The Internship Ends

The internship ended on Friday. It was a day with mixed emotions as the reality of leaving my newly acquired teaching post got nearer. I was very honored on Friday. The Kindergartners made me a picture book; the caricatures of me are hysterical! My mentor teacher made a memory book, which I truly treasure. Somehow she captured every student that I worked with over these last eleven weeks. Finally, I received a decorative plate, made of handprints, thumbprints, and finger prints, so precious.

My final teaching session ended with the making of “dirt”. Dirt is a fun dessert made from chocolate pudding, crushed Oreo cookies, and gummy worms. Since we had been studying plants for two weeks (planting seeds, plant journals, counting seeds, plant spelling words, reading plant books, etc) it seemed like a perfectly appropriate collaborative activity. It was fun to do, but eating a cupful of dirt at 8:30 in the morning taxed our stomachs.

And the hugs…I got several of my daily hugs. Those are mostly the kindergartners who just can’t say hi without a hug. Then came the occasional hugs, mostly from the second graders, since we spend most of our time with that grade. And finally the fifth grade hugs. Shocking, I know, and I was totally taken off guard. Those little rascals that drove me nuts now want to be my friend. (I want to think they wanted to be my friend all along, but being fifth graders, they were too cool to admit it)

I had lunch with my favorite fourth graders, AND my new best friend fifth graders (at their invitation!) Why did they wait until the last day? I read books with a few more of my second graders, and the day came to an end.

I have to admit that I am ready to get back to my normal day job, we have an exciting summer lined up at church. But I think I will miss my students on Tuesday (Monday is a holiday). I know this really dates me, but I hear the melody of the ending of the Carol Burnett Show in my head….

I’m so glad we had this time together,
Cause it makes me feel like I belong.
Seems we just got started and before you know it,
Comes the time we have to say, 'So long.'

Thank you Lake Murray Baptist for giving me the opportunity to finish my Masters in Special Education. I can’t wait to tell you all my stories (I probably have more than you want to hear!)

Thank you Carolina Springs Elementary for making me feel like I belong, you're the best.

Thank you readers for reading the blog.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 24-25

For the Children,

Al Lawson

The Truth About Field Trips

I remember taking field trips when I was in school. I remember loving the excitement of the bus ride, the day away from the school’s routine, eating a sack lunch, and taking pictures of my friends.

Field trips are supposed to have a significant educational purpose. Sometimes you have to find a zoo animal that matches every letter of the alphabet. Sometimes you have to seek out answers to questions that can only be answered during the field trip event. Sometimes you have to complete a task; like performing in musical competition or competing in an athletic event.

Don’t say this out loud, but field trips are really a chance for kids to practice their social skills and to be involved in creative play. I took a trip to the Aquarium at Charleston and the Zoo in Columbia during my internship. Different groups of children, but similar experiences.

The children were coached on their social skills and the expectations were high, especially since so many parents were going along as chaperones. And the children held up their challenge. They were quiet at railroad crossings (got to hear the train). They stayed in their seats (though they were never still). They stayed with their chaperones (only two were momentarily lost). And they worked on their worksheets (well, for the most part).

But when lunch time came, how they entertained themselves! On one field trip we had plenty of open space and in short order, lunch was eaten and tag and chase games began. Soon it was “kick the plastic bottle” (for us old timers, that would be “kick the can”), and several versions of “I dare you…” and “I betcha you can’t…”

On another trip, where lunch space was minimal, the children entertained themselves with wild stories, creative name calling and burping contests. What fun!! This is the real stuff of a good field trip!

Though field trips are a lot of work, they are very beneficial to a class. They demonstrate that lessons can be learned outside the confines of a typical classroom. They give children a chance to practice social skills, which are very important to a successful life. They build relationships between students, teachers, and parents. They remind us that play is important, and that our adult priorities might not be as important as we think.

I already know that we do not play enough at church. But I look forward to those few times when we do play and play hard. Times like Summer camp, and Vacation Bible School, and holiday events. It’s a sacred time; a time to build relationships and get to know each other, a time to practice our social skills and learn to love each other, a time to rediscover the child with in each of us and be reminded of the words of Jesus: “Let the little children come to Me. Don’t stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you: Whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:14-16)

Take time to play, especially with those you love,

AL

The Situation Room

At school, there is a special classroom called the Situation Room. That title comes from our President's working organization, and being very Washingtonian, I was attracted to the concept immediately. Finally this week, I had a chance to visit the Situation Room. I was impressed.

Around the four walls of the room were pinned the names of every student enrolled in the school. On each student’s card were notations indicating their respective academic goals for that school year. The student’s were divided into grades, and each class of each grade was a different color. Further, the walls were divided into numerical columns, titled with numerical ranges representing test scores.

Several times a year, the teachers meet in the Situation Room and move their respective student cards along the columns according to the student’s achievement. The teachers actually move their own class cards. There is something very positive about that; they are actively involved in the process, and they get to see how their class compares to the other 5 classes in their grade level. The classroom teachers, administrators and resource teachers discuss those students that have not met their goals. They then design strategies, called tiers, to assist those students in need. I was very impressed.

And then on the wall, I read four Key Questions. I was thoroughly impressed, and started copying the questions, while visions of application to our children’s ministry ran through my mind.

1. What is it we want all students to learn?
2. How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?
3. How will we know when each student has mastered the essential learning?
4. How will we deepen the learning for students who have already mastered essential knowledge and skills?

These questions are going on the wall in my office when I return to church next week. And I am going to look for space or some creative way to develop a Situation Room, for I do not want to lose track of any child who attends my church.

Thanks for reading,

AL

Pass/Fail

This week we just finished the annual PASS testing. PASS stands for the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards. It’s the big, end of the year test that measures student achievement. And it’s not the first test these students have taken this year. They have taken the MAP test (Measures of Academic Progress) three times: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Throw in smaller assessments like Basic Reading Inventory, Running Records, Progress Monitoring, Voyager, DIBELS, and PALS and it seems that a student can be assessed on something every day of the school year!

Well, in reality they are assessed every day. It may be something as simple as a question, or a math or spelling worksheet or something formal like PASS. Assessment is one of the primary ways we determine if a student is learning. Can they answer the question? Do they know the answer? Can they pass the test? Is it the best way to determine if a student is learning? I’m not sure, but I know Assessments are here to stay. In fact, I had to pass a class on Assessments to complete this Masters Degree.

The danger of assessments comes when we teach for the score alone. When we do this we can get trapped into teaching the test. No one would admit to teaching this way, but there is tremendous pressure for school districts to “prove” that their students are learning. The best use of assessments is to call attention to areas of study that need to be improved and re-taught or teaching strategies that need to be changed.

Assessment has a hard time translating to church life. Most attempts to advance our faith, usually called Bible Study or Discipleship, are void of assessment. Sometimes I think we take the personal aspect of our relationship with the heavenly father so personal that we think we are exempt from assessment. How can you possibly measure my personal faith experience? No one’s experience is exactly like mine.

The scripture begins to answer our concerns: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15)

Assess yourself, what kind of spiritual fruit grows on your branch of the vine?

AL

Breakfast Duty

One of the requirements of the internship was to spend at least two weeks being totally in charge of the class. Whatever my mentor teacher did, I was supposed to do, on my own, without her help. Sounds hard, but it wasn’t. I love to teach. What was hard was getting to school early enough to do “breakfast duty.” Breakfast is served at 7:00 am sharp to about 175 students. Several teachers take their turn monitoring and guiding the children through the breakfast experience. Here are my top three observations:

1. Southern dining traditions are learned early. Though each meal met the basic food groups, one breakfast meal stood out: Grits with cheese, sausage, and biscuits. I chuckled when I saw the meal being served. Don’t worry if you don’t serve grits at home, your children will learn to eat them at school! And eat them they did, it was one of the most popular breakfast meals. Only breakfast pizza can compete with grits!

2. We throw a lot of trash away. My tour of duty at breakfast fell during Earth Week. How interesting! For quick serving, every food item had its own cup or container, and it all went into the trash can. The Styrofoam trays, the paper containers, the plastic bowls and cups and spoons, the milk cartons all went into the trash. I wonder what we can do differently. Though it may be cost effective to have every thing disposable, wouldn’t it be better to wash the dishes and deposit less trash?

3. We throw a lot of food away. I was simply hurt by the amount of food that hit the trash can. Fruit with one bite missing or even no bites were thrown away. Sometimes unopened milk was thrown away. Not to mention the pounds of leftovers. Now some children ate every bite, breakfast was important to them. Others took a few bites, or played with their food, and then tossed it all away, it wasn’t that important to them. There must be a better way.

When I was in elementary school, and granted it was a long time ago, nothing was disposable. Dishes were washed, milk cartons were turned into crafts and flower pots, and the leftovers were sold to the local farmers to feed their hogs. There was trash, but not as much. We are wasting a lot of resources to be efficient. We are taking shortcuts that make food service easier to operate with less people, but is it being effective?

So it goes with church life. We have become very efficient, and I suspect increasingly less effective. What shortcuts are we taking that might make us less effective? What resources are we wasting in order to be efficient? We must be careful that we do not become so efficient that we forget how to be personal, how to build relationships, how to invest ourselves into others, and therefore miss the God sent opportunities to share our faith in a real way.

Recycle something this week,

AL

Happy Birthday to You!

Birthday celebrations all run together in my family. Between late March and late June, it seems that we are constantly celebrating someone’s birthday. This year I made a birthday decree: no gifts, only cards. My daughters protested, but I ignored them. At this stage in my life, my wants are under control, and there isn’t anything that I need. To be remembered is really enough.

Well, I got some great cards; my family really put their minds to it. Some of my cards were endearing, others were down right funny. I love getting cards.

Even my school kids chipped in this year. I got over a dozen special “drawings” commissioned by my mentor teacher. They were really cute and neatly packaged in a booklet style that had “created at school” written all over it. I felt special because they had celebrated my birthday!

I know how important birthdays are to children, and I also know how much they love getting mail. So the Children's Ministry mails them a card. But I’m not happy with that, it seems a little impersonal with no opportunity for birthday hugs, high fives, or singling out kids who need to be singled out.

I am going to try something different beginning in June. I am going to hand deliver my birthday cards. I’ll seek them out during Sunday Bible Study and announce to all who will hear that this child is celebrating a birthday. I can almost see the young joyful faces, and the older embarrassed ones. (They’re not really embarrassed, but they’re fifth graders and they have to pretend to be).

Birthdays are worth celebrating, whatever the age, and if only with cards. God has granted us another year of life, another year with our family, another year to serve Him. Happy Birthday!

Blessings,

AL

What happened to the blog?

My apologies to anyone who has attempted to read my blog over the last several weeks. I was overwhelmed with the many other things I have going, and the blog ended up low on the list.

It happened this way: I had to take a university online seminar simultaneously with the internship and that required a weekly paper, daily discussion questions, etc. And then the reality of the internship hit….I actually had to teach, and plan, and write lesson plans, and prepare materials, and grade papers, and give assessments, and do breakfast duty and the blog fell off the radar.

So I am going to try to pick it up during this final week of my internship and try to write something each day. I realize I have gotten behind, and I have a prescription to remedy the situation: a few paragraphs, once a day, for seven days. Now all I have to do is to follow the directions….hmmm….I think there is a spiritual application here.

How many times have we gotten behind spiritually, perhaps even taken ill, only to go church and hear the prescription from the doctor, then leave, and never follow through on the directions?

When my journey is not the same from one day to the next, I can get back on track when I remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb 13:8).

Until tomorrow,

Al