The Comeback Kid

My jaw almost kit the ground today when one of the children in my class took everyone by surprise.

To remind you – I teach – I teach 3 and 4 year olds, and that pretty much guarantees that there will be shocks and surprises – on an almost weekly basis.

Today a little angel of mine was feeling sick (Eng. = poorly; Aus. = crank).

I’m so international.

The mum (of sick child) arrived and came into the classroom. I explained how her daughter had not been feeling 100% and that with her soaring temperature, it was best to have a nice restful afternoon at home. Being a teacher who encourages the children in my class to express themselves and be confident individuals I was not surprised when another of my little treasures started chatting to the mum.

She asked the mum why her little friend was going home – to which the mum replied, “Well she’s not feeling very well, so I am going to take her home”.

This clearly wasn’t enough info – more please – “Why isn’t she well?” (the girl asked)…

The mum smiled back and explained that her daughter had been feeling sick during the morning….

The girl looked at the mum – thought a bit and said - “Perhaps you should have thought about that before you brought her to school today”. -

It was said in a flash of brilliance – but with such innocence….. I almost choked.

Kids.

Frantic Origami

We recently had International Days at my school. It is a time to celebrate our school’s multi-cultural make-up.

The children come to school dressed in a traditional costume or clothes to represent where they come from or where they have lived. We have a big parade where all the children walk through school in front of each other and all the parents. It’s a great sight!

Loads of the parents volunteer to come in and run a stand representing their countries. There’s food to eat, games to play, puzzles to work out and things to make! I love it.

This year I had some volunteers to come in and work with my class.  My class are 3 years old. We did lots of different activities – making flags, sharing stories, craft fun, dancing and lots more…

Next, we were going to try…. origami.

Yes, origami with 3 year olds.

I was a little stunned to begin with – but the children loved it.

I am not sure whether they loved the activity more or the fact that their teacher (me) and teaching assistant were frantically rushing around our little circle (with 13 children) helping to fold paper left, right and centre.

It was simple origami. By that I mean – extremely tricky rather complicated. I giggled as I worked.

I think I’m an origami pro now!

I’m glad it’s the weekend – I need the rest!

Not a child from my class - I just love the expression! Boats next time, maybe?

Mexican teacher protects class during gun battle.

An amazing teacher posted a video onto Facebook showing the scenes when she calmly protected her class whilst a drug cartel gun battle went on nearby.

The video, posted below, has taken the internet by storm after it was discovered by local news.

Class teacher, Martha Rivera Alanis can be heard asking the children to lie on the floor and stay down. “No, my love, nothing is going to happen, just put your little face on the floor,” she tells one girl.

During the shoot out there were 5 people shot and killed at a nearby taxi stand in Monterrey.

The teacher has since received an award for her bravery by the state’s governor.

What an amazing teacher!

A very well travelled bear.

Wesley Bear

This is Wesley Bear. He is possibly one of the most well travelled bears in the world. For the last 11 years he has been part of my class. When I started training to be a teacher I bought adopted Wesley (He was already named).

Helping in the kitchen

When I got my first class (4 year olds) - We called it ‘Reception class’ then - I introduced Wesley Bear to the class bear. Each and every weekend he would (and still does) go home with one of the children. (A great reward for good behaviour).

Wesley goes sailing (One of the mums made a lifejacket for him)

The children in the class, and in all the classes that I have taught, have fallen in love with Wesley Bear. They cannot wait to have their turn to look after him.

He’s been taken on some wonderful trips around the world. There are times that I wish I could swap places with my teddy so that I could travel in his place. (I wish). The idea is for the children to look after him and to show him wonderful sights around the world. They take photographs, send postcards back to the school and add a little stamp to his passport. He’s been on more that 100 trips abroad!

Wesley in San Marino

After 11 years of travelling around the world with the children in my classes, with family and friends and with colleagues, I have quite a collection of photos. The children love to look at them and it provides a wonderful tool for exploring holidays and travel in class.

Just a couple of Wesley's holiday snaps!

He’s met dolphins in Israel, camels in the Canary Islands, lizards and seals in the Galapagus Islands and enjoyed Champagne in France! Oh what a life for a bear!

This shows where Wesley Bear has been taken since March 6th 2000.

This beats my map of world travel.

One of the best parts is listening to the children when they bring Wesley Bear back to school. They are alive with enthusiasm and are eager to tell stories of what he’s been up to. Some of the children tell me that Wesley has been naughty, he’s made their bedrooms a mess or that he’s had a holiday romance. Oh yes, I’ve heard a lot.

My favourite picture.

Now THAT is a good excuse #1

All teachers hear excuses. The excuses are part of the teacher-child-parent relationship in our day-to-day role. I enjoy a good excuse, espcially if it seems a great deal of thought has gone into it.

This was an excuse from a parent (via the telephone).

School Office: “Hello”.

Parent: “Hi, my daughter can’t come into school today.”

School Office: “I’m sorry to hear that. Can I ask why?”

Parent: “We can’t get the electric gates open!”

 

Not necessarily the gates in question, but imagine they would be just like these.

 

Oh, how the other half live!

 

A man?…As a teacher?…Is that even legal?

When I was in my final year of my degree I was lucky enough to get my first job. I hadn’t graduated, but my university tutor had already found me a great school to work in. It was all about the contacts back then. I was really excited about teaching my very first class. The class that would be mine. It was exciting and scary at the same time.

I visited the school a couple of times to meet staff and get to know the routines, the building and my new classroom. I remember the day the letter went out to the nursery parents (my future class parents). I stood in the Nursery and watched the children, who would soon be in my class, leave for the day. One by one the parents started to open the school bags and read the letter inside.

Within seconds one mum had come into the classroom and approached the teacher. She had no idea who I was, standing in the corner. She held the letter and said,

Parent: “Hi, I’ve just read the letter as see that it says Mr ….. Surely this is a mistake?”

Teacher “Erm, no, that’s right”.

Parent: “But surely it can’t be a man. Is that even legal? Are men allowed to teach children this young?”

Teacher: “Yes of course”. Turning to me, she replied “This is your son’s new teacher. Would you like to meet him?”

The mum didn’t know what to do with herself. She stood there stunned…. All words had gone then she tried to make up for it by saying,

Parent: “Oh, no, erm…but I haven’t got a problem with it, of course”.

Not likely! The biggest backtrack in history from a parent.

We went on to have a great teacher-parent relationship but trust and reputation had to be earned, possibly a little harder than it would have been for any of my female colleagues. It was an interesting aspect of my career. For years I was the only male teacher working with children younger than 8. I always knew that my career was dominated by women, but I never imagined that there were parents with the view that men were not legally allowed to teach infants. How times have changed…. I hope that the years I have been in teaching have helped to broaden the views of some.

Watch out parents…Are your children using the online code!

When I was at school I didn’t have a computer. I didn’t have access to the World Wide Web. In fact, when I was going through my teenage years it was not really talked about. Admittedly my teenage years were during the 1990s and there were far more exciting things to be doing. It was only when I went off to university in 1997 that I first encountered the internet. Only then did I realise that a whole new world was out there and that it was going to feel a lot smaller than ever before.

Nowadays children know all about the internet. The children I teach are 3 and 4 years old. They already go click-crazy and whizz about on the computer like it comes naturally to them. They know that “mummy and daddy do emails” and that the ‘web’ is full of exciting games for them to play. Things have simply changed beyond all recognition from my own childhood experiences.

Fast forward a few years and you have children in their teens who are also exploring the world out there via the internet. It would be hard to find a child between 12 and 16 who doesn’t regularly access the ‘web’ for emailing, social networking or simply ‘surfing’.

I recently found out that there were codes being used by children when accessing social networking sites. Children want to have a certain amount of privacy and although parents, in most cases, will monitor their child’s use of the internet, there are times when the children manage to manipulate the situation by using online codes.

POS: Sounds pretty harmless… Does it have any meaning? If someone was chatting to friends via the internet and typed this in between lots of other text (including the LOL: Lots Of Love or Laughing Out Loud; GTG: Got To Go, etc) would it be spotted? Probably not… I found out that POS actually stands for ‘Parent Over Shoulder’ in which case the friend chatting would automatically know to change the course of the online chat. With this discovery it does raise the question of how many other codes are being used by young internet users in order to maintain a certain level of secrecy about their internet usage. Is it the responsibility of others to share the codes with others? Is it possible to keep up with the codes? Are young children vulnerable to online threats that they may be unaware of?

Personally I think that the internet is a safe way of accessing information and communicating. However it should always be done with caution and an awareness of the dangers. Part of me is glad that I didn’t have ‘internet access’ as a teen. I don’t know how wise I would have been.

Please pass this blog entry to people who you feel may benefit from a raised awareness. If you have any comments I am more than happy to hear them.

Related Articles

• Online chat ‘hitting school work’ (bbc.co.uk)

Children say it as it is…

Being a teacher is extremely rewarding. Watching children learn and develop from September to July is something I find very hard to explain. But, it’s the day-to-day ‘moments’ that make the job priceless. Children say the funniest things! They say it as it is. They don’t mince their words. I wish I’d written down more comments at the time…. But here are some things I have heard from my children over the last 10 years.

One of the ‘joys’ of teaching is losing your voice. I went into school one Friday still with a croaky voice and spoke with my Year 1 class.

Child: Guess what day it is tomorrow?

Me: A day for me to get better (referring to my lack of voice)

Child: Why?

Me: My voice and throat are not so well.

Child: (clearly thinking carefully) Well just copy my voice and then you’ll get a voice back again.

(If only life were that simple).

 

Register time took an interesting and unexpected turn one morning.

Child: (talking to me) Good morning Mr Nipples.

His friend: (turning to the first child) You can’t call the teacher Mr Nipples.

Me: Thank you….

Child: (answering his friend) Well… he has nipples,…… wears nipples…….

Me: Ok, let’s move on…..

(There’s no point in dwelling on a moment like this…especially when you want to laugh).

 

Listening in to children’s conversations…….

Child: Jesus is actually God’s son.

Friend: (looking pensive) Hmmm….but nobody knows.

(Rather deep and meaningful…)

 

Geography and History not a strong point.

5 year old boy: Venice was flooded a long time ago…. and it’s a true story. A lot of people died! But, now it’s not flooded anymore.

 

Out of the blue. A 6 year old girl came up to me with something important to tell.

Child: Do you know…….love is really powerful!

(I couldn’t put it better myself).

 

Another deep and meaningful chat…. How old are they? I thought they were Year 1.

Child: ………………if you go to heaven.

Friend: Yeah, but what about if you go to hell?

Child: Hmmmmm, but let’s just explore heaven.

Friend: But, every planet in the solar system has its own heaven.

(I wasn’t getting involved).

More to come in the near future…