Where Do Good Ideas Come From?

This week the essential question for reading was "where do good ideas come from?" Yesterday, my class had a really great conversation where we brainstormed and listed different places good ideas, using background knowledge and what we had seen in the different stories we read throughout the week. Here's the poster with the different ideas we came up with (nothing pretty, I'm still learning how to become a pinterest teacher with pretty and color anchor charts. ;))

I would just like to point out that my kids came up with that good ideas can come from mistakes or bad ideas, not me. Makes my teacher heart proud to see them showing a growth mindset as we've been talking about that a lot! 

So today, to wrap up our week about good ideas,  I showed my kids Caine's Arcade. If you haven't seen this video, I encourage you to watch it. I learned about it from one of my coworkers at summer school, and we had our 40 summer school students work in groups to build their own arcade games-it was super cool! I had forgotten about it until one of the other fourth grade teachers asked if I had heard about it and mentioned that she would try to connect it to our current reading unit somehow. Anyways, I especially love the video because Caine was 9 years old at the time, the same age as my students, so they can relate and know that they are capable of doing the same thing. After watching the video, I had my students "create something new" out of various supplies, but I had a limited amount. They had to use their materials wisely and problem solve if we ran out of something they wanted. They only had about 35-40 minutes to plan and build, and it was amazing what they came up with! I saw a couple arcade games inspired by Caine, beach houses, and much more!

 


These are just a few examples of what students made. It was amazing to hear and see students working together and problem solve when they didn't have something they wanted or someone else was using the stapler/all the scissors/tape dispensers.
I tried this out sort of as a trial run-I wasn't sure how it was going to go. It was a success, and I told the other fourth grade teachers more about what I had done and how it went. Next week as a science/engineering activity, all fourth grade will (hopefully) be working on creating arcades in their classrooms. We'll see how it goes-I'm excited for it!


And one sweet (but completely unrelated) story that I just have to share. Yesterday, I tried out a new management tool to crack down on some of the behavior that's been going on. I had a student get mad at me because he was going to have to stay inside at recess. Right before heading to lunch, he ran out of the room yelling "I hate you and I don't want to listen to you". We ended up having a great conversation during recess-he had run out of the room because he was going to cry and didn't want kids to see him cry cause he's embarrassed about being an easy crier. If you know anything about me, you know that immediately my heart softened towards the kid, as I too was an easy crier as a kid (and still am!) I talked with him about how I cried more days than not when I was in fourth grade, and that I could relate to kids teasing and making fun of me for it. I told him that I'm still an easy crier-but I've learned that it's because I have a huge heart and I care deeply about things, which is something good, but I've also learned how to hold back the tears when I need to.
After lunch, we had a class conversation about "who has been a friend to you this week?" My class had had a hard week and were being very negative towards each other, so I wanted to focus on the positive. After a couple kids shared, the boy who had stayed in for recess (who was still red faced and holding back tears), raised his hand and said "Miss Gibson has been a friend because she cheers me up when I feel sad." After a really difficult week, and having that student yell that he hated me only an hour beforehand, it was exactly what I needed to hear. And now that student and I have a connection that we wouldn't have had if he had been able to go out to recess! Just a sweet moment that I wanted to share :)

Thoughts. (From a First-Week Teacher)

It's amazing how quickly 14 dear children can worm their way into my heart. It's incredible how when I stepped into my classroom for the first time, I found a piece of me I didn't know was missing.

And that's what I'm focusing on: how much I love these students of mine, how teaching is engrained into my very being, no matter how difficult it is to jump into a classroom 3/4 through the school year, with student teaching my only experience to rely on.

I know I can be a good teacher.

That's what gets me through helping 14 children transition from one teacher they knew and loved to a new teacher that suddenly came into their lives one day, a teacher they aren't sure about.

I know I've grown.

Three years ago, I wasn't so sure anymore if I wanted to be a teacher after a lifetime of being certain.
(And now I can't imagine doing anything else.)
Two years ago, I had recently decided to switch to elementary education, and was preparing for a summer of counseling kids to see if I really did like kids.
(And now I wonder how I ever could've doubted that.)
A year ago, I had just returned to the classroom full time for the remainder of my method's practicum. I was exhausted, teaching two subjects a day, filming for edTPA, and helping a sub run the classroom as my cooperating teacher was gone for her wedding.
(And now I laugh at the thought of being exhausted teaching two hours out of the day.)
6 months ago, I was the midst of full time teaching, rejoicing the fact I had survived 11 days without my cooperating teacher. I felt as if I had "mastered" classroom management, having been able to reign my kids back in after a difficult start to the year.
(And now I know that though I've improved, I will always have more to learn.)

I know I have a community of support surrounding me.

An amazing team teacher who has helped me every step of the way.
Encouraging co-workers that remind me that things do get better and easier.
A roommate who is one step ahead of me and points out that everything I'm telling her is "iconic first time teaching stuff" and that I'm not alone.
Professors and supervisors that rejoice with me and give sage advice.
And most importantly, a God who is greater than my greatest moments, and is there for me in my lowest lows.

Even as I sit here at my kitchen table, using my Saturday morning to email parents and look over writing assignments from the week, I can't help but smile. I'm exhausted, I have a million and one things running through my mind, I have a foot long "to do" list, I'm brainstorming ways to better my teaching and management, I'm planning in my head lessons for next week, I'm thinking about accommodations for students I'm not serving as well as I should be, but I love what I do. I can't imagine anything more life giving or rewarding I could be doing with my life right now. I've used this quote so many times in papers and reflections, but it perfectly fits how I'm feeling right now: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." Frederick Buechner

Teaching is so incredibly difficult. I didn't choose an easy path-but it's worth it.

Lenten Gratitude

It's been just shy of 2 months since I graduated from Wheaton and moved back home.
In those two months I have:
-Had my first job interview
-Watched the original Star Wars (in order to properly prepare for seeing the new one... twice)
-Moved into the upstairs apartment above my parent's garage and "Lea-fied" it
-Watched 6.5 seasons of House
-Read the entire Harry Potter series (in about 2.5 weeks)
-Watched all of the Harry Potter movies (I kind of went on a Harry Potter binge after Alan Rickman died)
-Knitted three scarves and a computer sleeve
-Started running again-it's a process, since I haven't run regularly in like years, and haven't been physically active at all since my knee injury. But I'm working on it.
-Still not gotten a job

I knew it would be a process finding a job in the middle of the school year. I knew it would be nice to have some time off. I knew that eventually free time would get old. I didn't know how I would respond to it. And unfortunately, I've responded with complaining.

So as Lent approached, I thought about what, if anything, I wanted to give up. And I recalled a conversation I had with my small group last year-that Lent isn't about what we give up, but it's about how we're adding more Jesus into our lives. So this year, I'm keeping a daily gratitude journal during Lent (with the purpose of combatting complaining). This is something I've wanted to do since my RA year thanks to the wisdom of Dan Haase, my RD's husband, and have attempted at times since then, but I hope to actually stick to it this time. Gratitude during Lent seems fitting, as Lent is a time for preparation and reflection, especially on what Christ has done for us on the cross. I can't think of a better way to prepare my heart and soul for Easter than a daily reflection on gratitude. Most of the time I'll just write in my own journal, but occasionally I'll post it on my blog.

For now, I'll close with this Ash Wednesday prayer from the Common Book of Prayer:
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.

Looking back on a year of firsts and lasts: 2015

Now that I have joined the ranks of unemployed college graduates, I'm hoping I'll have more time to blog. Although, I don't know how much I'll have to blog about... But anyways. I had the opportunity to observe at my middle school last week, and in a conversation with my 6th grade teacher, she recalled my strength as a writer and asked if I still write as much as I did in 6th grade. I admitted that I really don't write very much anymore, what with the business and craziness that is college. But she reminded me of my love of writing, and that was one of the reasons I started this blog; I missed writing for fun. So here's to a new year with more blog posts.

I'm currently sitting in Woods, my favorite coffee shop that I was sadly deprived of during my 4.5 years in the midwest. It feels a little weird to have the freedom to just sit and chill and write on a Thursday morning-shouldn't I be in class like all my friends back in Wheaton? Or at least working on homework? Or maybe be at work? Thus is the strangeness of graduating as an education major in December. Teaching jobs are a rarity, and though I'm getting on some sub lists, these things take time. So I'm going to use my free time to reflect on the past year, because 2015 was a big one.

2015 was a year of firsts and lasts. As I thought back on the last year, the lasts come to mind much more quickly than the firsts. Yet, there were a lot of firsts, so I have to use both to describe the past year.

Let's start with the lasts:
-Spring semester 2015 was my last spring in Wheaton, and my last semester with my friends that have been with me since the beginning.
-My last of all the spring semester events
-My last time seeing friends for who knows how long, (thank goodness for weddings and heaven. Mostly heaven, but weddings are nice in the mean time) whether it was in May, August, September, November, or December.
-Last day of student teaching
-Last time going to saga
-Last time going to chapel
-Last time walking around campus
-Last time at HoneyRock
-Last time living with roommates for the foreseeable future
-Last college class
-Last college paper

Some of these were sad, tearful moments, others were celebratory. Lasts are bittersweet as they represent the end of one thing, but they also represent the start of something new.

Now for the firsts:
-First time away from home for a year (I find it so so funny/ironic that I was the only one of my siblings to go a year away from home during college, yet I'm the only one that ended up moving back home and living with Mom and Dad after graduation.)
-First time actually lesson planning. Like where I understood what I was doing and had reasons for planning the way I did, unlike the lessons I prepared for other classes. I found my very first lesson plan from my sophomore year as I was going through stuff on my computer. It was pretty awful.
-First time teaching one of my own lessons to real kids
-First time going by Miss Gibson. It's still weird to me that there are children in the world that only know me as Miss Gibson and have no idea what my first name is (some probably don't even realize I have a first name).
-First serious injury in my adult life (yay for dislocated knee caps!)
-First day of student teaching/first day of school as a teacher
-First time having a classroom to myself
-First time filling out real life job applications. Like jobs that require a college degree.

Like I said, 2015 was a huge year for me. I rediscovered my passion for teaching, gained confidence as a teacher, made new friends only to have to say goodbye to them shortly there after, had my heart stolen by 26 precious 4th graders that I miss so so much, sighed a huge sigh of relief when I turned in my last college paper, and bawled my eyes out as I said goodbye to people and a place that have been so important, influential, and formative to me for the past 4.5 years.

It was hard to let 2015 go as it meant letting go of the familiar and the comfortable. 2016 is a year of unknown, which is absolutely terrifying. But I'm grateful for such a solid year behind me, and am ready to leap into the unknown.