schoolteacher – April Coker, Author

Fourth grade was a fun year. Mrs. Davis was my teacher but we switched clasrooms and teachers for Reading. Mrs. Reed was my reading teacher. I believe that was the first year we switched classes, except we had always done so for music and P.E., of course.

My fourth grade class picture. That’s me in the front row, second student from the right with the wonky red bow on my dress!

One of the fun things I remember about fourth grade was art. One project we did involved covering wire coat hangers with yarn. My first attempt involved red and white yarn and came out pretty messy, probably because I missed the first day of the project, so I had to catch up. Then I did another one in red and green, which turned out much nicer. I gave that one to my mother, I believe.

Another project we did was for Valentine’s Day. We decorated large heart-shaped pockets which the teacher hung on the front of our desks. On Valentine’s Day we dropped our classmates’ Valentines into the pockets on the desks. My mother always made sure we had enough Valentines to give one to every person in the class. I wish I had saved some of those cute vintage Valentines. Of course, I treasured some of them more than others, like the ones from my best friends or the boy I liked.

Speaking of boys, it was customary to pass a note to the one you were interested in with these words: “Will you go with me? Check yes or no.” If the person checked yes, then you were officially “going together.” Then you would chase each other on the playground and maybe even sneak in some handholding. Ah, fourth grade.

The infamous fourth grade school picture. Fortunately the years have made me kinder to this poor little girl. What were we thinking with that pixie haircut? Sheesh!

Do you have any memories of fourth grade? Do tell!

Stay tuned for Mrs. Reed’s “Brer Rabbit. . .”

XOXO

This short week before Thanksgiving holidays can be a nightmare for unsuspecting or unprepared schoolteachers. I know. I was one. No matter how well I had prepared my lessons or how good my intentions were, it was all for naught until I realized one fact. Whether I liked it or not, agreed with it or not, condoned it or not, students checked out at least one week prior to the holidays, maybe even earlier. In order to survive the pre-holiday party attitudes and behavior, I had to be smarter than my students, and that is no easy task.

I call today’s post TST: Teacher Survival Training. I am no expert, but I think during 30 years in public education I learned a few things. I will enumerate a few. . .

1) Do not introduce new material. If students are not receptive to reviews or activities reinforcing what you have already learned, they certainly won’t be receptive to learning new concepts. New material can wait for the day they return from the holidays.

2) Don’t throw away the rules. By this time of the year, you should be able to relax a bit, but don’t stray from your basic rules of class conduct, procedures, and expectations. You will only be providing a breeding ground for problems. I found this to be especially true with allowing students out of the classroom. Even if you aren’t “doing anything” students don’t need to be wandering the halls looking for trouble, even if they are only going to “check on a grade” or “see the nurse.”

3) Put a little holiday fun in your planned activities. High student energy can be channeled into games instead of misbehavior. The internet is a great place to look for holiday activities related to your subject matter. If nothing else, you can make or find a word search or crossword puzzle using your lesson’s vocabulary.

4) Give a test the day before the holiday break. I don’t like this one, but it does keep students quiet. The downside is that students usually don’t do well and you have to reteach and retest after the holidays. Also, if all the other teachers have the same idea, students will have a test in every class period.

5) Last, if you can’t fight ’em, join ’em. Let them have the class period to catch up on missed assignments, but prepare for noise. Just don’t call it a free day. Good teachers don’t give free days!

Good luck, and happy Thanksgiving!

XOXO