when a cartwheel as a motivator fails

I decided it was time to bring out the mightiest motivator - my cartwheel. As a firm believer in intrinsic motivation and celebrations, I rarely use rewards, and I have used the cartwheel only twice before, both times when a student needed an unconventional boost to accomplish something. This time the seemingly mission impossible for one boy is learning cursive. The rest of the children listened to me when I explained the benefits of cursive writing, accepted my invitation to learn it and gladly practiced daily until they transitioned to writing fully in cursive. No complaints, no tears. This one boy did not accept my invitation, did not get inspired by his classmates, did not responded to any attempts to nudge, persuade, nor plead him. His dramatic reactions to the mere mention of cursive surpassed the flare of any drama queen I had seen before. 

"S. if you will practice cursive daily, I promise that after a month I will do a cartwheel," I said in front of the whole class.

Everyone got excited. 

Except S. He looked horrified.

"Ms. Terje, I couldn't. You might break your bones. I don't want to be responsible for breaking your bones," he answered.

I hadn't been ready for this.  My best motivator failed. All the cajoling from the classmates didn't waver his position. His concern for my well-being over-weighed his wish to please his friends. 

I didn't touch the subject for several days. Today I suggested that I could bake a cake. Apparently he doesn't eat cake. 

"S, how about an ice-cream party?" I asked today.

It's a deal! There's hope. 

 cartwheel 1

cartwheel 2

The best email to start the day with

"I heard your cartwheel was epic! ;)" was the first email I read today. 

Isn't that a fabulous email to start a day with? 

This email from a parent highlights a celebration of a challenging learning journey. After I had heard several times form an Estonian teacher that one of my students had not learned his vocabulary words, I knew I had to do something about it. The student either lacked motivation, didn't understand that he actually had to practice in order to remember the words, or had no idea of the way to practice, or maybe all of the three. I knew it was time for me to bring out the mightiest motivation and help possible. My cartwheel. And regular iretrieval practice of words. 

So last Wednesday, when once again he failed his assessment, I said that we would make a collective effort as a class to help him. I recruited different students to sit with him on Thursday and Friday to review the words. During one of the lessons on Friday afternoon, when others completed work independently, I sat with him and showed him the words in Estonian and he wrote them on a small whiteboard. I also explained to him that he would have to do a similar practice on Saturday and Sunday because this was the best way to strengthen the synapses in his brain and remember the words.

I asked how he would remember to ask for help from mom. He wrote a note to himself. To make the support even stronger, I spoke to his older sister, to tell mom that he would ask for help, and if not, mom would ask about it. As a final touch I promised in front of the whole class that if he would get everything right on the test I would do a cartwheel.

The whole class promised to be his cheerleader. It's not every day a teacher cartwheels. They knew that I did it only once last year.

The child returned on Monday confident in himself. his mom sent me an email sharing that he had taken every opportunity to practice with his sister and dad. Jus tin case we reviewed the words one more time during the day before his assessment. He knew all the words required. 

When he came back form the assessment it wasn't the perfect score. He had passes. he had done many times better than ever before. His classmates persuaded me that the perfect score shouldn't be the criteria for me doing the cartwheel. He deserved it anyway. A celebration for his success. I agreed.

We pushed away some chairs and tables to make room for me on the carpet. The kids had their I-Pads ready to record, what I asked to put away, because my cartwheel was one time special event only, no recordings. 

It is probably not normal, nor totally safe, for a middle-aged slightly overweight person to cartwheel in the classroom. 

I did it anyway. I felt that my legs were pretty straight and my final pose was beautiful. Done! Bow! Cheering from the kids.

Today I found out from a parent that my cartwheel was epic. Whatever it takes to give a mighty boost for a child who needs it. ;)

The things we do to motivate students

"Did you really do a handstand?" was the greeting I received form a colleague on Thursday morning.
"No," I replied, "but I did do a cartwheel."
This is true. I did. On Wednesday afternoon right before the day ended. In my small classroom. In front of my students.
I can't say anything about the beauty or elegance of my cartwheel. Just for a few seconds I felt decades younger, several centimetres slimmer and many kilos lighter. The ten year old me rejoiced.
It could have ended badly as in the funniest videos where the world laughs and I wish to cry because someone got hurt. I hadn't done it for many years but I trusted my muscle memory.
You are probably wondering why I would do something like this.
For a student.
S. had word study written sort. With her antennas attuned to everything happening in the class she kept stopping in mid word to see and hear what was going around in the class. With this speed the chance of writing all words before the day ended was impossible.
First I used simple reminders to stay focused.
When others started cleaning the classroom, I started a cheerleading routine with imaginary pompons.
"You can do it," I cheered to S, made her smile.
She looked determined at first and wrote word after word.
The clock kept ticking.
"I can't do it," S. was starting to give up.
"If you get your words written, I will do a cartwheel," I gave an ultimate promise.
Now everyone's antennas went up.
Action followed. The students started pushing the tables and chairs to make space for me.
"S, you can do it. Do it. We want to see Ms. Terje's cartwheel," multiple voices filled the room.
The school day finished. S. leaned lower, her nose almost touching her journal, and wrote.
Everyone else watched intently.
"Done," announced S. and put her pencil down victoriously.
And I did my cartwheel.
One time show only.

Believe it or not: teacher planning meeting

"Shall we have a walking meeting outside today, or stay in?" E. asked after exchanging greetings at the school gate early in the morning. It was still dark outside. The trees had lost their leaves weeks ago, and now the wind kept pulling down twigs and rolling them on the ground.
"It's windy but doesn't rain," I stated the obvious and suggested, "We could walk. It's not too cold. I have gloves, a warm jacket and fall boots."
"Yes, I am properly dressed too. It's a walking weather," E. agreed and opened the school door.
It sounded like a good plan for the third period of a day.

"We're going to have a walking meeting today," we informed S. as we passed her in the hallway.
"Or we could have tea. I have something for you. You'll see," she smiled with a hint of mystery.

After two lessons and an outside break we sent the kids off to specialist lessons, and gathered in S.'s classroom. She lifted a gray totem bag to a table. E. and I waited with anticipation.
S. first pulled out a jar of honey, then a shiny black bag of tea, and finally a ceramic white tea pot with painted scene of tea pickers on it.
Warmth welled up in us. Tea time meeting!

We fetched our cups, got milk, spoons and hot water from the teacher's lounge, went to my classroom, and put everything on an oval coffee table.
"The tea is black tea with turmeric and I bought it from London, " S. explained and spooned some tea into the tea pot.
"And the teapot?" I asked.
"My husband brought it from China," she answered as she poured the hot water over the tea.
S. and I sat on green armchairs and E. on a blue sofa in my reading corner. With bookshelves next to us, blue woven carpet and patterned cushions on the windowsill, and ignoring the residue of morning learning after kids escaped the classroom in a hurry, we could forget we were at school at all.

We talked about holiday memories, about plans and projects, about inspiration and habits, about choices and energy, about possible ways to support each other. We sipped tea with honey and milk wishing the clock would stop moving so fast.

We filled our cups.
Thankful Tuesday.

A gift

"What's in here?" several students point at a wrapped up gift box on a shelf behind me.
"You'll see. We'll open it in the afternoon," I build the suspense.
"Candy?" comes a hopeful guess.
"It's not edible. I hope you won't chew it," I respond.
"It kind of looks like a typewriter," another idea is put on the table.
"This would be awesome, but unfortunately not," I shake my head.

Several guesses and lessons later the students are gathered on the carpet. The gift is on the floor.
"I know some of you hoped that I would have a whole box of candy or a typewriter here. I don't. This is still a gift. Remember how I told you that I grew up believing that I wasn't a writer. There were writers and non-writers. the writers had some magical talent and knew all sorts of writing secrets. The non-writers would never find the secrets. Only when I was more than thirty years old, I found out that it is possible to learn to write. You know better. And I will gladly share with you some of the secrets I have discovered. One of the secrets is in here," I pat the gift.
The kids look at me intently and with curiosity.
"The gift is a writer's journal. This is a special journal. A safe place to gather ideas and to experiment and to play with ideas and words. Nobody but you and I get to see what you write unless you wish to share. Not even your parents can look inside," I explain.
You'd think that hearing about a journal would be a disappointment but the kids are still tense with anticipation. To add to it I bring out my old journals.
"When I first got myself a journal, it was a very simple plain journal. The next time I put a sticker on my second journal. The journals that followed had different covers," I show them my journals, "You can see how some of the writing is messy, I have things crossed out, some things written sideways. This is why the journal is a safe place. It does not judge me. Everything I write is accepted. It is like a caring friend who is always ready to listen with understanding, who encourages me to take risks, who finds my ideas interesting. Your journals are extra special because you get to decorate them as you wish. Are you ready for your journals?" I ask, knowing I can count on a loud yes, what indeed follows.

We open the package and everyone gets a plain spiral notebook. During the rest of the lesson the students go  through the different craft materials, cut, and paste, or draw. The excitement is continuously vibrating in the air. Some even name their journals and write a little welcome letter on the very first page.

We are ready for an awesome writing year. I am thinking of getting myself a new journal.

"I still think that typewriter would have been a cool gift too," says one girl while drawing squiggly designs on her journal cover.

"Yes, it would have been a good gift too," I agree with her.

sweet lesson

I made these!

On some days being a teacher is beyond awesome. Like today.

Yesterday we started a new unit of inquiry with a bite of chocolate.

Today we went to a small chocolate shop for a tour and a workshop. The owner met us at the door. Before she was able to give us the tour she patiently waited when the kids couldn't take their eyes of a large chocolate fall. Chocolate seemed to be alive.

The shop has a lovely cafe, shelves with handmade chocolate bars and artful boxes of chocolate, a chocolate museum, and a glass wall between the shop and the worksop so people could observe the process of making chocolate bars and chocolate candies.

The kids had many questions about the process of making chocolate, the shapes and the colors, where the ingredients come from and who came up with the idea  to make chocolate in the first place. The owner happily answered all the questions. She showed the kids a large mold that is used to make chocolate basketball, a real life size chocolate lion statue, and a machine that temperates chocolate to give it the beautiful shine.

She let them taste the cocoa beans and look at a vast collection of vintage chocolate wrappers.

The best part was the chocolate workshop where we could make three chocolate lollipops with an assortment of toppings - hazelnuts; dry frozen blueberries, raspberries, strawberries; caramel buttons and fizzy pop candy.

After the tour the kids had a chance to buy some sweets. I had written to the parents about the field trip and suggested them to give some pocket money to the kids. The kids were lovely - they didn't buy things for themselves only but took time to buy chocolate for their siblings and parents. A day before International Women's Day the shop was busy. While my kids waited in line with their little gifts, other customers bought boxes and boxes of chocolate. It took time because you can choose the chocolates you wish to have in a box and with many choices it's not that easy to choose.

We got back to the school by lunch time. I think that today it was ok that they had chocolate before eating their lunch.

_________________________________

If you ever come to Estonia I recommend you to visit Chocolala. 

The owner told us her story too. Before she started making chocolate she was a lawyer and her husband was a banker in England. One day they decided to return to live in Estonia and start something new. At first they opened their chocolate company in their kitchen. When they went and offered their handmade chocolates to a handicraft shop they were turned down. They didn't give up. Now they have a shop in the center of Tallinn, they sell in various shops in Estonia, and also in Finland, Germany and Japan.  They are certified with fair trade mark and use many local ingredients like sea-buck thorn, spruce sprouts and berries. An Estonian artist designs some of their chocolate boxes. They are winners of International Chocolate Awards. 

The middle wall is falling chocolate.

A way to get students curious

After the first break, after picking books to read to our reading buddies, after morning circle, after snack and read aloud my small group of students gathered around a round table. I put a chocolate in the middle of the table. "Observe at first" was a very challenging task for the students. They leaned in as close as they could, fingers sneaking to touch the chocolate. I untied the ribbon, unwrapped the chocolate and broke it into nine pieces, one for each. 
"What do you think how the chocolate got on the table?" I asked. This was my provocation for our new unit of inquiry about sustainable economy.
"You brought it," was an obvious answer. With a bit more nudging and many cases of LEGO blocks the students worked with partners to build a model to show the journey of the chocolate to our classroom table. They took pictures and then individually wrote the steps. 

Here is my favorite part:
"...the guys who worked in factory they make chocolate and bring it on the truck to the shop while Ms. Terje wakes up and eats. Then she goes to school and teaches us. Then she goes to the shop and buys some food and chocolate. Then she comes back home and sleeps. On the next day she brings us this chocolate and we eat it." 

Almost true. The chocolate was handmade in a small shop, and besides buying it I arranged a tour and a little workshop for us. That might be tomorrow's slice.

Do report card comments make your TBR pile?

The alarm woke me during the wee hours of the morning from a beautiful dream. I had been flying around  from a house to a house, peeking through windows, looking at rooms filled with bookshelves. So many books! I like the feeling of flying in my dreams. I love books, in real life and in my dreams.

I like sitting on my living room sofa, bookshelves lining the wall behind me, a tea cup standing on a little white round coffee table, woollen socks warming my feet, and a book keeping me company. The sofa makes the top of my "Best place to read" list.

I have been sitting on this sofa for hour today. Reading. But not Neil Gaiman's "The View from the Cheap Seats" nor Laura Esquivel's "Like Water for Chocolate." The sofa has been my home office today, and I have been reading the report comments. This is one of my tasks in the role of lower school principal.

When I told my fourth grade students that I would read all the comments that the teachers wrote for the primary students, they felt sorry for me. Colleagues too. Report comments do not sound like a text one would volunteer to read. Yes, they might be dry and repetitive and boringly general. Yes, academic content and trans-disciplinary skills and student behaviour do not make exciting themes. Yes, I would prefer a novel or essays or poetry.  But believe me, I spent a good afternoon.

The comments our teachers write include a paragraph to explain what the content of the subject was and then a paragraph or more about the learner, and each homeroom has several paragraphs about the learner in general. In a small, very small school I know most of the students from pre-school to fifth grade, and when I read the comments, I can picture their energy and effort and enthusiasm as well as their moments of struggle and pouting, like I do when I read about fictional characters. We have report comment writing guidelines that teachers follow and at the same time they bring their own voice and style to the writing like authors do, and many times I find myself admiring their word choice and syntax, copying some of their phrases and sentences as mentor texts for future report comment writing.

The teachers did not think of me as their target audience. The reports are for the parents. I hope the parents recognize their children, and appreciate the care and effort teachers took to first teach their children and then to write the reports.

Now, that the reports are done, I can return to reading what Neil Gaiman thinks about bookshops and libraries or how Tita prepares ox-tail soup in July, and perhaps I can sleep peacefully dreaming of more books and flying high.

an unusual club (or maybe not)

Outside duty on a winter day provided a wonderful break from a busy school day. Properly dressed for a cold weather, I stood in the school yard and enjoyed watching all the winter fun happening around me during the break after lunch yesterday.  Some second grade boys rolled in a snow. One first grade boy stood under a tree branch and pulled a branch to have a snow shower. Pair of second grade girls pushed snow shovels to create paths on a basketball court.

One of the girls, smallest in her class, hat and coat covered with snow, suddenly stopped next to me.
"Ms. T, have you noticed anything strange about my brother lately?" L. asked with all seriousness.
"He was fine. Did something happen?" I answered and wondered whether I had missed something important in the morning when L.'s fourth grade brother had been in my class.
"Nothing happened, but I have noticed that he behaves strangely lately," L. leaned on the shovel and frowned a little.
"What do you mean?" I probed further, getting a bit worried.
"Well, for example he asked A. to smell his hands, and then laughed that A. smelled poop," L. explained.
I noticed I had been holding my breath, waiting for who-knows-what news. I exhaled.
"I wonder what his motivation might have been? Maybe he thought it was funny?" I asked.
"I don't know. It was strange. So my friends and I created a club "Keep K. normal" and plan to observe him," L. shook her head as if still thinking of the hand smelling incident.
"I'll check on him in the afternoon, " I answered holding back a chuckle.
L. started walking off, and then turned back, "I would appreciate if you reported back to me after school. Thank you."

After the lessons L. showed up at my classroom door, "How did he do?"
"Everything was ok," I answered.
"Great! Then he gets a chocolate," L. declared and waved a bar of chocolate above her head.

What's wrong with the cat?

The students looked puzzled when they saw "What's wrong with the cat?" written on the schedule between Morning Circle and Music. They are used that instead of subjects or tasks I write questions on the board, but this question was different from the others they had seen before e.g "How to ask meaningful questions?" or "What does a good discussion sound like?"
After R. had picked little name pebbles from a basket for good morning greeting, and had asked a short conversation question, the students turned their eyes on me expectantly.
"What cat? What's wrong with it?" they asked.
I turned on the Apple TV and showed them my first animation I had been super excited about last Friday.
"You all remember how proud I was on Friday that I made this animation. I was so thrilled that I went around showing it to Ms. Leah and Mr. Steve and my family and I even tweeted the animation to the whole world. Yet, I know that this was the first animation and therefore not perfect. So now I am ready to listen to your feedback. Please be kind, and share what is well first, and then give me suggestions that would help me to make a better animation," I explained sincerely.
"The thing that is well is that your cat has personality. Next time..." K. hesitated for a moment," ..you should attach the tail to the body."
I couldn't have agreed more.
Once the first student spoke the others followed, each offering good advice.
When everyone had spoken, P. hopped up from her seat, grabbed her I-Pad and quickly said, "I want to show my animation and you can tell me what is good and what I could do better."
The teaching assistant and I exchanged surprised looks. This was the first time ever when P. had asked for feedback. Not only did she listened to what her classmates said but she also made some changes. Huge progress for this student.

Celebrate: kids making art

I have mentioned before how lucky I am to have a small class and the freedom to take my kids on field trips in the city.  On Wednesday we had a provocation for our new unit about lens-and screen-based art. Central idea: “People consider various factors when creating and viewing lens- and screen-based art.” We visited Tallinn Art Hall where we had a guide who explained the exhibition and then gave an art task for the students. Experimentation, creativity, play and process were the key words used. The enthusiasm that the students showed was incredible. They listened attentively, asked questions, wanted to photograph everything, and when the task was given, they went to various places to try out their ideas. The guide watched with a great smile as the students gave instructions to each other and found various angles to take photos. She took photos of the process and that itself was interesting for me to watch. My heart was doing a happy dance because not only was it a wonderful provocation for our unit of study but I could already see that the students were open minded and creative to try anything

Here are some reflections:
"This is where I am an artist and J is a model. We took stuff and put in different places. I learned that if you wanna be an artist, you have to be pretty creative. We were there about 1 hour and a little bit more, it was really cool, because there were really cool pictures about geometry and videos about performance art. And the art we did was performance art, so we were human sculptures. We did it by experimenting with objects, like if we put something here or something there. And we took pictures on different angles."

"Those are photos that we made in museum yesterday. Museum was called "Tallinna Kunstihoone" or in English "Tallinn Art Hall." There we had task to take photos of each other but we need to make this photos really cool or like interesting so this are my photos that I made of K. I was an artist and K. was like a sculpture. There I learned how to make really cool photos and photos that no one can make only you like you are the first person that make this picture!!!!!"

"We went to an art museum and saw models in videos and also paintings and sculptures. I liked having fun and I was a very bad or funny artist because my picture is so funny; and I also liked the process of making the model look nice. I learned that any art can be hard but during the process it is very fun. We were looking at all kinds of famous Estonian artists' paintings. Most of the pictures had geometry in them. It is done like this that one is the model and one is the artist. The artist puts all kinds of things on the model and then there is a photograph and we needed to make a picture at all angles. The place is called Tallinna Kunstihoone. It is a very inspiring place so you should go and visit it. There was also an art video were they experimented with a model and with a flower and with bread and all of the things changed spots later in the video."

writers at an art exhibition

"What can we learn as writers from an artist?" was the question to guide our writing workshop. Getting ready for the workshop I set the Learner Profile on the board and asked which attributes would help us the best on our visit to an art exhibition.

Open-minded, inquirer, thinker and reflective stood out from the list to most students. With intentions set we headed for our fourth writing workshops out of school.
Since the destination was less than 30 minutes of walking distance, we walked. The sun cheered to us on the walk to the national library.  The summer like weather made us feel like tourist on a casual city tour. Riding an old fashioned elevator to the sixth floor of the library added some time travel excitement to the whole experience.

On Wednesday at 11 o'clock the exhibition room was empty and seemed as if reserved for a private visit. We had plenty of time and space for exploration. At first the kids wanted to start taking pictures immediately. I advised to start with eyes first, to look closely, and later decide what to capture on the photos.
"Look what I found."
"This looks awesome."
"Wow. Did you see this?'
"Did you notice?"
"Come here and take a look."
The kids were not the target audience of Asko Künnap's book and CD cover design exhibition, yet they were able to admire the dedication, the creativity, and the attention to detail the artist showed. They saw the sketchbooks and designs and the variety of styles the artist had experimented with.

I hadn't planned the trip when I did my weekly planning on the weekend. On Monday after our cognitive coaching workshop my two friends and I headed to see an art exhibition on the first floor of the national library. We wished to see a final project of an Art Academy student. He had walked around the city recording every print he saw (signs, ads and graffiti) and all the words were printed on  multiple folded leaflets. Unexpected concept and impressive result.  The library worker suggested that we would also visit another exhibition on the sixth floor. We went without any expectations. We were at awe. Grateful for this unexpected experience we left the building with various ideas for our teaching. And I knew I would take my students there. Small class, small city, flexible schedule, a culture that encourages going out of school - I could make the trip happen just like that. I knew it was  the right decision when I saw the students leaning in to look closer, calling each other to share their discoveries, and later writing in their journals and taking photos. They had been open-minded,  inquirers, thinkers and reflective as they had set their intentions.

Student reflection:

Writers wander and wonder

I had a plan. A wonderful plan. As wonderful as going to the park the week before. Having three lessons in a row allows leaving the classroom. More than that it's the fact that I have a family size class this year. It provides me a different kind of freedom. I envisioned how I would walk with my students through the old town and back, giving one more tool for collecting ideas. Writers wander and wonder. We read "Wonder" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal to show how wild the wonders may be, "Why Poetry?" by Lee Bennett Hopkins to create a mood and for a bit of challenge "The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver.
Journals and pencils snuggly resting in a totem bag over my shoulder, we stepped out from the school building into the bright sunshine. We started with "What do you wonder?" as soon as we closed the gate behind us. Crossing two streets, passing a parking lot, a hotel and one apartment building we were about to walk past a small park. Noticing some outdoor chess tables we thought it might be a good place to write down some of the wonderings before we forgot them.  We wrote.
When I thought we might continue our journey, my students looked at me and said, "We like it here. We can stay and continue writing." I respected their choice. My plan and vision didn't happen. Wonderful writing workshop happened nevertheless.

You might wonder together with us:
Do sparrows and crows understand each other's bird language?
When a sea gull sits on a lamp post and looks down, does he wonder about us?
If birds wanted to write would they use a beak, wings, tail or legs?

Celebrate: the first two weeks

On Wednesday, when the weather was summery warm, I took my students, my smallest ever class of sweet kids, to a park, where they ran through a fountain, climbed up a spider web tower, and later ate cinnamon rolls. We stopped twice before reaching the park to write and wrote twice in the park. When I sat on a bench watching the kids, I felt immense appreciation for these kids, the job I have, and the opportunity to be in the park in the middle of a weekday. The first two weeks have been filled with appreciation every day. For years I have wished to carry the summer feeling to the school, a challenge hard to meet, and this year finally I kind of have managed it. I have purposefully slowed down, monitoring myself not to rush the kids. I haven't given tasks but rather voiced invitations to share, to create, to try, and they have responded so well, with joy and creativity beyond what I expected. We have written a lot together already, plus collected plenty of ideas for future writing, read aloud and individually, talked about poetry, sorted and labeled our classroom library (but didn't move furniture), created art, estimated and counted objects, played games. In the past I used to be hesitant to share the good things because of a strange belief that then the luck would turn. No more. I wish to share the joy I feel, and believe that it is a sign for the whole year, that gratitude creates abundance.

Why my students didn't get to move furniture

The beginning of the year blog posts and tweets show two ends of a classroom set up continuum. On the one side there are the artistically crafted, picture perfect, colorful and cute, every detail carefully chosen, decorated classrooms. On the other end is the increasing trend of classrooms with the furniture piled in the middle, waiting for the kids to design and organize everything.

Having no interior decorator gene whatsoever I always feared the expectation of the shiny bulletin boards and artistic labels. My result, no matter how hard I tried, was slightly crooked and awkward.

Over the years, with moving from one room to another, I learned about classroom design, and figured out what was needed for a well-functioning caring learning environment. As long as there was flexible seating, a cozy reading corner and some round tables, the requirement was met. The walls stayed empty, waiting for the learners to make their learning visible.

The reasoning for the new approach of collaboratively organizing the space is to give choice and voice to the students from the very first moment, and to let feel ownership of the space. Even though I believe in learner agency, I did not let my student move the furniture, probably appearing somewhat old-fasioned and not innovative.

I had my reasons.
1. With the furniture that I have in the small classroom I have tried different layouts and the one that we have right now seems to be the best use of space so far. Moving the cupboards or shelves from one corner to another wouldn't make much difference. Switching the position of two round tables makes no difference either.
2. I admire the teachers who have energy, enthusiasm and excitement for organizing and reorganizing the classroom space together with the kids. Having had to move furniture from one classroom to another several times in the past the memory of the mess and the stress are still with me. I wouldn't say I was traumatized but it is certainly a negative feeling that I wouldn't want to shadow the start of the year.
3. I can imagine that on the one hand the students may get excited from making the decisions, on the other hand they might be equally happy to arrive to a warm and inviting home-like classroom.
4. I believe that with all the other things we will do this year the learners in my class will grow agency and missing out on lifting a sofa won't have a lasting effect on them.
5. Starting the year with a ready classroom allowed us to spend time getting to know each other, talk about several read aloud books, create portraits, write poetry, play games. The start was slow and soft and sweet.

If you fill the class with love it's ok to choose how you get ready, whether you spend hours getting ready by yourself or take time to set up the classroom together with your kids or keep the classroom simple and snug. 

Happy New Schoo Year!

The green chairs are new

Writing workshop on the second day of school

First read aloud books of the year

My thoughts on classroom design in august 2015

the best part of being a principal

As I walk by first grade I see that the students have started drawing their pre-assessment for a unit of inquiry about community and citizens. I remember from last year how much the kids learned during the unit and how the same concentric circles drawn at the beginning and at the end of the unit differed noticeably. Out of curiosity I walk into the classroom. Paperwork can wait. The kids and teacher are so used to the visitors that my entrance doesn't disrupt anyone.

I squat down to two girls and ask what they are working on. They take turns explaining what is a community - people who work together and learn together and help each other, and then they show all the people they have drawn in the circles-  family in the centre, then people at school in the middle circle, and in the outer circle people in different roles in a city community, including a clown.

A third girl is drawing a picture of birds.
"Come and see my illustration for my story," she invites me.
I thank the first two girls for sharing and move to the young illustrator. Squatting is tiring. I kneel instead.
"I wrote a story. I'll read to you," the girl says, pushes aside the illustration and slides her journal closer.
She has written more than half a page. This is a lot of writing, considering that only a few months ago she didn't speak a word of English. She starts reading. I understand most of her spelling because she follows the Estonian spelling patterns. Thankfully the teacher has written some words in tiny letters above the student writing, so when the girl can't read her own writing she looks for the words the teacher has written. She has included action and dialogue, the story follows a story structure with the beginning, middle and end.
"You have learned so much English, and written an interesting story. Your birds in the story came up with a very clever solution how to escape. I can't wait to see when your illustrations are finished and the book is put together. Thank you so much for sharing," I tell her with a big smile.

While the girl was reading, a little boy slowly stepped closer and closer, holding few pages of paper in his hand. By the time the girl finished reading, he was right next to me.
"You'd like to share your story?" I ask.
He nods and spreads the three pages on the table. There are several printed sentences and a picture on each page.
With a soft voice he starts slowly reading. He has a realistic story about a little boy who couldn't find his classmates and kept asking different people at school until the principal told him that they were all in PE.  The last sentence is an advice to ask help when needed.
I hold my breath when he reads, and feel my eyes slightly swelling with tears. He too has only recently learned to read and write.
The boy finishes and looks at me expectantly.
"You had a realistic story. Your detail about the painting on the wall was unexpected. Your character does not give up. Your ending has important advice for the reader. I appreciate that you shared your story with me. Thank you," I say.
The little author smiles, collects his papers and goes back to his seat.
This short visit made my day!

One of my favorite lessons

When the students return from a music lesson, I ask them to put on their outside shoes and jackets. They know it is not a break time yet and they look puzzled. Asking them to take the writing journals confuses them even more.
"We have learned how writers get ideas - from their heart, making lists, focusing on the right now, from memory, from imagination and from knowledge. Sometimes writers go for a walk, to observe, to notice, to collect little snippets. This is what we will do today."
Their eyes light up.
We walk out of the school gate, down a street into a small park. The sun softly nudges the kids to unzip or unbutton their jackets. The fall day feels like a summer.
We haven't got very far when some of the kids start writing as they walk. We stop so everyone can write something. They choose what to record - the yellow leaves swirling down form the trees, a skinny man in a shirt and trousers running, a pug tugging his leash. Boys need to make a note of the poop left behind.
We walk some more. We write some more.
Then the kids put down their journals and run back and forth between the trees, through the dry leaves, climb up and hang upside down from exercise bars. They laugh.
When we return to the school yard the students write some more - some sitting on a bench, some under the slide, one up on the monkey bars. Writers can write anywhere.

filling the cup

The teachers like kids are drawn to a colorful package in the middle of the meeting room. The green wrapping paper with simplistic drawings of apple trees, cows, chickens and daisies makes them smile. The label "To be opened at 12:45" brings the corners of the mouth down a bit. They would like to open the mystery box right away.
Throughout the first day meetings - the relationship building, playing with blocks, sharing bits of ourselves, finding what we have common; the creation of mission and vision for our small team - the teachers keep sending glances at the other table. During short breaks they walk closer, touch the box, and wonder out loud.
Finally, after some more productive discussions, when we have some agreements, goals and plans in place, and our stomachs growl for lunch, we open the box,
Inside are little jars with personal notes, and bags of various snacks - assortment of nuts, dried cherries, goji berries, almonds in sweet cocoa powder, hazelnuts in chocolate coating - and cute labels and colorful markers. They get to assemble their own little snack jars to give them energy, to remind them that in order to be able to give to others they have to keep their cups filled.

This was my little gift as the primary school principal/curriculum coordinator (still being a part time teacher too) to my small team of eight homeroom teachers, my wonderful colleagues. I was inspired by my former colleague who constantly found ways to create little gifts to cheer people up - notes, tea, cookies. She once assembled a care package for me before a longer airplane flight. Something that seemed to be so natural for her is rather foreign for me. I set it as one of my goals this year to improve in this area.

My friend wrote on her jar a little joke we share.

The meeting after an evaluation

Our school went through an intense triple (NEASC/CIS/IB) evaluation visit last week. Five days were packed with individual interviews, group meetings and classroom visits. We got preliminary feedback. I was glad that inquiry and collaboration were clearly evident. As expected there are also areas where we can grow. We have to wait for about three weeks to get the written report with commendations, recommendations and matters to be addressed.
A team meeting after a week like this expects something positive and celebratory.
With some grapes and chocolate to flavor the meeting we started with a bit of reflection. Using cards from Dixit the teachers looked for a card or two that would help to summarize this year. When we sat and shared lots of nods and laughter accompanied the explanations.

 
Sometimes a teacher may not feel completely free in the decisions and even with best intentions they are tied down by outside circumstances.  Occasionally teaching feels like being on a quest with a noble goal and unexpected challenges to conquer. Some groups of kids may be like a tornado. Most of the time teaching is like balancing act.

Every teacher knows what it is like to be buried under the paperwork.

 
With all the energy a teacher gives it may feel aging years in few months.

 Even when teaching for a new teacher feels like a labyrinth with hitting a wall sometimes, there is always a new passage and a way out.

 The teaching never happens in a solitude. Two head are always better than one. Working together, having different perspectives, sharing ideas, gives strength and light.

 And when you feel as if you are loosing your balance and are falling there is always someone there to catch you.

 More than the difficulties the teachers saw the curiosity and wonder, the many ideas leading the way, and the fun of collaboration and experimenting, not necessarily always knowing the exact outcome.

The learning was endless. Even when a lot was done, more was awaiting and the messiness of it was natural.

The best part was the endless excitement for the power of inquiry, right at the fingertips, so reachable.

 By the end of the year there is the joy of seeing the student grow, bloom and flourish, to open their minds for thinking, sharing their learning.

Listening to my colleagues, laughing together with them, I felt immense gratitude for the team that I am with. Awesome teachers. Awesome educators. Awesome people.

The place to read

Where would you choose to read in my classroom?

a) on a wooden chair behind a table
b) on a blue sofa
c) in a red armchair
d) on a window sill with pillows
e) on a bouncy ball
f) lying on your stomach on a carpet
g) on a blue bench in front of the white board
h) on a colourful sofa in the hallway
i) on adjustable office chairs
j) under a round table

For a long time the most favorite spot in my class was the windowsill. They raced for it, tried to squeeze three together, fought over the pillows, until we agreed that two was enough and we made a rotation schedule.
Last week, for some unknown reason, one girl made a little nest under a round table. Since then the students have found their new favorite place. The place with the least light.
In Estonia we have health and safety inspectors visiting schools and one of the things they carefully monitor is appropriate lighting. That someone might read under the table would not even cross their mind. Our director on the other hand finds that if students wish to sit under the table it is our responsibility to find ways to attach light to there. Maybe led lights with a battery, because the inspectors don't allow any wires on the floor either.