Thanksgiving Conversations

Location: Applebees, Minneapolis, MN
Reason: Dinner before going to see the Broadway musical: "Wicked"

My family is known to have some pretty awesome conversations at the dinner table, for example:
-What does your belly button look like?
-How do we whistle the right pitch?
and so on...

Tonight, we got on to the topic of literacy in elementary schools. My oldest sister Angel, is a first grade teacher in Prior Lake, MN. She talked about how often parents mistake her suggested nightly reading. Many parents think they are supposed to be simply letting their kids read to them (so they will learn), and this can be quite the task for the kid and the parent. Parents are struggling to find appropriate age levels of books, and it has become a hassle.

We then realized what the key to literacy is. Read to your children! And they don't have to be little kid books either! We can read books that are beyond their reading level, but maybe not their comprehension level.

All four of my siblings started reading at a young age, and have all fallen in love with books, as adults. We owe it all to our father. He read chapter books to us. One chapter, every night, for years. He would even let us sit behind him so we could read along, and sometimes we even got assigned a character to read, whenever they had quotations. I know I am a better reader because of this experience. And I believe every child should have that opportunity.

CHALK...The Movie

For the past two Monday nights, we have been viewing the movie "Chalk".
It is set up like a documentary, following the teachers of a high school.

It was a comedy, and they did a great job with it. I laughed a lot because of the sarcasm. But the most funny and sad element about the movie was the reality of it all. Some teachers really don't want to be teachers, and don't know what they are doing. Some teachers only care about nagging on their co-workers. Most teachers talk behind each others backs, and many teachers buddy up with the kids just to look cool.

The movie reminded me that teachers are real people too. It also made me excited to be in a school, as a teacher and not a student. The dynamic levels are completely different and I think it will be a lot of fun to experience.

Luther Alum Teacher Panel

This past Monday night we had the pleasure of conversing with Luther Alumni who are now teachers in the "real world". There was a 5th grade teacher, high school choir teacher, and a elementary special education teacher. I really appreciated the fact that there was a music teacher in the mix, because I feel like we (as music educators) get forgotten at times.

It was refreshing to hear that not everything is perfect about the profession, but that all three of them are still motivated to continue. Their ideas get shot down a lot, you have to keep your energy up, and are always needing to meet state requirements and expectations.

The most interesting pieces I took from the conversation were their answers to the question:
"What do you wish you knew when you started, that you know now?"
Their answers were as follows:
-Ground work must be layed down first, before you can add emotion.
-Parent Communication is huge!
-Discipline should be building relationships with those students.
-Life affects students, and you have to be involved in that.

These pieces of advice also go hand in hand with what I have been taking to the book "The Freedom Writer's", where Erin Gruwell takes a courageous stand on education in her english classes.

From this panel, I am realizing the best way to learn to teach is to be taught, and to talk TO teachers.