Leading From The Heart

by Tracy Rosen, teaching & consulting since 1996, blogging about it here since 2007. All views are my own and you should take them with a grain of salt, I do.

Category: KidSpeak

  • Lessons for the classroom from a newborn

    Hard to believe that 4 weeks have already passed since my little Jack was born.

    My life has definitely changed and I know it’s only going to continue to do so. One thing that I am learning from this little guy is the importance of listening. He tells me what he needs through the cries he makes. He has no other way of letting me know he needs attention, whether it’s to be fed, changed, amused, or held close.

    The children we work with who make a lot of ‘noise’ in our classrooms are telling us that they need attention. That they need us. They’re doing what they need to do, all that’s left is for us to listen and to provide.

  • I need to remember these…

    There are times when students say things that make me laugh out loud or sometimes on the inside if they happen to be right in front of me. I’ve lost so many of these over the years in the crowded hemispheres of my teacher brain so I am finally going to start collecting them. I’ve categorized them under KidSpeak so that they don’t get lost in the archives.

    Here are a few that I can remember right now.

    —

    Last June, when I first started as a French teacher I put out a little pre-test to see what these kids knew. I asked them to translate some common phrases. One was, ‘I am tired’. My 3rd grader replied to only that one with:

    fat see gay

    —

    Madame, my nose is coming! (kindergarten)

    —

    Madame, I want to get changed.
    But little boy, it’s almost home time, you don’t need to change.
    But madame, I have the squirts. (kindergarten)

    —

    When working on beginning reading skills with a struggling reader in the hallway: the written sentence was ‘the mouse crept out of his hole’, the sentence that was read (with great pride, might I add) was ‘the mouse crapt out of his hole’. (grade 2)

    —

    When resolving a conflict on the playground, a boy was upset that certain boys were playing with the balls he brought in from home. I explained that if you brought toys from home you had to expect to share them on the playground. He nodded, then asked, ‘Is it ok if I hold my balls on the bus?’ (grade 2)