Christmas without snow or Santa?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... Which I don't really love quite yet. I love Christmas time and putting up the decorations, but my birthday is a late November one, so when decorations start appearing even in October I am not impressed.

This is my first Christmas after getting married, so I am giving in early and beginning to plan excitedly. Decorations are being hand-made to save the dollars, but there are so many options I figured I'd remind myself of my personal boundaries - no snow or Santa or anything snow-related or Santa-related. That's right. No snow globes, icicles, reindeer, or elves. The only exception is a fireplace 'theme' where I am planning on hanging the stockings.

And I'm thinking I will be treating my in-class activities the same. Sorry kids!

Why?

Well, let's start with the snow. If you are in certain parts of the world, snow is a perfectly natural, unavoidable part of the season. It isn't in Australia and here in QLD it will be hot. Snow is simply not natural here at this time of year. It is not a part of our Christmas experience. It simply makes more sense to be relevant for our season - ice cold drinks instead of hot chocolate, fans instead of blankets, and the only snowman decoration that makes any kind of sense here is the half-melted ones.

Moving onto Santa. For many, he is the magical part of Christmas for children. For me, he can be a bit of a disappointing fairy tale. There will be students whose families will not be able to pull off a magical Santa fulfilling all their dreams and ticking items from their wishlist. There will be students whose families do not encourage Santa beliefs, such as my own. There will be students with such high expectations of Santa that they will cry if their ipad is the wrong colour (or their car). There will be students who don't celebrate Christmas at all. As a Christian, I have no interest in lying to my children about Santa's existence and placing doubt on my other beliefs. I also place a different emphasis on Christmas and don't want to emphasis the gifts. Christmas can have greater meaning and joy than celebrating Santa's visit and receiving gifts.

So what is my alternative?

The 'true meaning of Christmas' is the simplest answer. In a Christian school, it is easy to emphasis the Christian symbolism and remembrance. In a public school, there are still other Christmas truths to emphasize and these can even be done with those who don't celebrate Christmas.

Broader Christmas themes can include:

• Giving: not receiving and maybe not even gifts. Think of giving to the poor, donating time to a cause, acts of random kindness, etc.
• Love and community: similarly to above, this could also include writing letters, spending time with community members, and working on relationships.
• Joy, peace and blessings: just having fun and celebrating life in general. Incorporate games, talk about having joy and peace even in hard times, go on a treasure hunt for things that make us feel blessed or at peace, learn how to calm down, journal blessings.
• Salvation: not just the amazing gift from Jesus, but also safety during the holidays. Let's not forget it can also be a dangerous season with drownings, road accidents, and fires.
• Pleasant surprises: don't you love it when loved ones visit unexpectedly, an ordinary day turns into some random fun, or you enter a room to find it transformed since you left? There's no reason this can't happen at school without it being about Christmas, though it can easily be linked in. Can you imagine how much your students would love it? It could even become an advent calendar themed event with one little pleasant surprise a day or a week. We had one teacher at my primary school who used to prank another class - why not even work on a pleasant surprise for another class or teacher?

These can be linked into class learning such as:

• Who is poor? How do they live?
• How can we help others?
• How can we control our feelings?
• How do different cultures celebrate?
• Family history.
• Who do I love and why? How can I show them?
• How can I stay safe?

If you are now wondering about the beloved decorations and class displays, you could consider going with a somewhat traditional Christmas still or a more subtle Christmas theme. You can exclude Santa and snow and still be left with stars, angels, candy canes, trees, pictures portraying peace or joy, a 'present' which is lifted up to reveal a 'giving' scene which isn't your usual present, family portraits, baby portraits, safety posters. Specific examples of how these crafts would work will be following in a separate post soon.

Gift ideas are quite a bit easier, even without snow or santa. These will be presented in a separate post soon.

How do you feel about booting out snow for a local reality and replacing a Santa emphasis with a 'meaning of Christmas' emphasis? Will this make the season unnecessarily challenging for you?

The Dream Class for a Relief Teacher

I have moved interstate and resumed the role of housewife as I wait on my registration to be
approved. Now that things have calmed down, I can resume the blogging. As my reflections are somewhat limited without teaching time, the next sequel of posts will be based on reflections on my teaching inspired by my reading.

Today's post is focused on lesson one in 'Create Your Dream Classroom' by Linda Kardamis. She finishes her first chapter asking the reader to describe their dream classroom and list what would be the same or different in comparison to their present classroom. While not having read any further, I would imagine that this is to be used as a 'goal' to reflect upon in future lessons.

At this stage, I plan on remaining as a casual teacher for a while. As such, my dream class is often changing. While I love organised, minimalist classrooms where I can pick up the planning and enable the children to continue with their present learning paths, this isn't within my control. As such, I will focus on classroom environment, culture and lessons, which I can more easily influence, especially when returning to classes repeatedly.

While in a class, I would like to see the children engaged in their learning and develop a hunger for more learning. The children are curious and self-motivated due to the intrinsic desire to their interest in their learning. When lessons conclude, the children tell me that it was fun and they want to know more. Children persevere through challenges, because they perceive the learning goal as worthwhile and are invested in the learning. Children are prepared to take learning risks, because they know that they are safe to do so within the environment and culture of the classroom.

The culture within a classroom is one of respect. Children support each other in both their strengths and weaknesses, recognising that everyone has them. Children who are experts within a subject area take on a teaching role, rather than a proud mocking one. I am respected as a teacher and the children feel respected by me. We are able to communicate openly with each other and problem solve due to the trust that is developed between us. Behaviour issues are recognised as a weakness, just as children who struggle with maths. Both myself and students support the 'misbehaving' student, discussing the cause of problems and enabling them to behave appropriately.

Lessons are interactive and inquiry-based whenever possible. Students use the library and ICT to research, experiment with manipulatives, re-enact, and create. Their learning is demonstrated in a variety of ways.

Assessment is varied, authentic and naturally integrated into the lesson. Children don't label assessments as tests or stressful, because it is a natural outworking of their discoveries. Assessments may take the form of a presentation, creation of a text, a piece of art, teacher notes following a conversation, interviews, movie files, or yet another form as appropriate to the lesson and outcomes. These assessments will be recorded in a clear manner in order to be presented to their regular teacher. Rather than simply piling assessments, they will be clipped together in order to retain the order and present the material in the neatest way possible for the teacher.

Marking will also take multiple forms. In cases where students are either independently marking or assisting, they will be reminded of the focus (i.e. spelling, sentence structure or ideas). Whenever possible, students will reflect upon their own work and note what they like about the work and how they could further strengthen such work in the future. Peer assessments may also play a role and guidelines will be in place to ensure feedback is constructive and respectful. In the case of worksheets (as sometimes left by teachers to complete), we will mark these together as a class whenever possible and discuss the most difficult problems together.

While I could continue to dream, I am afraid I would end up with a very detailed book. As such, I will leave it for now on these major points to reflect upon and implement. At this stage, I see that I have made a good start in many of these areas and improvement will be focused on providing more variety and becoming familiar with my new students once settling into the new schools in QLD. However, my plans are still quite lacking in real student-guided inquiry lessons due to the difficult time restraints of a one-day placement. As such, it will be a major goal to expand upon these and find ways to work around the time restraints.

This has all got me quite excited and motivated, so excuse me while I go expand my lesson repertoire.

What are your dreams for your classroom? What can you change or improve to help you achieve these dreams?

Threatening Thursday - Power struggles, threats, or communicating care?

A quick recount for reflection...

     "And last table, come and line up at the door, thank you."

     Then I notice that one student still sitting in his or her chair.

     "Why aren't you lining up?"

     "I don't want to go."

I'm not sure how many times I have had this situation since starting teaching. When I first experienced this, it quickly became a power struggle and the student would usually give in once I threatened a serious enough punishment. Recently I have discovered what seems to just about be a magic phrase.

     "I think it would still be best if you came with us. If you stay in here, I will not be able to see you and make sure that you are safe."

Following this statement, I have found that most of the time the child will join the class. I am unsure at this point if it is a result of a student's fear, a need to be cared for, or a combination, but the idea that I am looking out for their safety is important to them and requires no explanation.

There was case this did not occur immediately, the circumstances were unusual. The child had struggled for two days to follow my instructions, struggling with the changes that come with a relief teacher. In this circumstance, we were right next to the classroom, where I could see the classroom door and hear the student, so I left them with the door open and a responsible student helping them do some work. Next thing I know, both the students joined the class. Why? They didn't feel safe in the class alone, even with us so close.

This phrase has significantly lowered, if not erased, my need to threaten, growl, or enter a power struggle over this issue. It makes me curious what other 'magic phrases' exist that can motivate students to behave appropriately, while also portraying our care for our students rather than our power over them.

Have you discovered any such phrases that work for you?

Stressful Saturday: Keeping calm as a casual teacher

At times it can be oh so tempting to
hug those 'darlings' just a little too tight.

The holidays are meant to be a time for refreshing, relaxing and preparing for the next term, right? Well, we are back from holidays now, but I felt like my holidays were anything but those things. We hurried around with friends, travelling while we could, and returned home with time to spare to prepare. Only, I found that every time I began to think about work, the butterflies in my stomach would start.

Reflecting on my work, I felt like I was doing well, learning fast and aware of what I needed to develop. However, when I thought about facing another class, having another day of demands placed on me and the inevitable behaviour management required, I just wanted to cry.

Naturally, I hopped online to search for stress relief strategies. I know my teaching practice is developing well enough, so I figured I just needed some help in keeping my inner peace while growing. However, everything I found was general stuff I have heard before, or specifically designed for full-time teachers. For me to make the best of my time and find some peace, advice on displays and coordinating with parents didn't help a whole lot. In fact, it was almost all irrelevant. So, I approached a fabulous relief teaching community on facebook for advice, prayed, and developed my personalised stress management plan.

Step one - identifying causes of stress:

• As an early childhood teacher, students are not as independent as older grades, requiring constant supervision and help. It is not rare for at least five students to be asking for me (to go to the toilet, spell something, find out what to do, have help getting started) as well as at least one student who needs my attention due to their behaviour. Such intensity keeps me on my toes, but exhausts me both physically and emotionally, in the immediate and later on.
• By the end of two days, my body is exhausted. I dread those full weeks which leave me unable to enjoy my weekend due to pain and/or sickness. At time, two days on my feet is enough to make it painful to walk from the bed to the bathroom the next morning.
• Arriving home, it is difficult to leave work at work, even with no further planning or marking to do. As a perfectionist, I can't help but dwell on what I did, what the students did, how the day could have gone smoother, etc. This sometimes results in better solutions for the future, improving my practice, but some days it simply robs me of my peace and makes it impossible to relax.
• As well as being a teacher, I am a wife and a writer. This means, when I get home, I need to think about food, shopping, cleaning, blogging, researching, and pumping out the minimum pages required to complete my novel. Then of course there is this thing I have heard of called a social life, as well as exercise and taking care of oneself. It is a lot to balance, especially when half of it is still new.
• Work is uncertain, so my income is uncertain. Thankfully I have a husband who earns a regular wage. However, we are still setting up and both of us desperately crave a keyboard since I had to sell my old one. So while we could scrape by without my earnings, it is still incredibly helpful and I can't help but feel the pressure to earn a decent income. This is hard to guarantee when schools often don't call until the morning they would like you to work.

Step two - identify specific actions which can relieve each cause of stress:

• Continue to reflect on, research, and improve behaviour management plan and find ways to reduce constant demands for my attention.
• For spelling, I tell students that I will not help, they can take their best guess using strategies we discuss, ask a friend, or look for the word in their environment. If they still get it wrong, I don't mind because it means they are making an effort, taking risks, and learning.
• For the toilet, before allowing students into class, I check they have gone if they need to, and then have a name system, where they write their name on the board when they leave and rub it out when they are back, so I know where they are. If a student's name is already on the board, other students must wait until they come back. 
• For students who can read, I may write up activities they can do when finished. Otherwise, if a small group finishes at roughly the same time, I put one or two students in charge of an activity.
• For some jobs, even young students can be placed in charge. I had a revelation during the holidays that it is perfectly okay, to take a step back and allow a student or two to even run the class! This means I can help students one-on-one or mark writing up the back while a student leads a game of spelling bingo, or something else the class is familiar with. This is particularly useful in those odd left-over minutes when the class has actually managed to finish and pack up a bit early and has time for a game. Even better, this job can be given to a 'bossy' or 'naughty' student to give them a responsibility, allow you to keep an eye on them and the activity at the same time and maybe the other students will see that student in a new light. As an extra bonus, if the whole class is engaged, allowing me to mark, I can have a few more minutes to finish my food during lunch time!
• Some misbehaviour does not need addressing immediately. This was a tip from my fabulous facebook community. Sometimes, if the problem is inattention during mat time, it can be as simple as saying, "Student X, please think about your behaviour." If the behaviour continues, or begins to distract other students, it can be addressed by saying, "Student X is not making the right decision. So we will focus on our learning and I will talk to them later." Talk to them later? That's actually possible! Some behaviour is not dangerous and only compromises one student's learning, so the class can continue in their learning, and when they have moved onto an independent activity, then I can address the issue with the student quietly.
• This term, I have begun a new routine coming home that seems to have helped a lot. Lately, I don't play the radio or any music in the car, and simply reflect on the day, cry if need be, or problem solve. Then, as soon as I come in the door, I let my hair down, take out my earrings, remove my shoes, change into comfy clothes, gather some food and collapse on the couch to do something that will relax and distract me. No work clothes, no work papers, no work thinking. The day is done. If I need extra time to reflect, it will often happen later when I am calm and refreshed.
• My final causes of stress have all been managed with one last, extreme discussion. I actually cried talking to my husband about it, expected resistance and was blessed with amazing support. I am no longer working five days a week. I am available five days a week, but I shall turn down work if I have had two hectic days in a row or am feeling knocked out. We have actually agreed that three to four days of work is perfectly okay sometimes. There will be a time when this is not all so new and overwhelming, the book is finished, my muscles and immune system have built up and my husbands work has also calmed down so he can help around the house a little more. When that time comes, I will be more able to work a full week and will be able to build up to a contract or permanent full-time position. Until then, we shall get by fine and I shall take care of myself and my other commitments. I have to remind myself that being unable to work full time does not make me weak, incompetent or less qualified than 'everyone else'. This simply means I have a full life that requires some balance. As for the money concerns, we will be okay. We are incredibly blessed that my husband has reliable work that will support us, so anything I get is simply a comfort or safety net. With this attitude, I can turn down a single day's work, without apology, also knowing by now that I have some relationship with these schools and they will continue to book me.

Step three - Find a few general stress relief strategies for those moments that can't be avoided:

• Grab a treat, whether it's a chocolate, a massage, or one day of refusing to do housework. Rewards, bribery and distraction are a great way of recovering after a particularly rough day or week.
• Take a breath. There may be times when a mistake is made and the class is a rowdy one, so chaos reigns. If it's just off-task noise and not dangerous behaviour, take a step back, turn around, and breathe before returning to the situation.
• Remember why you do this, and if you couldn't care about the potential you are trying to unlock or the love you have for kids, count the dollars you are earning, remember what it will pay for, then even tell the kids. It's good for them to realise sometimes that you care, you are trying to help, but if they don't care, you still get paid and they lose out on what you are offering.
• Play some music or do some exercise. Doing this as a class at times can help the students too. Release those negative hormones, work up some positive hormones, lose yourself in the moment and relax.
• Redefine the stresses as challenges or goals and determine to make the experience a positive learning experience rather than something that happened separately to you.

Here are a few websites with some extra advice on stress management:

• Dealing with Stress - Stress Management Society
• 10 Ways to Reduce a Teacher's Classroom Stress - Worksheet Library
• 101 Ways to Cope with Teaching Stress - Smart Teaching

What do you do to reduce stress during difficult times?

Tag Tuesday - Some resources from other sites I have used lately

Yesterday I sat at home, dabbing a running nose, nursing a headache, loving the sound of the rain and watching a little too much of Bones. However, having just bought a laminator, on Sunday night, I couldn't totally let the day pass by without some resource gathering. In order to extend my resources for early finishers, I've turned to pinterest and other bloggers to find resources I could easily print off, laminate and use time and time again. So here's a quick list before I run off to find the tissue box again.

Numeracy:
Oh no seven! (just add dice for an addition game, google dice games and you'll come up with plenty more)
Mystery letter (I copied their monster/number grid, but included my own sums, allowing me to add a little variety and change the letter/number that was hidden in the grid)
I have, who has (made up my own basic template as it is easier to do than to find one I like which looks easy to read. Of course, a blank template is not limited to numeracy and can be done as an early finisher activity for a small group or a whole class activity)
Why so few numeracy sheets? I tend to find the class already has maths games the children love or number charts and dice I use for games without sheets, so the demand for such activities is very low. I also have my 31 math challenges freebie for a back-up when needed.

Literacy:
Scattegories (a simple version for students which could be used to introduce nouns, just add a timer or have students yell 'stop' when the first person fills their page)
Nursery Rhyme Reading Mazes (this one costs $7, but I like the idea enough to DIY one which fits with a theme, text, or level that I find myself in often)
Spelling Battleship (designed in such a way that it can be used with any word list, so long as it fits, so win for differentiation!)
DIY comic strip (students can create pictures and text in the provided bubbles for a fun story-telling method)
Complete the comic strip (theme and pictures already provided, students are challenged to create a dialogue between the two characters on their first day of school)
Hangman (Okay, no link here to a resource, I basically just typed up the letters and made a quick template myself)

That's it for now, but what more does a girl need? What resources do you bring out time and time again for early finishers?