Splinters and Needles

The other day I took my children to Reptile Gardens for a fun filled day of adventure. We were enthralled by the Bird Show, grossly intrigued by the Snake show, and entertained by the Gator Show. We enjoyed a nice lunch and then ventured to the Sky Dome to marvel at the exotic flowers and various reptiles and amphibians. As my middle son was taking a closer look at a lizard, he lost his balance and ended up in a bed of cacti.  These were not the type one could easily pull out with tweezers, but nasty, fuzzy little splinters and needles that infested his entire hand and were nearly impossible to see. I felt his pain and had no clue what to do at this moment.

My son must have been a first because the accommodating staff of Reptile Gardens didn’t seem to know what to do either. Luckily, my good friend from Arizona, Shelly, was with me. She knew exactly what to do (from several personal experiences with her own kids). Shelly worked with Elmer’s glue and duck tape while her children gently and lovingly tried to reassure my son and take his mind of the pain. Although the good staff at Reptile Garden’s didn’t know exactly how to handle my son’s hands, they were great by stepping in and making us feel welcome. We got to go in a private room, a staff member gave all 6 kids special stickers, and they joked with the kids. We even got to have special time with a two year old baby alligator named Fluffy.

I couldn’t help but relate this experience to the cacti we encounter in our educational lives- unsupportive administration, cantankerous colleagues, irate parents, angry children, clueless policymakers, and misunderstanding public. At some time or another, we are all going to get poked. When we do, we need to know what to do to handle the slivers. Do we wash our hands, try to brush them off, blindly stab with the tweezers, or grab the Elmer’s glue? Just like I couldn’t have handled this little incident on my own, we need each other. Surround yourselves with positive people. Learn from others who excel at what they do. Develop and nurture strong relationships with supportive educators. Lean on an encouraging colleague, mentor, or friend. Check out your personal learning network on Twitter, Edublog, or other sites.

What do you do when you encounter spiteful little splinters? How do you remove the nasty needles without pushing them in further and causing more pain?

For those of you planning a trip to the Black Hills, be sure to visit Reptile Gardens for a fun and educational experience that won’t disappoint.

Student Intern

Knollwood is a Professional Development School and is in a partnership with Black Hills State University. The mission of the College of Education is to prepare competent, confident, and caring professionals. In an effort to reach that goal, BHSU has prescribed to a new model which imitates the medical model. Elementary Candidates are placed with the same teacher for both the Student Teaching Practicum and the Student Teaching Internship. This year long residency involves two professionals (mentor and intern) sharing the classroom. This is my second year as a mentor in the program and I am extremely pleased with the process.  Last year was a positive experience for everyone involved- the students, my intern, and me. This year promises to be the same.

My intern this year is Ms. Kolbach. She has a true passion for teaching and a genuine love for kids.  I am proud to mentor her in this learning journey. I know the students and I are going to learn as much from her as she will from us. Ms. Kolbach has already shown great desire and commitment to gain as much from this experience as possible.  In fact, we even got together before school year officially started.



Ms. Kolbach and Mrs. Roller at Alternative Fuel this summer.





Mentors, Mrs. Roller and Mrs. Tautkus, with their interns, Ms. Kolbach and Ms. Hoscheid.



First Grade Team Field Trip to Crazy Horse

Speaking of teams, I work with a variety of teams at Knollwood. One of those teams is the core first grade team. There are four sections of first grade at my school so I am blessed to work with three other amazing individuals who each bring their own strengths and perspectives to our team.

I already introduced you to Mrs. Tautkus yesterday. My other two first grade teammates are Ms. Holsather and Mrs. Erickson. Ms. Holsather has been teaching for eight years. This will be her third year at Knollwood. She is extremely organized and beautifully integrates music into all aspects of her day. You can often hear her singing with her students. Mrs. Erickson has 27 years of teaching experience and this will be her 22nd year at Knollwood. Now that’s dedication to a school! Mrs. Erickson is quite an artist and has a knack for design. Both ladies truly care about kids and helping them be the best they can be.

Ms. Holsather and I taught the June session of Camp Adventure this summer. On one of the days, we went to Crazy Horse with our students. Both Ms. Holsather and I felt that we needed more time at Crazy Horse to enjoy the atmosphere and browse the museum. Plus, we were dying to spend money in the gift shop. Did anybody say “BOOKS”? We decided to take a “team field trip” to Crazy Horse and had a blast. Of course, we talked about school a little bit, but “school talk” did not monopolize our rich conversations. It was a quality team building time. Who knows…maybe we will make team field trips a tradition and go somewhere together every couple of months.

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” — George Bernard Shaw. All three of these women are great people to exchange ideas with. Here’s to you, hoping you have a solid team and wonderful people with whom you can exchange ideas…

Check out the following website if you are interested in learning about about Crazy Horse. http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/

Teammates

Continued to work on room arrangement today. The physical design of a classroom is critical for positive academic and social learning. Great care and thought go into my room set up every year. It is always a process. My room is a canvas and the painting is slowly unfolding before my eyes. Of course, it will not be complete until my 25 little artists add their unique talents and perspectives to the picture. My goal is to create a safe and welcoming environment where students want to be and are motivated to learn. I have always been and continue to be a curious and enthusiastic person. My hope is that my students catch that same passion for learning.

Mrs. Tautkus presenting at her Master's symposium, April 2010.       
Her work was on word sorts.

One of my wonderful teammates, Mrs. Tautkus, was also at school today. There can be no greater gift than having remarkable people to work with. Mrs. Tautkus is one of those people. Mrs. Tautkus is in her fifth year of teaching and is a huge asset to our team. She recently earned her Master’s Degree in Reading Leadership. She is innovative, creative, and hard working. I am blessed to work at a school that greatly values teamwork and collaboration. I leave you with this quote from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.” More on teams to come.