What the Pencils!?

Since the beginning of my teaching career, the answers to

PENCILS + CHILDREN =

have baffled me.

Let me just say that pencils and children do not confuse me apart from each other.

PENCILS are great tools.

Can't ever go wrong with a pencil.
Esp, when drawing.

CHILDREN are great too.

I especially love them when they are away from pencils.
It is when the two come together that I just get (insert smiley with question marks on head).

PENCILS + CHILDREN usually ='s

half eaten pencils,
pencils made into sling shots,
lost pencils,
pencils left with million little bite marks.

But the biggest PENCILS + CHILDREN = is that some students NEVER have sharpened pencils.

No matter how many times you write the following for homework:

Please bring 3 sharpened pencils and an eraser.

The select few will NEVER bring in sharpened pencils.

They will however, come to school with LOTS of pencils with points that are

dull,

non-existing,

OR broken!

Anyways, when our classroom sharpener broke down towards the end of last school year, my co-teacher and I thought that maybe we could get through this school year without an electric pencil sharpener(oh boy... we're we wrong!).

We tried the whole mechanical sharpener business but it was an EPIC failure.

Finding a nicely sharpened pencil to write with became an excruciating task and one that led to LOTS and LOTS of valuable class time.

We finally got fed up and decided to order a new pencil sharpener (thanks to Amazon!).

Let me just say that this is by far the BEST decision we have made yet.

Not only do we have BEAUTIFULLY sharpened pencils to write our hearts out with BUT

this sharpener is a SILENT beauty!!

Most electric sharpeners I've come across in classrooms are so loud and annoying that it disturbs the whole entire class when one goes up to sharpen a pencil (you can bet lots of evil stares are shared in this situation).

Anyways, we finally found the answer to

PENCILS + CHILDREN =

If your pencil sharpener has broken down or you're looking to invest in one,

go with the BOSTITCH Quiet Sharp 6.

End of story or just an end to terrible horrible no good very BAD unsharpened pencils.
Haha.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

As a teacher, you will see and sometimes receive thousands of drawings, cards, and letters from your students. Most of the time, the drawings will be sweet and innocent, especially if you're a teacher of the younger kiddies (like me... 3rd grade to be exact).

Anyways!

In our classroom, students are assigned vocabulary homework each week. Last week, one of our words happened to be

nes·tle/ˈnesəl/

Verb:

Settle or lie comfortably within or against something: "the baby deer nestled in her arms"; "she nestled her head against his shoulder". (of a place) Lie or be situated in a half-hidden or obscured position: "picturesque villages nestle in the wooded hills".

One of our students "Bob" came in with this.

I was going around checking homework and I had to take a picture, just because it is stinking adorable. Drawings like this remind me of how innocent and naive these young minds are. How precious it is that I have the opportunity to fill their heads with knowledge.

However, with all things good you always have the bad and the ugly.

On the same day, my co-teacher and I went to pick up our students from lunch and found out that one of our students drew the following.

Please note the "die sexy lady" and "DIE!" The student also wrote the f word but erased it and replaced it with "yeah you!"

Please ALSO note that I had a long discussion with the Monet of the second masterpiece.

It just got me thinking that even in the world of small people's drawings, you have the good, the bad and the ugly.

Big Teachers Don't Cry

This November will mark 3 years since I've been teaching in the
New York City public school system.

3 years isn't many years at all considering I work with

veteran teachers who have 15+ years of experience under their belt.

If there is one distinct difference between new teachers like me and veteran teachers
is that those who are very experienced don't take things personally.

As a teacher, you have to deal with all sorts of things.

You have to accomodate 25+ students and cater to their unique personalities
and learning styles. You have to be a teacher, care taker, mediator, nurse,
and disinfect-or of desks, chairs, and little hands (list can go on and on).

At the same time you have to accommodate each and every single parent and
cater to what they think is best for their child.

And I absolutely LOVE being able to figure out students and parents, alike.
I love sharing relationships with them.

However, there are moments when my love for all things
teacher and teaching related gets put to the test.

As a teacher,
There are times when someone doesn't agree with my methodologies or views and
when these disagreements do occur, I CAN choose to take it personally.
I CAN cry about it(and I have.... but I'll save that for another entry).
Especially if you are a new teacher(like me) and haven't had
many disagreements in the past- to relate to or have learned from.

However, I've come to realize that I simply CANNOT take everything personally.

As a teacher, there will be times when someone doesn't agree with me,
when I will be questioned about my teaching ways,
and when opinions will be formed about me.

I COULD let all these things affect me but I have learned that I simply can't.
At the end of the day, there is nothing that can make me question just how much
effort, time, and love I've poured into what I do and how I do it.

I guess you can say,
I am becoming bigger and I've learned that
big teachers don't cry.

Children's Book of September: The Name Jar

Say My Name, Say My Name (my Korean name, that is... haha).

I know it's already October but for the month of September,
I wanted to recommend a book I came across this summer.

Book summary: Unhei has just come with her family from Korea and is starting school. Her name is pronounced Yoon-hye, which means grace, but she feels awkward about it after some teasing on the school bus. She decides to choose an American name, and her classmates oblige her by filling a glass jar with their suggestions. Her mother reminds her that she and her grandmother went to a name master for Unhei's name, and Unhei practices stamping her name with the beautiful name stamp her grandmother gave her. Finally, Unhei decides to keep her own name, and one of her classmates even has a stamp made for himself with the Korean characters for friend. The paintings are mostly in gold and earth tones, and the figures have both stature and simplicity--as does the story.

GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

I think the reason why this book appealed to me so much is because I can totally relate to the main character(I love it when you totally "get" what a character is going through in a story). When I immigrated to the United States and enrolled in school, I used to get embarrassed when my teachers and classmates could not pronounce my Korean name, correctly.
I've had substitute teachers attempt my first name, give up after the first syllable and simply resort to calling me "Kim."
One day in 4th grade, I cam home and told my mom that I wanted an American name,
just like all the other kids.
My cousin helped me pick out the name "Helen."

Well, she really just gave me two choices.
It was either going to be Helen Kim or Kimberly Kim.
I am so thankful that something sounded
terribly OFF with Kimberly Kim,
even to a non-English speaking child (at the time).
I've been going by "Helen" ever since but I never legally changed it on paper.

Ultimately, I am so glad that I never formally changed my name.
As an adult, I've come to appreciate my
sometimes butchered but ultimately very meaningful name.
My Korean name "Bo Reum" means full moon because I was born when it was up.

This book can be used to teach children that it's a wonderful thing to be different from the rest and that you should embrace ALL the unique traits that make you, you!

Recommended for: Primary grades(1,2,3)

Bandaid for a Teacher's Soul

As a teacher, there are days when you just want to drop dead on the floor out of frustration.
I'm sure these days exist for all kinds of jobs.

The reasons behind this desire to drop dead on to the floor can vary for all teachers. However, for me, the following reasons pretty much sum up why I would like to just drop kick teaching in the gut sometimes:

-administration (from time to time, they like to throw complete curve balls at teachers that leave us baffled, confused, and plain angered)

-the children (I love them to death but they do drain the life out of you)

-parents (as much as I've met my fair share of WONDERFUL and SUPPORTIVE parents, I've also met a couple of the EXACT opposite)

-myself (just having one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days)

Today was one of those particularly frustrating days which derived from a combination of factors mentioned above. As I was trying to go about my day with my kiddies, one of my students walks up to me and hands me a note (just to clarify: today was the first day I returned to work after taking a week off for church missions).


As soon as I received this note from my student, the frustration I've been feeling all morning simply dissipated. It was like a magical band aid to my wound. I realize that it's just a piece of paper with a simple drawing of a heart which probably took the student five minutes to make.

However, his thought, love, and motive behind the act was just what I needed to remind me of
why I deal with administration even when they want to give me a huge headache.
why I fell in love with teaching in the first place.

There is no greater band aid to a teacher's wound than that of a child's love.