Still Teaching at 90.

This is Beth Vinton.

She taught for over 30 years at a junior high school helping children learn about her passion: Geography. She taught through some of the most difficult times in recent history. She taught through the peaceful times as well. She taught her family at various points in time.

She taught me, even though I never set foot in her classroom. And that’s not just because I am a teacher now too. My first steps into the Geography class in Jr. High were under the tutelage of one of her former student teachers. I also was taught on many (if not all) of the family trips we took together. I have many of her classroom resources in storage for use.

Beth Vinton turned 90 on July 15, 2009. Vibrant, full of life and stories she weathered a surprise birthday party a few days later with grace, humility, and smiles. She still taught us all that day that 90 is just a number– as any of the probably 50 people there that day would affirm.

Sadly, Beth Vinton passed away on September 8, 2009. But, as was pointed out by the pastor at her beautiful service, she will continue to teach us all every day.

Thank you Nana for your inspiration to me and all those who knew you. I hope I do your inspiration to me justice and my students remember me as yours did you.

Discipline Outside of the Classroom

So right now I’m working at a summer program. Our kids have varying needs and sometimes those needs override the common sense I know they all have in them. When that common sense is thrown out the window, things go wrong. This is even more prevalent in a social setting outside the classroom atmosphere. Make that social setting a fun place (we’re currently at a moon-bounce place), and the threat of common sense loss quadruples within the first ten minutes.

A multitude of things can happen including back-talk and disrespect to bullying and fights. Today it led to a physical fight. Normally with verbal arguments I’ll have the two children separately tell me their sides and try to guide them to solving the problem more on their own than letting me tell them what to do. A time-out does follow (the child should sit for no longer than their age- i.e.: 5 years = 5 minutes, 10 years = 10 minutes, etc) and they’re asked to reflect on the conversation. Then they need to verbalize their agreement to each other and to me before they go back to playing. With most children a fight can happen, be over, and forgotten in a relatively short time. The point is, you really have to know your children to know what works best for them as far as discipline goes.

With physical fights it’s very different, especially with the children in my care right now. When dealing with children who have emotional and anger issues to begin with, physical altercations are even more important to deal with and take seriously. The two children explained their sides and have lost their privileges for the remaining time we’re here.

It may seem harsh, but when these children start down the road where their anger leads to a fight, it’s hard for them to pull it back to a place where they can function normally.

This is even more important when out in public. So many of these kids see fights every day– at home, in their neighborhood, at school, and it’s hard for them to be their own person and decide: “That’s not going to be me.” Especially when they don’t see the consequences of those altercations. When it happens to them in their own safety zone and they see the results that affect them, it tends to be learned on a more personal level. They’re still learning that their actions have consequences, both good and bad.

It’s hard to discipline children in a fun place. The puppy dog looks, the long sighs, the constant requests for, “How much longer?” can make it very difficult, but in the long run it is even more important to stick with the consequence that you originally gave them. Changing your mind is a dangerous thing to do with any child, because they think they can get away with it any time.

Children are resilient, they will forgive you.

Words of Inspiration

Today’s post comes with a message.  A strong one.  It’s about inspiration.  Whether you have a kid who is a terrific student or an indifferent one, they can all use inspiration.  For many, it’s the first step towards motivation.  And without either, you will have a child who is lost: in school, maybe in life.

Right now I’m working at a summer camp with at-risk children.  They all have social, emotional, and medical needs.  They are children who go through life with nothing, or close to it.  Many have issues with controlling anger, fighting depression, and troubled childhoods filled with just about every disadvantage  you can imagine– and probably some that you can’t.   We are making this summer as fun-filled as therapeutic for them.  And I believe we are succeeding– with inspiration that leads to motivation.

As a teacher, I have many resources at my disposal.  One of my favorite things to use around the classroom are posters.  In our halls here, we have several posters with words of wisdom.  I’d like to share those with you, because I believe in their power.

“You won’t be rewarded for having brains, but using them.”

“Self control is knowing you can, but deciding you won’t.”

“Character: it’s how you live life…

…when no one is looking.”

Top 10 Steps to Success:

1. Try

2. Try again

3. Try once more

4. Try it a little differently

5. Try it again tomorrow

6. Try and ask for help

7. Try and find someone who’s done it before

8. Try to determine what isn’t working

9. Try to determine what is working

10. Just keep trying

You’ve Decided to Teach! Now What?

I should have known from an early age that I would be a teacher.  I used to steal one of my mother’s tray tables, some paper, pencils, pens, and folders and then square them away in my room with my favorite rocking chair.  Next I would grab my ‘teaching outfit’, one of my favorite blazers and skirts, and settle in to teach my stuffed animals the virtues of reading, writing, and ‘rithmatic.  I would give them grades, read stories, and generally pretend to be a lot smarter than I was at the time.  I was six and I definitely had my own view of the world.

My grandmother was a teacher.  Several of my cousins are/were teachers.  It’s in the DNA.  But it took me a long time to realize that it was truly what I was meant to do.  I graduated from college with my first degree– Spanish for International Trade– back in May of ‘96.  I was intent then at taking the marketing world by storm!  Except I couldn’t find a job that fit what I wanted to do.

Then came ‘the moment’.  A freak offer at a lunch one afternoon that I almost didn’t go to.  I had just quit my ‘job’ (and I use the term very losely!) as a telemarketer because I absolutely hated what I was doing, even if I was good at it.  Somehow during the course of conversation that afternoon, I brought up the idea of babysitting again.  One of the ladies that came with my mom’s friend about bounced out of her chair.  “I run a daycare center, would you be interested in teaching?”

After working there for a year and falling in love with my preschoolers, I went back to school in 1999 and completed my student teaching in 2001.  But, I still put off actually going after that classroom that I so desperately wanted.  Until last summer.  September of 2008, I stepped into my first real shoes as a teacher here on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.  And I loved every minute of that day– even if it was three potentially terrifying classes of 5th graders!  So now, here I am, almost one year later, waiting to hear if I’ll get a classroom of my very own this fall.

I have my paper, pencils, pens, and folders all ready to go.  I even have my ‘teaching outfit’ ready for that day.  I’m ready.  I just hope the kids are too.

So what about you?  If you’ve decided to teach, what is your ‘Now what?’

“I touch the future. I teach.”

A great quote from an equally great and brave teacher: Christa McAuliffe. The thing is, even though her life tragically ended when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, she was still right. She still does touch the future.

I certainly remember her to this day, 23 years later. Even though she never taught a class to me, I still learned from her. I learned that bravery is earned, not given. I learned that every thing I do as a teacher matters. I learned that even in tragedy, hope can be found.

This blog isn’t only about sentimental moments in teaching, although there are plenty of those I hope to share. It’s about how we are all learners just as we are all teachers. It’s about getting the most out of the resources around you. It’s about reaching the child, not just teaching to the test.

I am a firm believer that anyone can learn at any time in their lives. We may not all learn at the same rate or in the same way, but we do learn. You may think that just because you don’t work in a school and create lessons that you aren’t a teacher.

Wrong.

We all teach, we all learn. Kids minds are like sponges just waiting to be filled with knowledge. They may not like ’school’, but I guarantee you they like learning. You don’t agree? Well, then I guess they’ll never learn to ride a bike or drive a car. I guess they’ll never learn to help cook or wash their own clothes when they grow up. I guess they’ll never learn to play nicely with others.

These are all teachable moments. You may not know the physics behind why a person can balance on two wheels while propelling themselves forward, but tell me you didn’t experience that moment of *YES!* pride when they started peddling on their own.

Kids, more often than not, love to help their parents. Especially when they’re younger. Give them those teachable moments. Teach them how to measure ingredients. Teach them it’s okay to get messy and make mistakes. Teach them how each ingredient might not taste so good on its own, but when put together it makes a meal. Teach them that helping out can be fun and not just a chore.

With the utmost of respect to Christa, I would like to amend her quote just a little:

We all touch the future. We teach.