Teaching Tip: Lose the Textbook.

I truly believe something I don't know if anyone has said before. I think the textbook should just be for the teacher.

The pictures--we could share, the stories--we could read allowed, but the boring words are to give us a resource. Students learn best from being involved. Get the information and give it them them in a new way. Don't expect them to learn from reading the words on a page.

Lose the book, we don't need it. It doesn't make us smarter. Give us points, support ideas, make us think with higher order questions. And stop making us regurgitate what was an idea somewhere.

Instead make us challenge our own ideas, make us grow as students, make us become better learners. And lose the book. Find relevant data, find important information, use UP TO DATE information and Lose the book.

This day and age the world is at our fingertips. Share it with our community, bring it to the world we live in and make the students in our classes, engaged, inspired, motivated and passionate. Challenge them to step away from the books and into their brains.

Turn the light switch on inside their brain and close the book.

College: Online is all wrong.

This semester my family has done something remarkable. Every single person in my family is in college. I never thought I would see this day where everyone is pushing to learn more and make themselves smarter, more educated and better. Yet all 5 of us including:
-The newbie freshman at a state college who is pushing herself farther in college then she did most of her educational experience.
-My soon to be college graduate sister who is in her "victory lap" 4.5 year plan who has a passion for her private school that I haven't seen before.
-My full-time working mother who commutes 3-4 hours to work everyday plus works full-time (sometimes more) and is taking 2 fast-paced 8 week online classes through a pretty well known online private school that her company is supporting her with.
-My "senior" father at a local community college (who gets a discount woohoo!) looking to keep his sanity as well as push himself to learn new things and do something while he hunts for another job is taking an online business class.
-Myself, a full-time teacher who lives in another country and taking 2 graduate education classes both online at a private college.

There is no cookie cutter class where all the students learn the same way, all follow the same lessons, all have the same amount of time. Here we are a quite diverse group of individuals all going to college and 3 out of 5 of us are doing online classes and not one of us is satisfied.

Did you hear the record stop? That fact should throw you off a bit. Those of us paying the "big bucks" for college are actually not getting the education we are paying for.

As a teacher, I study HOW the teachers teach just as much as I study what is being taught. And I can tell you from the stories of my parents and from what I have "seen" in my classes. Most teachers do online classes wrong. We have seen the busy work, the dragged out lessons, the mind numbing copy and paste from the book, the dragged out readings, the pointless assignments, the stressful breakdown of the class, the professors that don't respond to our questions, the ones that don't get involved in the class, the classes that don't feel like people are in them, the ones that couldn't be more wrong.

Now, I won't say every experience we had this semester was a negative one. One of my ESL classes does everything almost perfect for keeping students interested, engaged and really keeping us involved and anxiety free. This made this semester an excellent, nerve-racking chance for me to understand what students need in an online class.

I am not a professor, I don't have a PhD and I don't need to know anything about the content to explain HOW to teach an online class.

10 Tips for Teaching Online from a Student AND Teacher Perspective:

1) Involve your students: They are in your class to learn. They chose this topic because it is one they hope to become better at. Let them enhance their lessons by adding in their experiences, by teaching them what matters to them. Ask questions they are interested in, let them answer their own questions. Let them explore something they could use.

2) Give feedback regularly: Show your students that you are on their side. That you support them, that you are there to help them, solve problems with them, and challenge them to look at it a different way. Don't put them down but lift them up. Make them better students.

3) Be available: The internet is everywhere. In this day and age, you need to be able to respond to emails, questions and ideas in a timely matter. Not everyone has every waking day to work on their class work and when they do have the time, they may have questions. You need to answer at the max within 2 days of the email.

4) Make your students better students: Tell your students how to get a better grade, don't just deduct points. Give your students resources if they are unclear about something. Google is just as powerful for the teacher as it is for the student. For example: if they don't know how to write a paper because they haven't had to in the last x years find an easy way to get them corrected. It will make both of you a little more confident and a little more sane.

5) Create a community: Teachers are not dictators. They don't get to parade around the class like nuns back in old Catholic classrooms. Classroom environments have changed since then and in online classes, students have the WORLD at their fingertips. Give them encouragement, give them praise, learn about who they are and support them. Allow them to talk to, vent to, complain to, and share with their fellow students.

6) Don't create learning robots: All my life education has been about regurgitating the information from a book. College shouldn't be that. College should be about higher order thinking questions, analysis, evaluation, experimentation. It shouldn't be about answering questions from the book but finding a way of making them useful.

7) Don't use hard books: Online classes are so heavy with reading it discourages every student. 65% of learners are visual. Use that to your advantage. Make the same powerpoints you would in a classroom and share them with your students. Ask higher order questions in them. Use resources that they can relate to. Find videos, draw pictures, do something hands on. And if you can't find the perfect resource: Create it. Youtube can be your friend.

8) Explain BEFORE assigning: New lessons should start slow, use scaffolding to your advantage. Explain the reason, show an example, walk us through it. Then let us practice and expand on our own. Don't just dump something on us that will lead us to a million questions. Be thorough with your work so when we are ready to work, we can do so without the stress.

9) Assign less: A couple higher order thinking questions a week is good enough. Give us the ability to expand what we learn. Challenge us but don't over burden us. You don't know what your students' home life is like and you want to make their lives better, not worse.

10) Allow students to help one another: The first discussion board in your class should be a question board. Let the students swap ideas, support each other, complain, vent, and most importantly grow.

As a student and a teacher, I shouldn't feel like without knowing the content. I could do a better job teaching the class then you. Students shouldn't feel like they are sinking, they should feel like they have floaties on the first few weeks and by the end they may not be masters but they learned how to take them off and dive in without a fear of sinking.

The students, my sisters, my mother, my father and myself, and the countless others in your class should NOT be punished or turned off by education. We shouldn't miss out on the education, the connections of classmates and teachers, the resources of the internet world and the methods of teaching ourselves. We pay way too much money to not get the best education that life has to offer.

(If you don't like that I am speaking from experiences and would like to hear it from the professionals here is another article at your disposal. http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html)

Sweet Perks to a Sweet Job

The prompt: Mystery Cookie
One Day you come into work and find a cookie mysteriously placed on your desk. Grateful
to whoever left this anonymous cookie, you eat it. The next morning you come in and find
another cookie. This continues for months until one Day a different object is left—and this
time there’s a note....

"OOOOOh!" Suzy says, "Looks like somebody has a secret admirer." 

"Maybe," I reply as I bite into another delicious mouthful of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. "Or maybe Santa is treating me to some early Christmas gifts." 

For the past week someone has been sneaking over to my desk when I am not there and leaving me a cookie. My class of Kindergarteners won't admit it and they aren't too great at telling lies yet... or so I thought.

Who could it be? And why are they doing it?

Days and days go by and the cookies keep coming, different times, different kinds, different ways. Each made fresh and each tasting just as delicious. 

By the second week, my mouth watered for the sweetness I craved. I asked teacher after teacher if they knew who it was? Was someone playing a joke? Did someone had a crush? Someone that bakes this good, could sweep me off my feet in no time... maybe.

As a teacher, you are told to not eat the random foods that make their way to your desk, but playing and learning with 37 Kindergarteners, a little pick-me-up goes a long way. And one as good as this, goes even farther. 

After 30 days (And 30 perfect cookies) I began to think the cookies would keep coming. If someone is going to keep it up for a month, maybe it will last a lifetime. As I bit into yet another bite of the mouthwatering snickerdoodle. I froze.

In the middle of the cookie... was a note. I quickly withdrew my teeth from the paper and stared down at it. "Meet at the flagpole, 5 o'clock" was all that was written on it in a coarse, dark handwriting.

...Well, this was odd, I thought. Throughout the afternoon, I couldn't help but flipping decisions. Do I go? Do I go home? I mean I might as well say thanks? 

I questioned myself all day. I had to go, but maybe I needed to bring someone. By then it would be dark? Did they pick that time on purpose? 

How was I supposed to know it was them? Like, that was a logical question. How many people did I think would hang around an elementary school's flag pole over 2 hours after school let out. 

Then right before the dismissal bell rang, I turned back towards my desk and on it, I saw a magic 8 ball. Figured, right?

So as I dismissed the children and let them run home to their loved ones. I quickly grabbed up the ball and asked it if I go to the flagpole.

"Without a doubt" it tumbled back to me. I had decided, through the help of a "magic" 8 ball that I would go meet the "secret admirer" that has been leaving me cookies for a month. 

As 5 oclock leared closer. I turned off my computer, reached for my bag and turned off the lights. I headed in the dark of the fall night to the flagpole and waited nervously to see who would appear.

All of a sudden, I heard a branch snap beneath someone's feet behind me. I froze and as my heart began to beat a little more back to normal, I turned slowly around. 

In front of me, was a 6th grade student, smiling ear to ear. 

"How'd ya like my cookies, Miss P?" Cody asked. I was shocked. How could this student be so sneaky? And why?

"They were the best part of my day, Mr. Cody. Where did you get them from?" I asked still in disbelief.

"I made them. After that time we made cookie dough in your class, I have been making cookies every week. That was years ago. I wanted to share what I could do with you. Besides, mom wanted me to stop leaving them around the house. So I thought I'd share my passion with the one who made it so."

"Wow Cody. They were marvelous! I can't believe you made them all by yourself. Why'd you leave the 8 ball?" 

"Oh! That's where I left it! I meant to borrow it to Troy today. Do'ya think I can get it from you tomorrow, Mrs. P?" 

"Absolutely, Mr. Cody. Oh, and Mr. Cody? Continue baking and keep pushing yourself. You have quite the talent. Thank you for sharing it with me." 

"No, thank you Mrs. P." Cody said as he slinked back away towards his home. 

I sat down laughing at myself for the fear I had after the note. Cody was always a sweet kid, though a bit on the shy side. He always worked really hard and made sure he pushed himself even farther. He always wanted to be the best and I am glad that at such an early age, he had found it. Teachers may not make the millions they should, but we sure get some pretty sweet rewards. 

Third Times a Passion

 

Wow. Of all days, this is not what I needed. Who would have thought I'd have been alone today. Today of all days. I don't know what I was thinking, thinking I'd be okay. I am not. I miss her. What if she was the one? She couldn't be, could she?

And there she is. 

He saw her walk into the little italian restaurant cool and calm. Collected. Like this day meant nothing to her. It meant everything to her once...

Once was so long ago. Back when they were so young and naive. Thinking that love not only changed the world but could save it. It couldn't even save them...

Not from the fighting, the heartbreak, the constant threat of explosion and sacrifice. I sacrificed so much to brighten our love. I barely made it out alive...

And yet, at this moment, he didn't feel so alive. He watched her from the corner of her eye. Stalking her, wondering. Who was she here with? Here? Today?

He straightened up, took a deep breath. What if she saw me? What do we say? How did we both end up here today... just like all those years ago.

10 years ago, they had met at this exact place, on this exact day maybe at this time.

Daniel has been dreading this day for months. Every year this day just brings unmanageable amount of gloom on his life. This one being one of the worst yet, he imagined.

Lately he found that he couldn't stop thinking about her, about the time they shared. Sure, they argued and fought but they were passionate and eccentric. They were growing and growing up. They could be whoever they wanted, do whatever they wanted. But sometimes it felt like all they wanted to do was feed the fire.

But it wasn't always that bad. Like 10 years ago today. They were set up on a blind date. Not knowing what to expect, not sure of how protocol really worked. They met up here. He showed up first. Flustered and not really in control. He thought She sure sounded pretty on the phone. This is a horrible mistake.

Yet he waited. Waited for the chance to see her, to see how it would go. Would they laugh? Would it be awkward?

Kaylan walked in moments later. Cool, calm, collected. Just like she was today. Exactly like she was today. She didn't look quite as frazzled as he was. And boy, she was stunning. Her hair shone like an auburn sunset and her lips, the parting sun. Her eyes, he recalled. Her eyes seemed to reach into his soul and search the wonders of the universe all with the same blink. Their dark green glint and light emerald charm was mesmerizing. And that smile. That smile looked mysteriously devilish and yet something inside him awakened.

 I never knew what I was in for. The night started out slow. I learned everything I ever needed to learn about her that day. He saw her for who she was. Asking her what her favorite color was, where she grew up, what her family was like. But I learned so much more. Like the way Kay laughed when she was nervous, moved her hair while she thought, and the way her passion roared like fire. As if helping others was the only thing that mattered.

Yet, she could never help me. Boy, did she think she had to try.

Within a week, they were attached at the hip. Soaking up every moment they could. Every thought they could have, they shared. They were inseparable. And they had intense chemistry. No matter what she looked like, she always found a way to sizzle his nerves, smoke his senses and ignite a part of him that craved such an awakening. He constantly fantasized about the way she walked, the way she moved, and the way she always left him aching for more. 

We weren't just passionate like fire, we seemed to create it. He always knew he did the same for her. The way she would drop everything at the drop of a call, make things easier so he never had to do a thing. He had the world by the balls. And no one was going to change that. The man in control of the fire, controlled the world. 

He always felt a need for easy power but he was never one to push himself too hard. He lived a fine life, never went too far but he was caring, he was generous, he was true. Yet Kay found Daniel's hazel eyes enchanting and his smirk inspiring. His wispy, spiky hair was sexy and he could make her tremble with a touch of his finger. The same finger he controlled her by.

Yet somehow the fire died, he reminded himself. We both believed so much in the magic power of love, that we stopped believing in each other... He thought.

We killed the fire. Somewhere along the shared memories and hopeless dreams, we broke each other. She always wanted to solve me, fix me, make me more. I never let her "fix" me. I mean, I wasn't broken was I? I wasn't just some toy that she could glue back together or some sand she could turn into a castle with the touch of her hands. I was a man, a man with nothing to lose.

And I acted like it. I pinched every nerve that she ever showed me. She nagged and complained and I ate it up. I chewed her out. I wanted to show her just how passionate I could be, just how wild I could be, how powerful I was without her help. I wanted to engulf her, make her feel shackled to me. For years, I had her wrapped around my finger, my single fancy her greatest goal. But day after day, I noticed her eyes diminish. Her smile became damaged. Her spirit broken. She couldn't handle my power. She wasn't as passionate, as wild as encompassing as the fire we had become. I. Had. Become. Because. I. Had. Nothing. To. Lose....So I left her.
That same day 5 years later, she showed up to meet Daniel at the same restaurant they were at today, in the same place at nearly the same time. And this time, he never showed.

Days later, the impossible happened. She approached me with that old smile and new frosted over eyes. I thought she had returned the woman she was always supposed to be with me. 

But she told him otherwise. She told me she was sick of the fighting, sick of the pushing. She wanted more. More out of me. More out of the man I could be. She wanted to see the fire in my belly not just in my words. She wanted my dedication to move mountains and my passion to change the world. She knew hers would but only if she stopped today. She needed someone...

Different. But would she feel the same today? He looked back at her. A drink in her hand, giggling at her phone. He sensed she was nervously excited. He thought of approaching, offering his smile, turning on his charm. Why was she here?

Must be a date. At that thought, a man walked in, crisp jacket, airy hair, devilish smile. I could never have been that man. The man seemed to be everything Kay ever wanted and as soon as the wine showed up, he recognized the moment, he was witnessing. The man clinked his glass. The noisy room simmered and whispered. 

I froze. I couldn't leave and let her notice. I couldn't stay and watch but I knew what was happening. I looked down, spinning my pasta on my fork like it was the only thing that mattered in the entire world. But I heard. The man talked about a woman the world wouldn't survive without, a woman that changed his world and the world around them. A woman that not only cared more about others than she ever could about herself but made that care contagious and this man was incurably infected. The man got down on one knee and asked Kay those 4 words Daniel always dreamed would fall off his tongue.

Daniel left the restaurant, hands in his pockets, heart re-shattered. 

I never turned into the man she dreamed I could be, the one sitting across from her holding her hand, sharing such a moment of happiness. I never moved mountains and I can't. 

The only passion I ever had, I met on a frightening Valentine's Day 10 years ago. And fight after fight. Singular triumph after triumph, I broke her. I extinguished her smile, I froze her smile, I broke her heart. 

But I know that love we shared moved mountains in my world, that love changed my world. And as frightening as that Valentine's Day was all those years ago, this one was suffocating. As he leaned against the back of the building, another tear fell down his cheek, and he knew.

He knew all those years ago he should have done more, could have done more. He couldn't blame her. It was always him. He could have been that man across from her. He could have helped her move mountains but not now. We didn't extinguish the fire, I did.

Now she was just the one he let get away. Once a fire is drenched, it can never reignite.

Day 2:
The One That Got Away

The breakup of the month

 

Dear Writer’s Block, 

It’s not you, it’s me. I know the time we have spent together, we have had some fun relaxing but now we really must be saying goodbye. Oh I know, I know what you are thinking “Don’t worry she will be back. They always come back” but this time I think its time for us to say goodbye. Goodbye to the evenings where I stumble along on Facebook wasting hours of thinking time. Goodbye to the days of unnecessary stress and over thinking dilemmas. Goodbye to the moments we have shared when we have gotten nothing accomplished. I know in the day there is more time that can be used than you have given me and in the past it has been to easy to fall into your embrace. 

But it is time for me to go, to move on, to be the better person, the bigger person, the stronger person. It is time for me to say goodbye to those empty and forgettable yesterdays and make a notable tomorrow. I have too many dreams and too many wasted talents with you in the way blocking my every move. I know the lazy afternoons we shared will be cherished and the forgettable moments looked at as necessary relaxation. But in reality, it was a virus that you have spread through my being stealing my motivation, stalling my creativity and rotting my brain. 

Writer’s Block, I have heard all the lines before. “It will change,” “It is necessary” but in the end which of us has been full of the lies. Who is holding whom back? “You need me,” I only need myself. “I will die without you”: some things are better that way. I know I will hurt your memory of me and I know that there will be tomorrows that I will fight to stay out of your grasp but remember that as a writer I have the creativity to silence your voice, pause your video and erase your mark on my soul. So goodbye Writer’s Block. May you find happiness with another unfortunate soul. 

Farewell,

Ashley

I am not a dependent.

I have talked to a few of my friends that aren't military and aren't quite wives. If wives are the silent ranks then we are the mute. We get no word, we get no benefits, we have no community.

I live right outside of a military base in Japan. Jobs explain that even though I am an American citizen, I can't get above a $7.25 job because I am not a dependent. If I moved on my own and I made my own sacrifices. You would think someone would cut me a break?

Like the wives. Who could be more open arms then the people that I am in the same boat as, right? We have done the same thing. I have been through deployments and being 9,000+ miles away for almost half of the time I have been with him. I have faced the hardships of long distance and the hardships of being alone. I have had the "I don't want to get out of bed" days and "all I really want is a hug right now" moments, just like them. But even to them, I don't count.

To them, I am a temporary fix. I don't need to get involved on base, I don't need to understand the dynamics of their club. That's what the silent ranks feel like, a club. A secret girls only club that I am not allowed in. YET, in my eyes I should qualify. I don't get an oombudsman, I don't get to join the classes, I don't get to go to Navy Spouse dinners and parties.

I don't count among the base, I don't count among the community. Not as a girlfriend or even as a fiance. I am nothing without becoming a dependent.

So what are my tips for women in my shoes? Women that so desperately want someone to talk to, someone to get close to?

--Get a job. Get out there and talk to the people you work with. I am a preschool teacher off base and talking to the moms is easy. If I wanted to I could probably get an invite. If I am good enough for their children, I am good enough for on base.

--Make friends at the gym or at work or at the NEX or BX. Find people that share your interests and they quickly look over the fact you are supposed to be a mute.

--Find people like yourself. Network yourself. I now have 3 friends that are fiances and girlfriends. People that have moved and did what they can to be with the loves of their lives.

--Facebook. Recently now, there is a group growing at my station called "Ladies with no babies", now the juristiction isn't wife but people that share common interests and want to have fun.

--Message me. No matter where you are or who you are. I am always an ear to listen and a heart to understand.

A trip of a lifetime

My year out here has been eye opening you could say. I spent days working and losing myself in a place that has, in so many ways tried to get me to open my eyes.

This country doesn't believe in working to death, instead it wants you to stop and smell the flowers. Take a second to reflect and grow and always look for a better tomorrow.

Japan has taught me to live in the moment and do only what I would want returned. Lessons, you have all heard once before but in the land where niceties are meant, and people don't know how to be mean, you get a new interpretation for what those words really mean.

I would love to say that I feel out of place, like this here isn't my home. But it is. I have friends I can count on, a job that I love (and sometimes hate) and a relationship that is showing me how two very different people, in very different lives can mesh in a way they become one.

No matter where I go, I am home becuase those that I care about, aren't ever far behind and those I want to meet are never too much farther ahead. <3

The Power of the Mask

 

Your broken heart is glowing 

on a pedestal for all to judge and rattle. 

When all you want to do is find 

a dark corner and hide your bitter thoughts 

away. But that light is ever chasing and

those pedestals reach out to grab you. 

You are trapped.

You slink away and keep your head down 

below the the ground floor, the lurking and 

creeping bring new sets of suspicion onto you. They 

watch you, they follow you, they wait to understand and 

absorb you. No broken heart is left alone and 

for some that's all they crave. 

Your insides turn to mush with surrender on the tip 

of your tongue. In spite, you twist and turn to break free of this 

curse for the happy damning the rest. You'd rather stand in 

the black, lost in the wind then be ridiculed for 

following uncertain truths. 

Pay up to replace those tear stained cheeks and 

sagging lips. Instead, cover yourself with a 

mask of happy thoughts and cheery souls. 

The price for deceit is of personal 

importance for some it results in tragedy, 

for you it quenches your thirst. 

You can run among the hidden ranks and 

soar among the level minded. You join in the joy 

with a damper on your chest, that sounds more 

like a child's first race across the ocean. 

Your the glow of the party, where the 

fun never ends and you always hold on 

for one last rush of fresh air behind a mask, 

that keeps holding you together.

But sulking alone, you hear the 

howling of the pedestal you can't shake,

memories flood back of the terror before and 

that mask that held you together just hours before is now 

threatening to never release. It follows your nightmares and 

squeezes every ounce of the joy and misery out. 

That mask has made you into the clown and 

breaking free is the same punishment as 

letting go. 

School vs. Life Lessons

 

"I don't send messages. I try to tell good stories. But if you like a book and it is well written, you usually learn a couple of things. Good books reflect the human experience and we all learn from that."

I want to teach lessons. More than just on the surface. I don't want to just change the way a school looks or how a 5 year old says the letter L. I want to do more than just teach beginning reading and basic math. I want to open children's eyes and see the world as they see it. I want to ask questions with no answers and listen to everyone's answer. I want to find answers for myself. 

I want to help everyone person be a better person, a stronger person, a happier person and I want to challenge them to do that. 

One day, I hope that is my job too. 

Strength is up to you.

This past year has been eye opening for me. I have always been one to push the bill a little farther than most would but this year i think I have pushed as far as I will go. Moving to Japan has been a wonderful experience and I wouldn't change it for the world. I have grown from this experience and I have found the people that matter in my life and the ones that don't.

But more than anything, I have seen what I am capable of. It is easy for me to get lost in the day to day routine of being a functioning real person with a real person job (or as close as I can get out here). I have seen my dedication go past my expectations, I have seen my passion shine through when I expected it to falter. I don't give up and I work HARD. I am proud of myself for that.

I have found so many parts of myself in this past year. I have tried myself and pushed myself. I have grown and I have withered. I am a different person then the person I was a year ago and most of me is okay with that.

I still have plenty of changes to make and ways to become even better, but I am glad to see the changes I have made and to know I am stronger than I knew was even possible.

My next mission is to bring me back some me time, I have lost so much of it lately. I need some Ashley time away from the Facebook, the funny pictures and silly face, away from the people that matter and those that really don't. I need some time to sit back, relax and reflect on life. 

Before and After

In August I wrote an article after my first week of working at my preschool. I saw a lot of changes that needed to happen and some of the changes I wanted to effect. I wanted to look into how many of those I made happen to date:

Things I would like to continue to improve:
More books (Ironically enough we needed less books not more books, we had a lot of books but they weren't effect in their display. The children were using them to make a mess rather than pick them up and read. I moved the books to buckets and then proceded to make a library where it became exciting to read books.
A more up to date (preferably technology involved) calendar (The calendar I ended up with wasn't technology based but I was able to make it mimic the pattern and colors of that month so that became very effective. 
Newsletters (Once a month I sent a newsletter home and letters home (good, bad and informational) when needed)
Hands on learning (We try to do lots of hands on learning or tactile learning. We make crafts, practice our manners, practice our school rules, work on our letters in sign language and our numbers on our fingers, we even sing songs with different movement and beginner sign language.)
Parent involvement activities (We did a few of these. Mainly for holidays, I wanted parents to feel welcome in the classroom. We will be having a graduation ceremony June 3rd as well.) 
School assemblies (I think I meant field trip like things here. We went on a couple field trips (aka went to the first floor and watched some shows), our school is not open Saturdays, but some Saturdays we have different programs we put on like magicians, egg hunts, etc
Classroom rules, playground rules etc. (with visuals) (It took me a while to get this one accurate, I had a few rules I bought in the states, and I just got a lot more. I wanted not only rules but behavior and manners etc. This has yet to make a big impact, but it is better than it was before.)
Positive reinforcement (This is my big thing. I am very positive at school except in those instances I can't be. I can bounce right back to being positive however. Some of my teachers need ot work on this a lot. THey seem to always nag the students, this will be changing in the next month)
Art projects (This was one of the first things I changed. I wanted parents to see their kids create things and accomplish things they could be proud of .Worksheets are a bit too boring to do every day.) 
Teaching writing (We teach how to write names and letters, I am starting my Kindergarten Readiness class on beginning reading and CVC words)
More musical involvement (This we are doing well at and starting to get even better. We have some decent cds with some great movement songs, also we are incorporating KinderJam into the program as well.)
Less paperwork at one time (I got rid of worksheets for a LONG time, and did mostly just art projects. Slowly I brought worksheets back, we may do one or two a week. Nothing like the 6 they were doing a day)
Movement activities (With KinderJam, plus the different gross and fine motor skills and games, this has increased wonderfully. We no longer climb on equipment and we follow the rules on how to act, how to run etc)
Themes-monthly and weekly (I decided on bi-weekly and for the summer we are going to have 2 pretty intense themes. I am trying to push my students a little farther than we have been so we don't get too comfortable. I think that may be some of the reasons some of my students are acting out.)
Guided lessons (I am working on making this even better, we do this a bit now. But my teachers are more repetitive then exciting.)
Creative lessons (I love this! We are doing so much more for the students and pushing them to be better students and stronger thinkers)
Bathroom breaks (After snacks and lunch we go to the bathroom. With only 2 kids bathrooms in our facility (one boys, one girls) it is hard to have bathroom breaks without losing kids attention. If kids gotta go, they gotta go)

Things I would like to look into: 
Teacher's backgrounds (My teachers and I have made goals and are working on strengthening our teaching skills. I am pretty impressed at this and it helps me know where they feel strong and where they feel weaker)
Prices (I have had a few impacts on this some to better students, some to better the company)
New curriculum. (Thank GOD I did this)
Book selection we do have (I would like to arrange these eventually by theme so we can rotate them. BUT with how these books barely survive these kids, it may just be easier to let survive of the fittest handle that)
Money allotments we could use (I got some petty cash, not much, and have made things work to my benefit in some ways.)
Teacher meetings (weekly?) monthly, and by the teachers job title, not all together.
Spelling? CVC and Sight words, this part is seriously brand new. like maybe a month max we have started this.
New teacher problems? Getting the new teachers to the same level of my old teachers is a struggle. But one I can take on. For now, i need to get my teachers to focus on all students, handle their own problems and be MORE positive.)

Things I like:
Lots of children interactions
Lots of play-time
Good time-out structure edited this still and might change it some more.
Lots of learning activities
Flexible schedules
Amount of rules for teachers Kept this, didnt realize most of my teachers have never taught a day in their lives. In Japan they don't do babysitters, so they haven't even done that.
Teachers and staff willing to learn new ways
Wanting the children to succeed
Works with children in English

The Schedule they have:
7-8 movie
8-9 play time
9-915 welcome time
915-11 school time (calendar, weather, letter, shape and color)
11-1145 lunch
1145-1230 playtime
1230-1 story time
1-230 nap time

A Schedule I'm playing with:
7-8 table time/centers
8-815 bathroom break
815-830 welcome time (calendar, sharing, colors)
830-915 playtime
915-945 school time (number and letter)
945-10 bathroom break
10-1030 story time (theme based)
1030-11 art time
11-1145 lunch (following lunch silent reading time)
1145-12 bathroom break
12-1230 playtime/centers (every other day)
1230-1 story time (naptime based)
1-230 nap-time
Totally edited this as well. But it looks pretty good. We have 1/2 hour increments and a good selection of activities. 

The Changes A Year Makes

From this:

In August, my school was a bit atrocious. The only learning that was implemented, was worksheets that were handed to the kids WITHOUT explanation  The kids MIGHT try to write their name. The rest of it was scribbling.

Since I walked into the mad-house I have done a lot to change the course of the school.

The first thing I did was take over the classroom, I wanted themes to be taught and lessons to be learned. I wanted the kids to walk away learning about the world they live in and going home excited about what they were learning about. My preschool didn't do that before.

I started different kits to teach with different lessons. We did a lot of trial and error. What I have learned about projects is that you need something that is easy to prepare and easy to enjoy. Something that adds onto the conversation you are having with the kids.

BUT thats the main part, that conversation. It doesn't matter what you are talking about or how you are talking about it. You have to show your passion and excitement for learning. You have to get into it and get crazy.

By all means I am a reading and writing learner. I am not visual, I am not hearing and I am definitely not kinestetic. So I learned a lot this year about how to adapt who I am into a person that can teach the others. With the little ones the focus has to be visual and kinesthetic and it HAS TO BE FUN.

My preschool focuses on 3 colors, 3 letters, a shape, number and pattern every month plus 2 themes. we practice cutting, coloring, writing our name and we were content. I am working on adding even more to that currently. Now I am starting learning centers like skip counting, shape recognition, name practice, fine motor movements, gross motor movements, backwards counting, letter sound recognition, CVC words, sight words and more. I want kids to walk away from my school with their head exploding with knowledge.

It may be hard for my teachers to make this happen but it will be happening.

Furthermore, I finally have a school I am excited to show people. I have changed the look and continue to do so often. We have a playground with some toys and centers with more toys, a library full of books (WITH a wonderful reading mat). We have a writing/craft station and a playdoh section. It is nice to see the kids excited to interact and work together. It is nice to watch them grow and challenge each other. I now have motivational posters, cute stories on the walls, cute pictures. We talk about how to behave, how to listen, the different kinds of smarts, how to be nice, and so much more. My school looks like a school and a place that is a positive environment for every child. It makes me proud.

The change I am currently on a high over is my classroom management. I have taken kids that bite, hit and scream on a regular basis and found a way to SHOW them their levels. My behavior chart is color coded and includes plenty of chances that kids at this age need. We have good news letters that go home, and bad news letters that can too. With the visual, my kids are seeing a big change. My "troubled" kids have turned around in only a week. They despise getting a note home for the wrong reasons and now that they know which level that is at and how to get there, they work on staying out of it. It is wonderful watching them monitor themselves and seeing how great of a day they are having. :) Plus it is wonderful for the parents to SEE how their kids are doing. It keeps the kids attention on the chart as well.

Fridays when I entered were movie day, which was a wonderful break on the teachers. But it was still difficult to get the kids to sit and watch a movie. We have revamped that entirely. Now, we have Japanese class, and KinderJam every other Friday. KinderJam (something I am now licensed to provide) is a kinestethic learning class. It is a great way to get involved and get kids up and moving while learning. I see it as a wonderful way to enrich the education and review it. I see this going particularly well with my little ones especially (who can't sit still for a second). Then Japanese class is a great way to help my Japanese students feel like the leader of the class that they normally struggle in PLUS helps my American students take the time and focus on where they are and the customs, holidays, songs and stories of this culture that we are on top of.

I am constantly looking for more and more changes with the students and with the school. My next challenge is my teachers. I want to make them the best at what they do. When I go on vacation I want to not worry and keep them at the top of their game. Some days when I am gone, I am amazed the place hasn't literally burned down in the measly 6 hours I am not there. My goal is to be more confident in my teachers. I want them more positive, more understanding, and more passionate. I will create this in my teachers and it will show before I am done with it.

I also need to work on challenging my teachers. I need to make sure they are doing their job. My focus is on the kids and on the education. And I need to start becoming a better manager of my workers. I need to push them for their best in a positive but effective way.

To This:

Updated Bucket List--So far in Japan

Here is my list (for now! I got most of the ideas from (http://thejapanbucketlist.wordpress.com/) Doesn't mean I don't want to partake!

1. See Shinjuku Gyoen. Get lost in nature.
2. Go to an Art Museum.
3. Try clothes on in Japan (Just how small can they be?) Trust me they are small. Though I still want a kimono.
4. Make Sushi, ramen and/or fried rice
5. Go to a waterpark. I don't know if any of you would qualify it as a waterpark. But hey a pool is better than no pool.
6. Go to Tokyo Disneyland
7. Climb to the top of Mt. Fuji.
8. Sing in a karaoke bar! (Wow! So different than America!!! I will write about that!)
9. Do ‘hanami’ (cherry blossom viewing) while in Japan. (Just this past weekend. Pictures to come!)
10. Stay in a ryokan. (Komaki onsen was beautiful and where I got proposed to!)
11. Visit the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
12. Go up the Tokyo Tower.
13. Go to a local izakaya. (love north 40/40! I think this counts?)
14. Participate in Aomori’s Neputa festival.
15. Visit the Sannai Maruyama site in Aomori.
16. Visit Gappo Park in Aomori.
17. Go up APSAM in Aomori and take an awesome photo of the skyline!
18. Get photos of the cosplayers on Harajuku Bridge.
19. Visit Kabukicho (Tokyo’s red light district).
20. Buy a yukata or kimono.
21. Ride the Yamanote line.
22. Explore Tokyo Narita Airport.
23. Find a really, really interesting toilet.
24. Get a photo in the cherry blossoms. (I swear I will update with this)
25. Drink Sake.
26. Drink Chu-Hi.
27. Buy/rent a bicycle
28. Visit Aomori.
29. Visit Hachinohe.
30. Visit Towada  (But I still wanna go to the lake)
31. Visit Sapporo, land of the beers.
32. Make a lasting friend. (Miss Kazue!!! :) ).
33. Befriend the wildlife. (No, no thank you crowzillas, you win this round)
34. Teach a lesson. OR A MILLION! :)
35. Ring a shrine bell and pray. (There is a right and wrong way to do this, so I haven't done this yet) 
36. Try a weird flavour of Kit-Kat. (I hear there’s lemonade, watermelon, green tea)
37. Participate in a tea ceremony.
38. Visit Meiji Shrine.
39. Visit a cat cafe
40. Go to a Pokemon Center!
41. Go to Universal Studios.
42. Ride a shinkansen (bullet train).
43. Play Pachinko.
44. Learn how to drive out here.
45. Get a job so I can stay longer and accomplish all of these things.
46. Try all sorts of weird foods
47. Try Japanese Ramen (my favorite!!!)
48. Get in better shape.
49. Go to Sapporo Festival
50. Go to the Nebuta Festival
51. Go to Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival
52. Watch a Japanese Baseball game.
53. Go to the Misawa Festivals
54. Go to the Summer Sonic
55. Go to Star Tours and Disney Sea

Looking at my list I feel REALLY accomplished for the 11 months I have been here I have done 32 of the 55 things I want to do :) And I have at least a year left :) Sounds possible :)
   56. Try to get to Australia at some point :) 

Running from the silence

I miss writing. This used to be my outlet. Everything could be turned into a poem, a song, a feeling, a story. Every object in the house, every person you see walk by, every natural disaster and common emotion had a story that was on the tip of my tongue and needed to fall out.

Lately, I hold those feelings back, not because I don't want them, not because I can't have them. But because I don't allow myself the time to think about them. That is going to change. I miss the feeling of writing and knowing that I captured an absolute truth about something very few have seen. Knowing I have portrayed something that could be life changing, irreversible and un-describable.

Today that changes. Today I begin again to carry notebooks for random fumings and a piece of paper with a random concept. Today is the day I bring back my passion and my meaning in life. I go back to my quotes and find the stories lost inside them. Today is the day I remind myself that the reason we speak, the reason I exist is to bring the ordinary its fifteen minutes at extraordinary.

What changes your life?

Backstory.

"What made you become a police detective?" A student asked for their newspaper interview.
Keira thought back through her life. She was born in Baltimore by a not so nice and clean father and an all too forgiving mother. The mother knew the signs, she saw what could happen at the hospital she was a nurse at. Yet, her mother always stayed with her father, despite what that meant for Keira and her sister.
But one day things changed.

When Keira was 8, her mother took her and her younger sister, Riley, to the park. Keira fell after trying to be an acrobat on the junglegym and hit her arm on the way down. She was a pretty bruised up child and she began to bleed profusely. Her mother, knowing when to intervene and when to shake it off, grabbed Keira and told Riley to stay in sight. As Kalena Haven applied first aid in the car, Riley was busy playing and laughing and kicking the ball around. One time she hit the ball just a bit too far and went to grab it behind a tree... and the laughter, the kicking, everything was gone.

Keira's mom ran around the entire park looking for Riley, she called for her and Keira cried and searched as well. Kalena called Joshua, Keira's father, and explained what happened. She explained that she thought Riley was kidnapped. They called the cops, they did everything they could to get Riley back but they went mad with worry.

The police had no leads since both Kalena and Keira saw nothing. Keira focused on the laugh, she heard it in her dreams as she cried herself to sleep. Kalena focused on her work, she would be gone for days, hoping that one day she would come home and everything would be back to normal, Riley would be at home laughing and playing again.

Joshua refused to give up the search. He had been without a job for as long as Keira remembered, but after Riley disappeared, he lost himself in the paperwork and doing whatever he could to hunt her down while shooting up and pouring down the alcohol. It drove him and he followed every corner, every curve, every hunch. He ignored his wife and Keira. They were nonexistant to him after Riley. Keira never understood that, she was always daddy's favorite but then he wouldn't talk to her. Riley was all that mattered.

One day, 6 months later on Keira's 9th birthday, Kalena and Keira were baking a cake. Enjoying the day, not bringing up all who they missed, who they they lost. Joshua wasn't around, as he normally wasn't anymore. He was too busy looking into a new curve and found a very secure lead on the investigation. He called the police, he made them not give up as long as he didn't.

The lead he gave on Keira's birthday, brought home the best birthday gift Keira could have asked for. Her sister. Riley ran in, laughing and crying, hugging and holding her sister. "Happy Birthday" she choked over. Joshua looked smug, he found the missing link, he brought his family back together.

And he wasn't going to tear it back apart. He gave Riley the best gift he could give her to welcome home. He sobered, he cleaned up, and he became an inspirational story for people just like him around the world. He wrote a book, he spoke at conferences and he lived the rest of his life clean. He changed his life and devoted his time to researching new methodologies of a saving people as well as volunteering his free time to help the police.

Keira never knew what to think about her father before the change. it was like he was a different man. She learned that year that bad things can happen and good can come from it. But she believes that justice should be served. Following her fathers newer developed passion, she would join her father's volunteering with the police and followed in his footsteps. She went to college for behavioral psychology and criminal profiling and became a police detective to help find people just like those that captured her sister.

Riley ended up following her mothers passions of medicine. She became a special needs psychologist and helped those that have disheartened ideas and need to be brought back to reality. At times, her past affects her but she focuses on the positives and fights through the fact she has survived the worst already and her life was saved for a reason. Keira's mom, Kalena, later became an EMT and saved lives just like she wished she would have for her daughter.

Keira watched her entirely broken family turn into a family devoted to true happiness all because one of the most horrible thing happened to them and they found a way to turn it positive. 

God gave us words and it's our job to put wings on them.

What is the meaning of words? Why have them? Why communicate? Why share? 

I believe the answer is simple. Words exist to help us all learn the lessons we are meant to learn. They are around to answer the questions we need answered. They challenge the world we believe in and teach us how to transform ourselves. Why sit idly and foolishly talk small chatter? Why talk about the weather, why talk about your day? It becomes background noise and a chore. 

But from time to time you have the opportunity to grow through the conversations you have. They arent there to answer today's questions but to make sure you don't have the same one tomorrow. Words are a way to solve life's biggest problems and challenge everything you thought you knew. Words encourage your brain to dive deeper into concepts and teach you how to soar through reality. 

I challenge each of you to explore one deep thought at least once a day. Don't just ignore the question your brain is thinking but ask it, out loud to another person. That conversation will be the one you walk away from refreshed, renewed and refined. 

And if you both partake in this conversation as fully as you can, you will walk away with a new concept that you both didn't know the world had in order and one that you didn't know would change the way you viewed it. 

Holidays In Japan

Our holidays are thought to be so foreign to other countries. Some are. Some aren't.

Thanksgiving isn;t big (for obvious reasons) in Japan. However some do get the holiday off to give thanks. They don't have turkey. The only ham they have in japan is the sliced version for sandwiches. So bringing the ham was a shock to them. But they enjoyed it more than most things I think.

Christmas is bigger than I expected in Japan or at least our heavily influenced area of Japan. At my Japanese and American Preschool all of the Japanese came to school with Christmas gifts and new toys. One of my American friends asked if it was Annual Gift Man that dropped off the toys. It wasn't. It was Santa.

About 10% of the country believes in Christianity. But what is interesting about religion out here is that a lot of it is intertwined with each other. Its normal to have a Christian wedding, a Buddhist Funeral and celebrate Chinese New Year (This year is the year of the Snake coming up FYI)

New Year is a week long festivity. Full of cleaning every speck of dust out of your house and then spending your time with family and friends. They believe whatever you do that first week will pave the road for how your next year will follow. They have little tricks (much like the ones I found out we do. My family doesn't do much for New Years) They leave a bowl of fruit that they don't touch for 3 days. It means they will be bountiful with food the next year. They go to the temple for New Years and ring it in with a prayer and a wish. And other things like that. I think its something Americans should celebrate in line with (and its not JUST because I want a week off lol)

The Japanese I talk to have NEVER heard of groundhogs day (and I found out the groundhog doesn't see his own shadow. He sees Jack Frosts shadow.) So it was fun teaching them about that one.

February 3rd is Setsubun. It is a holiday like another New Years where you wish for bad spirits to stay out and for good luck to enter your home. They throw beans and talk about Oni (a  demon orge like thing) It is a fun holiday.

Valentine's Day is split into 2 holidays (I am SURPRISED Hallmark hasn't tried to capitalize on that yet) It is February 14th (The girls give gifts to the boys) and March 14th (The boys give gifts to the girls). Basically asking to be the valentine and finally getting a response. It is a cute and sentimental way of expanding the holiday.

I am sure there are more that are different and I can't wait to hear more about it!