust, not fear. He also believes in teaching his students skills they can use in life, not just facts to pass a test. (AMEN!) This really motivated me and my wife. He has some excellent ideas for classroom management. He also encouraged us not to give up. Rafe pointed out that no awards came his way until his 19th year. He was very humble. The lady that was supposed to introduce him lost the introduction that was sent from his publicist. When she asked him how he wanted to be introduced he said, "Tell them I teach 5th grade in L.A." He is a hero of mine in the education field.

More than color.....

My classroom is filled with diverse learners. They come from homes with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, houseparents, or other relatives. This has some effect on the way they learn. Some have a lot of help at home, while others get little or no help. That is why I think the two young men in the picture would qualify as diverse. Both young men have mothers that work in the same building as I do, the one on the left pushes himself to the point of physical sickness, while the other could not care less. They get equal help at home, but their diversity lies in their motivation. The young man on the right is hardly motivated, he just wants to be the first student finished with an assignment, and the other student needs no motivation from me to perform at an exceptional level. Finding things to motivate students can be just as challenging as finding ways to teach students with diverse learning styles.

STRESS!!!!!!

I hate the paperwork that comes with the first two weeks of school!!!! We are having Benchmark Conferences and it is time consuming...something I don't have any extra of. AIPs to fill out, DIBELS testing, a Target Test on the 5th, and an essay on Responsibilty on the 8th. I am ready to get into the flow and teach. I didn't realize how much was crammed into the first couple of weeks. I get to work at 6:30 and leave about 4:30, but I carry stuff home with me. I am very TIRED, I hope to sleep most of the long weekend!!!!

ME

Let me start off by telling you about myself...My name is Landon Grimes and I teach 5th grade at Monticello Intermediate School (MIS). I absolutely love teaching. I have had some really funny things happen already...I wonder what the rest of the year holds? This is my 1st year teaching and I know this is what I am supposed to be doing at this point in my life. I am overwhelmed, but know this year will be great!!!! Everyone hang in there and we'll make it out together!!!