Love is All We Need

 

Huge Beatles fan here. Always have been. As I think about teaching in February, and February in general, the word most on my mind is LOVE. No surprise there. It's almost trite to say what word reminds you most of February? Love of course! This is the month of love - chocolates for your sweetie, cute and fresh valentines for your students, maybe a romantic dinner this year since February 14 falls on a weekend. 

 The word love always reminds me of my students as well as my precious hubby, daughters, sons-in-love, and grandkids. Students' sweet little faces from years long past, their grownup selves who have invited me back into their lives through the magic of Facebook, and the most recent ones who I run into regularly at the gym, the supermarket, the drugstore, and the hairdresser.  LOVE! Love them all!

I really think love is a magical word and if you really feel it when you look at your students, its magical effects will be life-changing. Want to love your job again, and pull it out of the winter doldrums? Love your kids. Stand back, really look at them, and find something to love. There is something lovable in each one. Fake it till you make it if you really think there's nothing to love.

I was planning to continue rambling on here in another of my way too long blog posts when I realized that my boys John, Paul, George, and Ringo have already said it all. As a teacher, those lyrics ring so true for the classroom as well as for life.

"There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game 
It's easy"

Thanks boys! My interpretation: love makes all things possible. A person who is loved feels really good about himself/herself and has confidence in all they try to do. A student who feels loved will "get with the culture" of your class and be higher-performing and better-behaved.

Idea #1: Start with a compliment. Greet each student before class with a quick compliment. "You look amazing today!" "Love your smile!" "That orange shirt is perfect for you!" "I love those shoes! Do they come in my size?" 
Make complimenting each other part of your classroom culture. Try some compliment cards or just make complimenting each other  at least a small part of each day. Make your kids feel loved and they will "learn how to play the game" of school the way you want them to play it.

Here's a great resource to get you started:

"There's nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn to be you in time
It's easy"


Thanks again lads! It IS easy! Make something together! Add some hands on to your lessons! If you're already a hands on teacher, add some personal choice to it. It is never too late in the year to switch up your routine and surprise your kids with some fun-while-learning activities.
And, it truly is never too late in the year to save an unruly, disrespectful class, and turn it into the class of your dreams. You have had the power all along my dear! You are totally in charge of the culture that will be built in your classroom. No state or federal guidelines for that. You are in charge here!
Visit Rainbow City Learning on TpT for lots of hands on ideas to make learning fun!
Never say "can't". If it seems like a good idea to you, try it! Have some fun together and build the idea that learning together is fun into your culture. It's easy.

Rainbow City Learning has a resource bundle for each month of the year to make leaning fun without losing the rigor! Just click!

"There's nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy"

The answer for classroom harmony in February and beyond is right in front of you. Step back and take a look. Find something to love in your classroom community and build from there. You are exactly where you're meant to be! And your students are so lucky to have you!

Love yourself, love your students, and have the best February ever, teachers! Did I ever tell you that I love your smile? I do!

For more February Teacher Talk, please stop by and visit my amazing blogging friends! I love them too!

If I can do anything else to help make your job easier this year, please let me know in the comments below! If I use your idea for a new blog post, you will win a TpT $10 gift card. If I create a new resource for Rainbow City Learning based on your idea, you will win a free copy of that resource to use in your classroom! (Note: all comments are reviewed before appearing on my blog. It may take a few hours for your comment to appear! Thanks for your patience!)

If you would also like to be a part of Teacher Talk, we are a group of teacher bloggers who share posts that are heavy on the ideas with just a little selling of our educational materials at TeachersPayTeachers.com.  For more information about joining The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative, go to https://bit.ly/3o7D1Dv.  Feel free to email me at retta.london@gmail.com if you have any questions. 

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Bullyproof Your Kids For Life

My eyes aren't what they used to be. As we entered the high school parking lot for our favorite eight year old's flag football practice, I noticed the large red and white banners that covered the fence to the playing field as well as an entire outside wall of the school. "Handmaid's Tale?" I thought. The colors were right, but I couldn't make out any more details until we got a little closer. As we reached the fence to begin our search for a parking space, the details came into focus. Larger than life weatherproof banners of every cheerleader and football or soccer athlete. Ok. So the playing field belongs to the athletes. "How about the hallways inside?" I wondered. Maybe they're lined with banners of kids who score high on SATs? Ummm....no. Further inspection revealed no banners for the intellectual stars. And how about the kids who rock kindness and empathy with every fiber of their being every day? Nope. No banners for you.
I can't get this picture out of my head a full two weeks later. What a great celebration for the athletes and their families. And what a subtle form of bullying for kids who are not part of that elite group. I have no doubt that the photographer who sells these banners and that the school officials who believe that they have found a great reward for the efforts of their super stars had the best of intentions. As an unbiased observer encountering this display for the first time, it left me breathless and gave me shivers. Shivers.
It's October. Anti bullying month. As teachers, we focus on developing anti bullying behaviors and building resilience in our kids. Some of us attend to it just for this month because really the curriculum is just so packed....I get it. And some of us try to infuse that "no bullies here" mindset throughout the year. I've always found that the best way to build stronger and somewhat bullyproof kids is by working from the inside out. It is always best to start in the first week as you build your learning community, and to keep building throughout the year. Concepts attended to only in October will most likely blow away like the leaves of November.
I have an idea or two that you might want to try now in this October and keep going through the rest of your year. Every child should be a banner star in their own mind and in the minds of their classmates.

In my experience, music makes the learning super attractive, and makes it stick. If the tune catches your kids' imaginations, the lyrics will linger for a long time. I used the songs of "I Am Bullyproof" for several years with great success both in my fourth grade classroom and in an after school anti-bullying club with fifth and sixth graders. The kids loved the songs and made their own videos and led assemblies to promote the anti-bullying concepts that they heard in the songs. Whether for their own performance or not, your kids will love watching the "Scary Guy" video and discussing how the scariest "guys" don't really wear costumes. The scariest guys are the bullies who live on our street or who sit in classrooms with us every day. October is the perfect month to talk about that.

"Old Town Road" is pretty popular right now. Your kids are probably singing and performing it constantly! Why not channel that and suggest that they write their own new version of that song with an anti-bully theme?

Baby Kaely Bully Rap is a great example of a kid-written rap to confront bullying.

Using music and taking it as far as you are comfortable with will begin the process of building stronger, more resilient kids who can stand up to bullying far into the future.

Stand in My Shoes by Bob Sornson addresses the concept of empathy. It helps kids to begin noticing the feelings of others. Kids who care about others are less likely to bully others or to be affected by bullies themselves.

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson is a great accompaniment to the Scary Guy song. The narrator is looking forward to a perfect summer, when a bully named Jeremy Ross moves into the neighborhood.   Jeremy Ross can give you shivers! He laughs when narrator makes a mistake, doesn't invite him to his trampoline birthday party, and takes over all of his best friend's time. The narrator (his name isn't mentioned) asks his dad for advice. Dad's solution is to bake an "enemy pie" (ingredients unknown and misinterpreted) and to invite the enemy for dinner to eat it. One important requirement for "enemy pie": You must spend the WHOLE DAY with the bully! I promise that your kids will love this book!

The Thing About Georgie by Lisa Grafs is a great choice in a chapter book. The thing about Georgie is that he is a “little person” or dwarf. He is a pretty well-adjusted kid until a new kid shows up who seems to be “stealing” Georgie’s best friend. Georgie makes some poor choices on his way to achieving positivity. This book is a perfect followup read for Enemy Pie because of the best friend stealing angle. 

Shivers Bucket activity
This is excerpted from our Bullyproof Rainbow unit "Positivity Rocks". This unit also includes the studio-recorded version of the "Scary Guy" song.

A Bucketful of Shivers

• Prepare and label two buckets “SHIVERS” and “POSITIVE THOUGHTS”

  Although plentiful around Halloween time (I love using the purple and green ones instead of the  

  more traditional orange and black), you can usually find small buckets any time of year at craft and    dollar stores. This can also be a bulletin board display. Print the green and purple buckets in this 

  resource on cardstock. (If you don't have the resource, you can draw two bucket fronts yourself.)  

  Cut out and staple to a bulletin board, slightly bringing in the right and left sides, and stapling         across the bottom for a 3-D effect. 

• Discuss the ways in which others can sometimes give each of us the shivers (those uncomfortable thoughts and feelings we get when someone says or does something creepy, mean, or depressing).
• Ask each student to write something he/she has heard or observed that gives him/her the shivers on a sticky note or small scrap of paper and deposit it in the bucket. 
• Once all have responded, take the paper slips out of the Shiver bucket, and give each student a blank two column page labelled “Shivers-Positive Thoughts”  to attach the “shiver slip” to and to rewrite in a positive way. 
• Ask for volunteers to share their reframed positive thoughts. 

Complete your community reflection with these important prompts:

• Words matter
• Actions matter
• Thoughts matter

Make it Personal and Reward what Matters!

Give your students an opportunity to celebrate their own unique qualities with these two resources:
Personal Flags
SuperStar Banners (Coming soon for free to subscribers of the Rainbow City Learning Newsletter! Make sure that you are signed up! Look for the pop up box on this blog!)

Try adding one of these reward card systems to your own PBIS:
HERO Toolkit
MENSCH Toolkit
Rock Star Students

Click on the graphic above to find these great resources for Bullyproofing your kids at Rainbow City Learning on TpT!

To hear our discussion of Enemy Pie and other great books to include in your plans this month, listen to our podcast on We Teach So Hard! Just click below!

Hope your October is only the beginning of a bully free year year in your classroom!

For more October thoughts and teaching inspiration, don't miss the great posts by our Teacher Talk bloggers! Linkuups only by Teacher Talk bloggers please! If you'd like to join our group, email me at retta.london@gmail.com.

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Bullies Not Welcome

October first was World Bullying Prevention Day. In our classrooms, we try to address bullying throughout October, and then pick it up again in March when we observe the National Day of Action against Violence and Bullying on the third Friday. These are critical times, of course, and without some official days, we might never zero in on bullying during the school year in a proactive way. Sure, when issues arise, we need to react. But, (as I've said before), WHAT IF?

What if we were vigilant against bullying every minute of every day during our time with our students?
And what if it would take zero time away from your curriculum? Take a look around your classroom. I can promise you that the kids who don't bully others are secure and confident, comfortable with who they are and what they can do. I can also promise you, based on many years of kid watching that the bullies and potential bullies feel that something is lacking in their own lives.

1. We need to be aware of what goes on outside our classroom doors. Your not knowing about an incident doesn't mean that it hasn't happened and that it won't affect the other students in your class.
2. We need to be aware of what goes on right under our noses. Kids (and often adults) can hurt each other in a thousand low-key ways that fly under our radar every day.
3. We need to watch for signals of stress and distress. Make yourself a kid watcher every day.Watch every child, not just the ones who are screaming loudly for attention, but those who may be hurting others or hurting inside themselves every day.
4. An early cry for help can be very hard to hear. Very soft. Signals are often not easy to see or hear at first. Getting to know your students really well right from the beginning is your best way of improving your ability to pick up on cries for help.
5. A quiet student isn't always just a pleasure to have in class. Some bullies masquerade very successfully as that quiet and obedient successful student.
6. Kids don't look at each other the way you look at them. Many issues, often inside of the beholder, make kids view other kids much differently from the way we see them.
7. Souls are more important than data. This is just another plea to really study the whole child, not just their grades and test scores.
8. Looking away won't make anything stop. If you decide to ignore the issues and prefer to use rose-colored glasses as you view your classroom and your learning community, issues will still fester and possibly explode. Choosing to travel on the river of denial changes nothing.
9. Things that are revered in our learning institutions can be setting kids up to fail. Best athlete, most successful test taker, best writer, student council leaders, etc. Although the reverence for athletes disturbs me the most, any labels and pedestals can be debilitating to students with other, less-recognized gifts as they travel on their educational journey.
10. Our society creates rankings and situations that can be impossible to escape. Children who grow up  experiencing hatred and lack of acceptance often grow up to give it right back to everyone. This is next to impossible to change once the child has grown. As teachers, we have an amazing opportunity to change lives.
11. You can't just order a kid to "talk" to you when in a crisis situation. Channels of communication that a kid can trust must be in place long before the crisis raises its ugly head. Watching 13 Reasons (remember that one?), my jaw dropped over and over at parents and school staff who suddenly wanted to talk and expected answers right then and there.
12. As teachers, we have the power to teach REAL life skills. (That life skills teacher in 13 Reasons.     Please.) Make your life skills lessons meaningful. Base them on what your students are experiencing. Don't just plod ahead with the lesson you planned so carefully. Look at your own students and their needs. Adapt and adjust.
13. Kids can start to feel valued, respected, and supported from their earliest school experiences on. They need to be able to take small and then increasingly bigger risks with their learning and with reaching out to friends as they progress through the stages of school.  "Hey, I'm here for you."means nothing if it hasn't been demonstrated all along.

Throughout my time in the classroom, the above 13 points were what guided my actions and attitudes. I taught nothing from the required curriculum standards until I was sure that the community had been established. I tried to learn who my kids were inside and out, talking to them and asking their families for even more information. Not one parent or administrator ever complained as Rainbow City was being established with a new crop of citizens each year. It took most of the first couple of weeks, but paid off for everyone again and again throughout the year. 

I hope I'm not sounding too preachy here, but I can't stress strongly enough how much easier it is to learn in an environment where one feels safe and accepted. If your classroom is truly a "Bullies Not Welcome Here" place, you will find that teaching and learning proceeds much more smoothly. You can't, of course, control what happens outside of your circle of influence, but you can certainly try to know about it and let it inform your teaching moves. I'm a huge fan of making kids resilient and flexible, building strength from the inside out. 

You may find these resources helpful as you work on building stronger kids this October and all through the year! Hope your October is smooth and bully-free! 

For more October Teacher Talk, please visit the posts of our blogging group! 

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