The End.

As I write my last blog for the class I wondered were the time has gone. I will soon be blogging because I want to get better at writing. I seem to take forever to put my thoughts on paper. I  will miss all the blogging with you ladies. I hope that you keep up you blog from time to time.  I may never meet you all, but I feel like I know you all just a little bit. I wish you all wonderful classrooms and perfect students. I have learned a lot from the literacy classes I took this semester.  I have enjoyed working with you all. I am working on my writing skills and my self-confidence to share with other and eventually with my students. Here is to our future and never giving up on a student.   Good Luck!

Today I read a book , well more like a few chapters in a book called, Positive Psychology. What I found to be very interesting was I have heard bits and peaces about this theory over the last 20 years. This was the first time that I read about the negative effect of optimist  p .  It was amazing. I wondered if what could really be wrong with an optimist? Basically, the only thing they could say was, they don't always take issues that  are serious, seriously.  Such as government problems etcs.

What I really found interesting was the section about education. It was amazing. It pointed out that while students have issues at home. If they receive positive reinforcement it will change their thinking process. So, this was a gift to me. I have decided that no mater what grade I teach or what class I may teach, I will always encourage optimism.  I will not give up on the pessimistic students, I will work hard to make the difference. Children who have optimistic teacher learn more than students who don't.  It  make perfect since to me.  I am not sure what took me so long to realize it. I can't wait to read the rest of the book... Happy Blogging.

Student will tell you anything.

So, I am not Art Linkletter.  However, I think I should write a book about what students are willing to tell teachers and staff.  Children so say the funniest things. I asked a student if she was staying warm during this cold spell. The reasoning for my questions was she had a hat, mittens and her coat on while in the gym, trying to jump rope. This is her reply.

Student: “No, I am always hot at home; my dad built the biggest fire in the living room and my mom toss wood on it.”

Me: “Do you have a wood stove or a fire place.”

Student:  “I am not sure but it’s a big box”. 

Me: “How can I help you get warm? Maybe, if you move around more you will warm up.

Student: “Can’t you just build a fire in here that’s how my dad would do it.”

The conversation was a little entertaining and I wish I could tell her parents. She is just five years old and school is new concept to her.

These are the thing I here before school.

Male student: Mrs. Odell, my sister stucked her tongue to the metal window in the bus.

Me: Is she okay?

Male student: Yah, she just jerked her head back fast and pulled it off.  It looked like the kid who sticks his tongue on the goal post in that Christmas movie.

Me: Are you sure she is okay, is she bleeding?

Male student: Mrs. Odell, she pulled it off the window.  Not out of her mouth.

Later I talked to the little third grader to see if she was ok.

Girl student: “I’m fine; it just feels like I burned it on hot cocoa,” before I could say anything she stuck her tongue out and said, “Thseeeeeeeeeeeeee”, while holding on to her tongue.

Me: Why did you stick your tongue on the window?

Girl student: I wasn’t trying to stick my tongue. I was trying to see out the window and I was licking my lips cause they were dry. Then bam, my tongue was stuck and I panicked and pulled.

Me: are you ok now.

Girls student: Sure, but you can bet your fanny I will never to that again.

I wish I had it recorded. All the children in this family talk the same. They talk fast and have a speech impediment.  While, it is not funny, to make fun of a person’s disability, and in no way am I doing that, I am just saying it added to the comical story I heard. These students used to be my neighbors, so I have a closer relationship with them. They are the sweetest kids in the world. Their story will make me smile for year.    I guess in this case you really had to be there. 

Difficult student

I have been seeing so much negativity lately. I think it just comes from my current state of mind.  Everywhere I look I see students who disrespect staff and are not paying attention.  I know that the majority of the students are doing the right thing. But, I am not sure why the 5^th grade class I work with feel it have the right to be rude.   A quarter of the class is students that are behind. We have usually 2 paraprofessionals and a teacher with 23 kids.   I see kids talking, writing notes and drawing during teaching time. As soon as they are given the assignment hands go up like telephone towers in a new country. No one knows what is going on and doesn’t know what to do. It’s driving me nuts.  

There is one little boy who has dyslexia and he refuses to listen.  I catch him day dreaming and being rude to the other para and the teacher. The thing that really gets to me is that his parents don’t want him to have special services. They believe he is gifted.  He is great in other areas but is unable to write. They feel that the staff needs to make accommodations. I catch this student drawing guns of every type. For the last six weeks I have told him this isn’t appropriate time to draw. I have told him out right not to draw guns that it is against school policy. Oh, I forgot to mention his father is a state patrol officer.  Long story short, I like the kid. I think his parents are not doing him any good by keeping him out of special services.

The moral to this story is I need help. Do any of you have an idea on how to keep him focused without him feel like he has educational boundaries.  I have to say from the psychiatric point of view, I believe he is autistic.  He has so many of the signs. But again his parents will not get him tested.   How do I deal with this? Someday soon I will have my own classroom and I am struggling with the fact that parents can be so neglectful to their children. 

Writing

Wow, I feel a little rusty. I never realized checking out for a week would cause such confusion to my brain.  I have been trying to regroup all afternoon.   This semester has been such a struggle for me.  I am so thankful that we all can see the end in sight.  I keep trying to be a creative writer but for some reason I get blocks.  I try all the methods they talk about in Painters book.  I have come to the conclusion that next semester I will be taking a creative writing class. So if any of you have an idea that would be great.

I am so embarrasses to admit this but, I think it’s time. My son in-law, Mark Booth is an Associate Professor at (creative writing) Chicago Art Institute. Mark is also a world renowned Artist.  He teaches classes of different sorts. I would never ask him for his help.  My husband has a journalism degree and my step-daughter Kathleen Odell has her PhD in Economics. She is also an Associate Professor at Dominican University in Chicago.  If I could just tap in to their talent I would be a better writer. 

I am going to try and keep Blogging after this class. I want to be a better writer. I have a long way to go.  I guess I am a slow learner. I couldn’t read until the 5^th grade.  I struggled to read so writing was like torture to me.  I never want my students to feel that way. It is my goal to teach every student to read and write with confidence.  I look forward to writing stories with a purpose and may be that will keep me focused enough to teacher. I want to be an excellent teacher who can share her thoughts and lessons with students that are eager to learn. 

About me!

Okay, ladies here are a few things about me. 

1.  I attended college the first time in 1992 and earned my Bachelor Degree in General studies and Majored in Education and Graduated in 1997.

2.  I was a single mother who raised two beautiful daughters.

3.  I have spent 15 years working at none profit agencies and providing PSR (Psychosocial Rehabilitation. to the mentally ill.

4.  I am only 8 credits away from having my Masters in Psychology.

5.  I married my soul mate 3 years ago.

6.  I live 9 miles from the Canadian Border

7.  I am a licensed hypnotherapist. I work on-call at the local Pharmacy as a Licensed Pharmaceutical Assistant. I currently hold a Washington State Substitute Teachers License. I work 20 hours a week as a paraprofessional at the local school. Sounds like a lot but it really isn't.

8.  I volunteer as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate for children who have been neglected or abused.)

9.  After moving to a place that is so rural I became an AmeriCorps member and worked two years in the local schools.

10. I went back to school to get my teaching certificate this year.. When I attended college in 1992 we were just starting to use email and internet.  I loved education and have always been in the field of education even when I didn't work in a school setting. 

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.  It has been great learning with you all.   

IF

I haven’t been keeping up lately with my posts on my Blog. I try to write and find my mind wondering.  I think of my daughter and her future. The loss of my grandchild and the what if’s in life.   My father used to say if is a small word, but it makes people ponder a lot.  “If is the biggest little word I know”. That is what my father used to tell me.  I asked him what he meant. He told me, if I would have gone to college I wouldn’t be working in the woods. If I would have made better financial choices as a young man I would have saved money. If I would have known my body would have turned against me, I would have made better choices.

As I look back I wonder what life would have been like if I would have done things differently.  I started the, what if thing and decided that I am happy for the way things are and I know I got hear from the choices I made. What if I hadn’t gone to college? I would still be working at the local five and dime.  Life is so short for the, what if thing.  I loved my father and I wonder if he took a positive approach to life he would have live longer.  See, that I did the, what if thing.  

I have been trying to avoid the, what if, scenario.  When things are stressful and you are down, what if, sneaks up on you and will suck what little energy you have and make things more difficult.    I loved my father and I totally understand what he was saying.  I am just having a difficult time getting back into life after a wrongful death.  I can set and wonder what if.   Positive or negative the pain and loss of a grandchild is terrible. Watching my daughter and her husband deal is painful.  The word “IF” (noun) can be used as a possibility, condition, or stipulation.     That is why “if” is such a large idea.