Did I mention?

Did I mention that I teach kids stuff? Or, rather, I try to teach kids stuff? My dear friend TD helped me realize that I don't think I've said anything about my students yet which insane because I'm in love with them. We are almost half-way through second quarter (WHAT?!) so let me tell you a little about 4D.

First week of school silly faces

I teach only 13 students. You can clear your eyes and pinch yourself all you want but you read that correctly; thirteen kids. I never thought having 22 in Guatemala was a lot considering there are still many states in the U.S. where class sizes exceed 30 students, but now when I think back to having 22 English language learners in one room, I laugh at how little we were actually able to cover. With thirteen kids, you can have three or four small math groups, only 5 different reading levels, enough space to sit on the carpet, reading corner, or desks, and a small enough group that its very noticeable when someone is missing. With thirteen kids, I feel like I can truly differentiate instruction in all subject areas and delve deeper into the content without interruption. With thirteen kids, I am able to know my students more fully; their learning styles, what makes them uncomfortable, areas in which they need more practice, and their strengths that can contribute to the classroom as a whole. With thirteen kids, we can respect one another's ideas, speak without having to shout, listen instead of just hear, and work with one another everyday.

I love it. But I didn't at first.

On the first day of school, I walked in my classroom with what felt like a myriad of activities to fill the first day. A classroom puzzle, name game, photos to share, "All About Me" questionnaires, writing samples, spelling inventories, classroom expectations, and many other community building opportunities. I love to overplan for the first few days so the activities can be sprawled out and kids can kind of ease their way into my classroom instead of having a million things thrown at them at once. Except this year, I didn't over plan. I planned just enough. Yes, we literally got through all of those activities in one day. You may be asking, "how is that even possible?"

Well, here's my explanation: my kids don't talk. They don't!

You might think this is every teacher's dream, having a small class of quiet students. But let me tell you, it's actually been a really hard adjustment for me. I'm used to having to constantly ask my students to stop shouting out the answers, stop talking to your neighbors, stop moving on ahead of the class, etc. And, in Guatemala, it used to drive my bonkers. Seriously, the most common phrase I used with my kids was, "You guys are making me crazy," to which my kids would respond, "You already are crazy!" Well played.

Playing with owl pellets? I love fourth grade :)

But there is something to be said about a classroom of kids versus a classroom of participants. Somedays its like pulling teeth to get them to share their opinions, to discuss things with a partner, to look around the classroom for a possible answer. One of the most exciting things for me in teaching is the conversations that can be had with these young minds. And too often when I am teaching, no matter how silly and goofy I try to be, they just sit there.

You may still be wondering why I claimed to love these children that I just described but as mentioned in the first paragraph, we recently had parent-teacher conferences that helped me learn a lot more about my 13 dudes and why they are the way they are. In Vietnamese public schools, all learning is rote memorization. All instruction is lecture-based. All students learn independently. There is no poster-making, no differentiated reading groups, no cooperative learning. It's every man kid for himself out there. And that's how these kids (and these parents) are taught. Many of my kids have been going to our school since they were in first grade so they are used to how North Americans teach. But almost all of them go to separate schools on the weekends to learn other languages, are tutored in English for hours each night, go to extra math classes for "drilling" practice, and stay up until upwards of 11pm doing additional (like outside of the assigned homework!) work. That is 2 hours after I go to bed! Frankly, these kids are overworked. They are terrified to make mistakes. And they are simply unsure how to act in my classroom.

Some students reading their published narratives while they act it out! So fun!

So this is where my challenge for the year comes in. My goal is to help my students shift their mindsets away from thinking that getting straight A's is the only way they can be successful. I want to teach them what I wish a teacher could have explained to me; that learning is a process, a SUPER COOL process, that should be enjoyed and appreciated. I want them to know they are free to be themselves in 4D, that even if their parents think that they are not good enough (I can't count how many of the parents told me this), that I think they are more than enough. That they are valued, respected, and loved. This is my style and I'm not giving up on it yet, despite having parents tell me I need to punish their kids more and that if they are being lazy I can call them and they will beat them (yeah, like I'd ever call them now-- yikes!). I think its starting to work as the students in 4D are beginning to laugh at my jokes, cheer for one another when they are successful, and sometimes they even get excited with I "pick their stick" out of a jar and they have to share their work with the class.

There was one part of parent-teacher conferences I found refreshing and that was the number of parents who told me their students LOVE school (who knew?!). Three parents told me their kids complain every weekend about not being at AIS (that's my school's acronym, btw (and "btw" is an acronym for "by the way," btw) it stands for American International School... man, I've done a terrible job telling you about all this!). One mother told me that her son was completely miserable during the whole October vacation and kept asking when he could come back to my class (I was made aware of his boredom through his constant posts on Edmodo (facebook for school... seriously, if you're a teacher, Check. It. Out!) that said things like "i hate this vacaton"). Though I wish I could have felt their sentiments and also hated my week long vacation on the beach in Thailand, it did make me smile to know that they are at least enjoying themselves at school, even if they have a hard time expressing themselves.

I'm going to make sure I write more about the things we actually do in 4D as my dear TD also reminded me how important and valuable it is to have things written down. I'll end it here and keep you posted on this goal of ours.

Bringing out the silly in 4D on Halloween. Yes, I was a grandma. And don't worry, that is a shirt stuffed under my shirt, though the candy and other sweets I consumed on that day could have similar results.

p.s. you can always click on pictures to make them larger, btw (remember what that stands for?)

Sending my love!