Thursday's Teacher

Comment: This is an excellent article and well worth adding to any school or curriculum. The very idea of this article makes my heart sing. Read it and enjoy!

Published: January 20, 2010 byTeacher Magazine

Giving Classrooms a Purpose

By Larry Ferlazzo

I read, hear, and even write a lot about “techniques” that are supposed to improve schools and classroom instruction.

Professional development books, workshops, and teacher hand-outs at staff meetings are filled with lots of ideas on how to use multiple intelligences, technology, and specific instructional strategies with students that have special needs. The list seems endless.

These techniques are obviously important. I wonder, though, if we teachers and our students, our schools and districts might be better off if we spent a little more time focusing on the cultural orientation of our institution. In other words, shouldn’t we question our ways of thinking?

A few months ago, I noted the 100th anniversary of Peter Drucker’s birth. A renowned business and management philosopher, writer, theorist, and analyst, Drucker is considered “the first real management guru.” In an interview this fall on the public radio program Marketplace, Harvard business professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter shared that Drucker’s greatest contribution to organizational behavior is the idea that corporations need to have a mission, a sense of purpose in order to be successful.

When I talk about a “cultural orientation” or a “way of thinking,” I mean something like what Drucker proposed—a sense of mission and purpose. And I mean for us to have a mission beyond simply, “whatever is good for kids.”

In my previous career, I was a community organizer. Before we did anything, we would ask ourselves these two questions:

• Does our action help develop leadership among local residents?

• Are we honoring the father of modern-day community organizing Saul Alinsky's "Iron Rule"? Alinsky famously said, “Never do for someone what they can do for themselves. Never.”

If the answer to either of these questions was “no,” then we either dropped our plan or we revised it. This way of thinking often resulted in what some might consider missed opportunities or decisions that didn’t appear to result in an immediate benefit.

But in the long term, staying true to our mission often resulted in the emergence of self-realized community groups that had confident leaders and committed members. These groups were more successful in gaining affordable housing, creating jobs that paid a living wage and benefits, and building safe neighborhoods than other organizations that never developed their own sense of identity and purpose.

Schools and classrooms need a mission and a shared way of thinking to be effective. I’d like to give three examples of what I mean for the classroom, a school, and in the context of our connection to parents.

In a Classroom

In the first part of each school year in most of my classes, I lead a discussion with students asking whether they want our class to be a “community of learners” or a “classroom of students.” On our overhead, I enter the choices in side-by-side columns and give examples of the difference between the two.

In a classroom of students, a teacher does most of the talking. In a community of learners, students work in small groups and are co-teachers. In a classroom, people laugh when others make mistakes, but in a community, people are supported when they take risks. In a classroom, the teacher always has to be the one to keep people focused. In a community, students take responsibility for keeping themselves focused.

At this point, most students will say that their previous classes have been more like a classroom of students. I then ask students to share what other differences they might see between the two types. Here are a couple of examples my students gave this year:

• In a classroom, “students start a fight and end up hurting each other.” In a community, “they don’t start a fight, they talk it out.”

• In a classroom, “the only way to succeed is doing exactly what the teacher says.” In a community, “you have more than one choice in succeeding.”

After adding to the list, students then decide which one they’d rather have. No group has ever chosen to be the “classroom of students” option.

By starting with this cultural orientation or way of thinking, students develop their own approaches or techniques for how the class will operate. What emerges is a lens for looking at numerous issues throughout the school year. It’s my job to honor my own rules of community organizing, to promote leadership development and self-sufficiency by respecting their judgments and desires.

In a School

Ted Appel, our high school principal, has done a tremendous job of working with teachers over the past few years to develop their mission. Basically, it’s not acceptable for students to not do well. Everybody must succeed. That way of thinking operates almost universally among the faculty, and it is prevalent among students as well.

Our tutoring project, which allows students to hire (and fire) teachers of their choice, is an example of this way of thinking. We didn’t set up an after-school tutoring center and then blame the students for not showing up. Ted and our staff began with the idea that some students needed help, and then they looked for the barriers that might keep students from getting the most effective assistance. They thought outside the box and had the courage to give students the chance to control their own destinies.

Engaging Parents

In my book Building Parent Engagement In Schools, I highlight the differences between parent involvement and parent engagement. When schools involve parents, the primary involvement tool is the mouth. When they engage parents, the primary tool is the ear. Involvement is often about one-way communication: educator to parent. But engagement is about two-way conversation. The invitation to become involved is often through irritation, since educators challenge parents to do something the schools want them to do. With engagement it’s often about agitation—challenging parents to do something that they themselves say they want to do.

Here again, the strategy begins with a commitment to leadership development and self-sufficiency, and it produces a community with a shared sense of purpose that guides its members.

I wonder how many schools and districts are overlooking Drucker’s admonition to develop a sense of mission or purpose that defines why they exist and what greater good is being served? How many instead focus their attention on tasks and techniques that they think might produce short-term results, without developing the cultural compass that every community needs to guide their continuing journey?

Techniques are important, but no laundry list of them will ever be long enough to help administrators, faculties, or students resolve the challenges they face each day, to the benefit of everyone involved.

I wonder if faculties, schools, and districts should devote more time and energy to developing compasses and less time rushing down the road, never certain where we are, or what we will do when we round the next bend.

Larry Ferlazzo teaches English and social studies to English-language learners and mainstream students at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif. He is also the author or a popular resources-oriented education blog. He is the author of Building Parent Engagement In Schools (with Lori Hammond) and the upcoming English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work, which will be published this spring.

Wednesday's Wacky Wonder

In a zoo in California , a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tin y size, died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger, after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically, she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment.. Sometimes a mother of one specie s will take on the care of a different species. The only 'orphans' that could be found quickly, were a litter of weanling pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger. Would they become cubs or pork chops?

Take a look...

Tuesday's Thought

Lately I've been playing Lexolous on Facebook. I find it a wonderful diversion. The game makes me think about things I only get to think about when I am writing - words. Lately, I've heard a lot of positives and negatives about the game that made me spend a little time thinking about game playing and what it means in development.

A game like Lexolous - scrabble - for an adult is a measure of self. Every time you face the board and are asked to deliver your best word with what you have to work with is a wonderful test of self. Some people like this and some don't. The question always begins in childhood about why this is a likable thing or a hated thing.

As a child, I always wanted to play games with my family. My parents were home maybe twice a week in the evening, and sometimes they would play games with us. It was my job to do the dishes by myself after dinner from the time I was five. So after I cleared the table, washed the dishes, scrubbed the pots and cleaned the counters, I would go in to find a game already started. When I asked to play, they always said, "We started already, maybe next time." I think as a result, I often played games with myself, so consequently, I like the challenge of a game because I really feel the test of self.

Testing self against self is only part of the game. Testing self against others is the other more daring part of a game.

When do children begin to experience real game playing? It depends upon maturity and the cognition of application of rules to life. Children can hear, but they can rarely apply what they hear to any problem and a game is often a problem, a strategy, and difficulty to solve. Watch a child put on a coat. You can tell, tell, tell, and show, show show, but until a child can apply what is said or shown to what he or she is doing, the child will not be able to put on a disheveled coat by himself.

This is problem solving and it amounts to that algebraic equation: "If a=b, and b=c then a=c." Until a child can understand this idea, he or she will be lost at many things.

I've tried to teach Chinese Checkers to the kids many times. Very few will grasp the concept of jumping one marble over another in a direct line. Most children will understand jump, but will jump the whole game board without application. This is because they can't see the value of a carefully played game. The game doesn't matter because they are neither testing self nor others.

Taking turns is also a concept of maturity. The very idea of a line, my turn your turn has to be taught to young children because most young children are egocentric, so the idea of your turn is an impossible bend. It's really quite funny to watch. You also see this in the very elderly - it's always their turn to speak, to reminiscence....

Teaching children to play games takes time. The time is in the maturity of growing up. The first step is in respect of the game pieces. When children stand back from a game taken out by adults, and watch, they are indicating the initial interest in the game. Children who grab without asking are not ready. Then it's a matter of listening and trying to learn the rules. Children who stop listening and just do their own thing are not ready to play a game. The next thing is turn. When children are ready to watch the next guy take his turn, they are ready to play.

Games should not be long, complicated, nor should one person always win. That was my lesson this week. I've won a lot of Lexolous games, and I realized this week that the whole idea of playing the game is that sometimes I win and sometimes I don't. It's the play with people you love that makes the game fun. I have also learned that if I play my best game and still lose, I still have played well, and that is what should matter to me.

It's a lot like life. It can't always be peachy. Games are like a little vignette of life. If you don't step into the game or into life, you can't win or lose - you're just a spectator and burying your talents in the backyard. These are the things I want to teach the children.

I want to assure them by their sixth year - give me a child before he is six and he's mine forever - that their contribution is important and that their involvement is crucial to the lives around them, so don't step back and let someone else - step forward and give it your best shot.

Games are an important lesson and well worth learning. The ability to play well, to win, to lose, to smile, to be confident, to be amused, to be happy to play is the mark of a well developed personality and this is what we should aim for in teaching our children to play as their primary educators.

Monday's Tattler

Good morning. It's 6:15 and there is freezing fog outside. Not sure if I've heard of freezing fog. Need to drive in it in about fifteen minutes, so we'll see. Need to take the twenty year old Bronco in it...mmmm...

What do you need to know for this week? We are going to try to do the pajama party on Friday. Looks like clear sailing with the weather, so it's a green light ;-}

Please remember to send a coat your child can live with. He will be going out all week.

Thinking about putting a cookbook together. If you have any input into this, please let Miss Judy know.

This week begins our geography race. I will be sending home a political map. That means a map with names of countries. Please help your child learn where the countries are. There are are about one hundred and eighty five countries to learn. Every time your child learns a country, his name will be put on a flag. The child with the most flags wins.

This week's menu: M meatballs and biscuits; big squash; applesauce, oranges and grapefruit -
T Ham and cheese casserole, fresh spinach to dip; peaches and raisins - W Breakfast casserole with bacon, pineapple, oranges and apples - H Pork roast, potatoes, apple critter, corn and pineapple - F Pizza, fruit salad, vegetablesmix and dip and oranges and grapefruit.

Have a great week.

Sunday's Plate

I posted on Facebook about a possible cookbook, and the first response was positive. I think maybe it's time to do a third cookbook. Last time we did a cookbook, every parent participated and we still came up with too few recipes, but with today's technology and ease of use, we might just be able to do something cheaply and still have a nice product.

At the party, several people asked me about the chicken curry. Chicken curry is one of those twenty minute meals and only twenty minutes because you have to wait for the rice.

You start by making rice.

Next you cut your chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. Do this with a kitchen sheers; it is half the work.

Next, pull out of the closets and refrigerator all the stuff you have that might make a nice side boy. Now a side boy is an addition to the dish that allows every taste to be different. Curry is not curry without the side boys. So into little dishes, and we used disposible bowls at school, you place those things in your closet that you can add to the plate.

Suggestions: bacon, crumpled egg yolks, chutney, chow chow, pickle relish, celery, green pepper, onion, apple, coconut, walnuts, peanuts, almonds, raisins, and anything like this you think you would like to "sprinkle" on the actual curry. My husband loves soy sauce on his curry.

In San Francisco, back in the early 60s, I had dinner with my father at the India House. I had chicken curry and the side boys were a gigantic plate of fresh fruit. The hotter the curry, the more fruit you will eat because it takes the sting out of very very hot curry.

Now for the main dish - the simplest dish on earth. You saute your chicken breasts with some of your cut side boy onions, celery, green pepper and apple, and add about a teaspoon of curry - more if you like. I add about a tablespoon at home, and at school I added about a teaspoon. When the chicken is done, you add enough water to make what looks like a stew. Add a tablespoon of chicken bouillon. Then you thicken it with a roux of cornstarch or flour and water. When it thickens, it's ready to serve over rice. Add the side boys.

You can substitute milk, but don't boil it. You can sub soy milk, or almond milk or chicken stock.

Buy yellow curry. Green curry is a little bitter. Spice Islands makes a lovely curry. You can also get it at the Asian Market. What you buy should be a deep yellow color - and it stains. Nutritionally, curry is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and there are studies that show that not only does curry thwart the growth of cancer, it often keeps it away.

Curry like this can also be made with lamb, beef, fish, and pork. I curry rice at home. You saute your rice in butter and curry powder then add stock or beef bouillon and water.

I make a steak sauce with mayo and curry powder that's to die for - just mix 1/4 cup mayo and 1 teaspoon curry powder.

Curry is a fantastic party food because it is cheap and beautiful and easy to make. You make a vat of curry - time - 30 minutes. You assemble 10-15 side boys and arrange them around a large bowl of curry. Rice on the side makes a fantastic party spread. You don't need another thing.

I will post all the other recipes for the wonderful International Feast as I get them.

Friday's Tattler

Friday was an exceptional day. We had a delicious pancake breakfast with whole grains including bean flour. Bean flour makes the pancakes lighter and have a slightly nutty flavor without being overwhelming. After breakfast, we told the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Each of them had a personality and a name: Melvin; Thaddeus; Lester and each had a different reason to cross the troll ridden bridge and come out victorious on the other side.

The kids acted this out for about an hour and had a great time.

We got to go outside for recess on Friday, and the children loved just being out in the sunshine.

We had our International Feast with ten parents for company. We had such a fine fare:

A delicious seaweed salad and sushi; a great bread dish with a unique filling; scrumptious hummus and crackers; fabulous hummus and pita bread; perfect enchilada dripping in cheese; light and tasty egg rolls; inscrutable spaghetti; magnificent cheese lasagna; an incredible Italian beef dish; and Miss Judy's own curried chicken, lovely Italian shells; a really interesting Philippine coconut pudding and the kids favorite potato chips.

It was a nice party, and the best thing about it was the kids tried all kinds of new things. They trusted, tasted and enjoyed, and our families also tried new things. We were so delighted.

Our thanks to all our parents who participated in the International Feast. Well done!

Thursday's Teacher

I'm usually not a fan of Alphie Kohn because I don't like his dismissive attitude toward emotional need, but this is really a very good article and well worth reading. It comes from Education Week and it's about the ridiculous nature of standards. I totally agree.

Debunking the Case for National Standards

By Alfie Kohn

I keep thinking it can’t get much worse, and then it does. Throughout the 1990s, one state after another adopted prescriptive education standards enforced by frequent standardized testing, often of the high-stakes variety. A top-down, get-tough movement to impose “accountability” began to squeeze the life out of classrooms.

A decade ago, many of us thought we had hit bottom—until the floor gave way and we found ourselves in a basement we didn’t know existed. Now every state had to test every student every year in grades 3-8, judging them (and their schools) almost exclusively by test scores and hurting the schools that needed the most help. Ludicrously unrealistic proficiency targets suggested that the federal law responsible was intended to sabotage rather than improve public education.

For the rest of the article go HERE.

Tuesday's Thought

Normally I have Tuesday morning off, and I try to put a little column together. This week I had to work early, so I didn't get a chance. But today someone said something to me that made me want to add a little something today. This person asked me what my expectations are for the children in my care. I replied without even thinking. "The sky is the limit."

Now let me put it this way: If God were to ask you what you wanted, would you say, "A ham sandwich?" Would you say, "I would like to have a new toilet seat, God." How about "God, since you're asking, I could use some stamps; I ran out?" Probably none of the above.

Well it's the same with being a parent or a teacher. In many ways, an adult in a child's life mirrors the part of God in that the parent or teacher teaches by his actions, about God. He models someone who has all the control. At the same time, the child must satisfy the parent or should satisfy the parent because that's his role. The expectations that come from the parent should be as high as God's are.

When I expect the works, I usually get it. If I were to expect little or nothing, I would get that. So parents have to ask themselves, "What do I want?" At this point, parents should say, "I want everything because when my child gives me his best, the top of the heap, he is responding to being the best human he can be.

Doing one's best every single time is the achievement of life. It doesn't matter if it's some dumb little worksheet or a meal for a special friend. It could be giving the dog water or fetching something for mom upstairs. Each and every act in one's life is important and each and every act is an act of love for the people around the child. Falling short of the mark in ordinary things can only mean that when the big things come up, a child will not be in the habit of doing his very best and he will lose out.

If a child is asked to water the dog, the best job of it means doing it right away. It means washing out the dog bowl and filling the bowl with cool water and placing it properly on the floor. If there are spills, it should be cleaned up right away.

If I ask a child to clean up a puzzle for me, I expect that he will put it together and then put it back where it goes. I don't mean that he will casually heap some of the pieces on the tray and then leave it on the table.

We are by nature bound to work all our lives. It's simply part of being a human being. Shirking, skimping, leaving things half done, is the work of an immature and lazy person. The ability to appraise work, understand what the whole task is from beginning to end, approach the task with positive affection, do the job without complaining, and finally finish the task without detours is the work of a fully developed person, a person of skill and grace. Now which of these do I want for the children in my care?

I want the children I teach to master the art of work - happily - and the only way of achieving that is to expect the very best each and every time. So when my friend asked me, I told her. "The sky is the limit."

Monday's Tattler

Good Morning. It's going to be a hot one :} starting at 21 degrees here in downtown Newburgh, and rising to a fast 30 today. Please make sure kids have gloves and hats today! Long sleeve shirts are preferable in this cold weather.

Lots of things in the hopper this week. State inspection today; new teacher, Miss Dana, tomorrow, and on Friday we'll have International Feast.

If you are free at lunch time 12:00 on Friday and would like to come to lunch with your child, please plan to bring an ethnic dish for four. This can be anything. We will eat buffet style with children with parents eating first. It's only about forty-five minutes, so it's doable on a lunch break. Parents can bring food early and we can refrigerate it for you.

If you still have candy money out, please bring it in.

Have a great day!

Sunday's Plate

This last Friday when my grandchildren came to my house, I had all the usual junk food waiting. I had pretzels for Jack, cheese puffs for Bill and regular potato chips for Bob. Now you'd think at this grandmother's house I'd have something fabulous and made of whole wheat. If they would eat it, I would, but they usually won't so whats the point?

Having watched a program on the making of junk food, I found out that the egregious little cheese puff is really cornmeal and water and air, and it's covered in real cheese - about the same as powdered milk - powdered cheese, so it's not a bad little treat although they tend to stick to your teeth.

I also had something good on Friday - homemade pizzelle cookies. I made these from whole wheat flour a little sugar, some rum, some ground oranges egg and milk - I think. I made a whole plate of them and thought at the time, "They won't even touch them." I made vanilla frosting and offered them to the kids who ate the whole plate, so I did feel good about grandma's baking, after all.

I also made them a homemade pizza and homemade cannelloni for their father and for us. The boys finished off the pizzelles and dove into the pizza. Then Bill whined that he was "starving" and only gma's granola would fill him up - that or the two pizzelles that I had hidden in the closet for his dad. After consuming both the pizzelles and the granola, he was not quite full and finished off another slice of pizza. The cheese puffs and the chips and most of the pretzels stayed in the bags.

Now these are picky boys and it took months to assure them that what I was serving wasn't going to poison them, grab their tongues, bite them back or taste challenging. These children will not even consider eating most candy, sandwiches, they choke on the idea of mashed potatoes, won't touch a noodle, vegetables are from Mars, and they think that most meat needs to be back on the hoof. But inch by inch, mouthful by mouthful they are getting more adventurous.

One of my methods is just ignoring the whole routine and trying to have something they might like even if it's a saltine cracker. I made a whole batch of granola on Saturday just for Bill. By next week, he may not be eating granola. It's almost a game.

I love the game. It's a matter of getting the formula right: nine parts wallpaper paste and one part sugar. Sometimes it's eight parts wallpaper paste and two parts salt. Depends on the stars.

A picky child will eat if the stars are in the right mix. The food has to look like something that won't offend them - Chinese won't cut it - something that smells good - no smell at all - and something that is small of nature - like cereal. When Jack tried his first pizzelle, he took a tooth full, and when that didn't resemble snakeskin dipped in gasoline, he tried a regular mouth full, and then ate the whole thing. Pizzelles are about the size of a saucer.

Children who are picky are usually the ones who can separate foods correctly into salty, sweet, sour and bitter. Children who are not picky can't. It's an interesting phenomena.

Being patient with kids is hard sometimes, and I've had my share of fits when a child won't eat anything. I usually take a medal if a child won't eat one bite. I always make sure my picky eaters have something on the table they like. When they refuse everything, it's not a healthy choice. I can't and won't force a child to eat, but I can regard that behavior as non- honorable.

Having fun with food is a wonderful part of life. Encouraging kids to eat is the job of the loving adult, and that works when the TV is off and adults actually sit down with kids and eat what they expect the children to eat. We eat with the children at school, and sometimes we have something on our plates that the children don't have simply because we don't think they will eat it. I make a lot of salads with weird dressings that contain raisins and nuts and onions and cheese and anything else I can find. I call the dressing sludge. The kids love it and eat most of it when I sit by them. One way of getting kids to eat something new is to have a plate filled and let them ask what it is and if they can have some. This is the way to build strong appetites and adventurous palates.

Recipe for sludge: (.5) = half

.5 cup olive oil
.5 cup balsamic vinegar

Some:
ketchup
lemon juice
pepper
garlic
mustard
soy sauce
hot sauce

Oh, and try this: .5 pint mayo;4 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 teaspoon pepper; .5 cup Parmesan cheese.

Snacking wisely should enhance meals not take away from it. If possible, make your snacks. It only takes a few moments. More about snacks next time.

Friday's Tattler

I was not surprised they called school on Friday. I ventured out on Saturday afternoon for the first time since the snow, and my hill was still a sheet of ice. Newburgh roads were still slushy. I'm supposing the cold prevented a lot of ice from melting. I can only imagine what they were like at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning. I envisioned sliding down Monroe Street through Jennings and into the river.

We will postpone the pajama party for the end of the month.

This semester is getting off to a slow start. We have been out more days than in, but that is the way it is this time of year.

In the hopper we have a new teacher and are losing another. We are losing Miss Elise who is leaving us to be a full time mommy and continue her education. We wish her well. We will miss her enthusiasm and her gusto.

We welcome Dana Palmore as our new art teacher. Miss Dana has a nursing degree and has worked with children for many years. Dana has a child at the Garden School - little Jil who is in the preschool class. Jil played the peacock in the Thanksgiving Play.

This coming week we will be having the International Feast on Friday. This is a voluntary participation for any parent free at lunch time. The feast begins at Noon and goes until it goes. If parents are interested in coming to lunch, please plan to bring a dish for four to share among the diners. The dish should be an ethnic dish that your family enjoys. Salads, entrees, breads and desserts are welcome. Miss Judy will be making Chicken Curry with 8 sideboys.

This coming week we will be going outside for recess when the temperature rises to 35 degrees. Please make sure your child has a hat that is separate from whatever his coat offers. Please send mittens that fit so that he will be warm.

Have a peaceful Sunday!

Thursday's Teacher

New Rules Will Give Hoosier Students More Knowledgeable Teachers Subject-Experts from Outside Education Welcome

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Media Contact:
Stephanie Sample, Press Secretary
317-232-6616, ssample@doe.in.gov

The state board overseeing teacher licensing and preparation voted today to advance new teacher licensing regulations that ensure all new teachers will be experts in the subjects they teach and allow adults from other careers to more easily enter the teaching profession. These new regulations—called the Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability or the REPA—aim to improve student achievement through better classroom instruction.

“We crafted these changes with the belief that students’ academic success is determined, in large part, by the quality of their teachers,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett said. “These new rules for licensing go further than ever before to make sure all Indiana’s school children receive the high-quality instruction they deserve.”

Members of the Advisory Board of the Division of Professional Standards, including Bennett, have been meeting since July, 2009, working with the Indiana Department of Education and education stakeholders statewide.

In addition to passing exams that test their knowledge, the new rules require those who teach grades 5-12 to earn baccalaureate degrees in the subjects they teach. This creates a better balance in teacher preparatory programs between coursework on how to teach and subject-specific training on what they will teach.

Dr. James Fraser, senior vice president for programs for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and professor of History and Education at New York University, said, “The proposal to require every future secondary school teacher in Indiana to complete a full discipline-specific arts and sciences major makes very good sense. Indeed, such a move will bring Indiana up to a standard that is currently in place in many states across the United States. A solid major in the discipline to be taught is an essential minimum to truly knowing the content one aspires to teach.”

Equally important, the rules take steps to address future teacher shortages and bring more knowledgeable adults into Indiana schools. The advisory board will have the authority to approve online and non-traditional teacher preparation programs in the future. Without these alternative licensing programs, it’s unduly difficult for successful adults in other careers to enter the teaching profession. These new regulations allow for new pipelines to bring real world experts into Indiana classrooms.

Ariela Rozman from The New Teacher Project said, “We commend the IDOE for taking important steps to increase teacher and administrator quality—through an expansion of teacher and administrator pipelines, a focus on content knowledge which has been linked to student achievement, a requirement to measure the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs and a commitment to school-based professional development.”
The new regulations go even further to improve teacher support and provide greater flexibility. Incoming teachers will work closely with school-level administrators to create targeted professional development plans to benefit student instruction. Current and future teachers will have more options to renew their licenses—options that won’t require them to pay for college coursework. The new rules also make it easier for teachers to make their licenses more marketable; they can add subjects to their licenses by passing exams that test their knowledge.

“I’m incredibly proud of these teacher licensing changes,” Bennett said. “They address a foundational aspect of my plan to reform education in Indiana by targeting instructional quality. This is a great victory, and it should energize all of us to work even harder to improve Indiana’s schools in the year ahead.”

The REPA regulations go into effect July 31, 2010. Students currently enrolled in teacher preparation programs will be transitioned into these new rules between now and August 31, 2013.

For more details on REPA and to view an updated summary of the rule, visit www.doe.in.gov/news/2009/07-July/REPA.html.

Tuesday's Thought

One of the things I would like to do in this new year is to teach the children to look for the possibilities in life. Every day is filled with opportunities and possibilities and discoveries that will make their little lives richer and deeper. It's a matter of the eternal search that makes that richer life apparent. I would like to teach this to them before they go off to school, because I believe that school can be a "safety zone" of "not having to discover - only having to 'hand back' what is expected" and that nullifies the whole human notion of possibilities.

A possibility is something that can happen if one works hard enough to make it happen. But that possibility is all but hidden from the non-curious, the non doer, the guy who is trapped in the idea that there is only one mousetrap out there.

My daughter, Katy, has a sign in her office at work: "Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it was always a stupid way of doing it."

This sign is meant to shake up the people who think that just because they have always done something one way, there isn't a better way to do it. Let's look at cooking as an example of "always...." "I've always used this pan to make this dish; I've always made it this way; I've always struggled with this dish, so I don't make it very often." Maybe it's the pan; maybe it's the way the dish is made that makes it difficult. So if you change the pan and change the way you make it, the dish might be a whole lot easier to make. A recipe book is a consultant not a jailer!

Let's look at paper mache. Who says that paper mache must be made from strips of paper? Very young children hate to use paper mache because to them it seems no matter how many tedious strips of newspaper they manage to put on, the thing never looks any different. So if we look at the possibilities, we can see easily what to do and how, and the project of paper mache becomes not only interesting to children, but doable. It's a matter of thinking it through and changing the "It's always the way I've done this..."

Teaching children to see all the possibilities of life is fun, but it's tricky and they have to be on your wavelength. Children are learning to follow directions. They are learning the rules of play, so it can be complicated, but possibilities take a kind of thought that children are very adept to because their desires have not been tired out, and their curiosity about how things work is strong.

For adults, making changes always seems like too much new work, but that's for the negative thinker. Making changes should nearly always lighten tasks, renew the world at hand, and make life a little better. It's a matter of "thinking it through." But all of this takes energy and desire and a sense that things can truly be made better with a little effort.

The hardest part is thinking it through and it begins like this: "What if... and I would need to...and that would enable...and then...." It's a green light for 2010!

Monday's Trailer

It was the day after Christmas at a church in San Francisco . The pastor of the church was looking over the crèche when he noticed that the baby Jesus was missing from among the figures. He hurried outside and looking about saw a little boy with a red wagon, and in the wagon was the figure of the little infant Jesus.

So he took a deep calming breath and walked up to the small boy and said, "Well, where did you get your passenger, my fine friend?"

The little boy replied, "I got Him at church."

"And why did you take Him from the church?"

The little boy explained, "Well, about a week before Christmas I prayed to the little Lord Jesus, and I told Him if He would bring me a red wagon for Christmas I would give Him a ride around the block in it...."

And just a little more cute and good:

Javeon and Brady earned a Treasure Box pass today by inventing and then playing and winning a new game of their own design.

Kylie won a Treasure Box pass today for finding a mistake in Miss Amy's work, and correcting it very politely. Way to go, Kylie!

Emily won the Writing Contest in Miss Amy's Class. She carried it away and will wear a symbol of her work.

Reese won a Treasure Box pass for knowing what "decade" means.

Yeah team.

Monday's Tattler

Good Morning!

Welcome back to school. It's been a while, but it's been a great break for teachers. We are all chatting about getting back to school, and that is always good.

January brings a quiet month. We will have a pajama party at the end of this week. Children may wear their pjs and robes to school, but must wear shoes and socks. If we can go out, slippers will be ruined.

Calendars have gone out. Please read them. This is your reminder of what is going on at school.

On January 15, at Noon, we will have our annual International Feast. This is completely voluntary. If you are free at lunch time and would like to spend a half hour or and hour with your child, and you enjoy cooking, please plan to bring a dish from a culture besides America to share. Please bring enough for four adults. Children will choose their meal by smorgasbord. Suggestions include: spaghetti, African rice and peanuts, pizza, Egg rolls, Curry, roast guinea pig, sea cucumbers, swan and anything else that strikes your fancy or your child's ;-}

Snow and Ice!

The Garden School closes when the public schools either in Warrick or Vanderburgh Counties close. We will not be issuing a separate school closing. If counties are on delay, we will be on delay as well. A two hour delay means the Garden School will be open at 9:00. If schools close early, parents will be called to pick up children with the same punctuality as is expected in the public schools.

Ill Children.

Please remember that a child who "doesn't feel well, Mommy" in the morning should not be brought to school at all. If your child needs over the counter "help me feel better quick" medicines in the morning, PLEASE keep him at home. Children left at home for one day will usually get better that day than if they are brought to school. Be smart and cut his bug off at the pass.

As a tip that really works, if you feel that tickle in your throat and think you might be coming down with something, gargle with straight lemon juice three times and you'll be surprised how you seem to ward it off.

Have a great week!

Sunday's Plate

Well, after a long and needed rest, we're back at it. Sometimes it's nice to put regular things aside so that when you pick them up again, there is something new and delightful about those regular things!

I spent a great deal of this vacation on one of the little barn cats that has been coming around the school for food since this summer. He was horribly injured a couple of weeks before Christmas, and for about two weeks, we tried to save his paw, but failed. He needed an amputation. So to make a long story short, I brought him home Christmas Eve having had his hind leg removed at the hip, and by Christmas he was up the tree with the other little beast. It took more than a few days of worry and work to put this all right.

I did manage to stay at home a few days, and learned some new things about cooking. As this is supposed to be Sunday's Plate, I will share them with you.

I was making some ordinary vanilla cupcakes and knew that the recipe would be mediocre at best, and decided to add another 1/2 cup of milk and leave it beating at high speed for about five minutes. The cupcakes turned out to be one of the best batches I've ever made. One of my children asked me warily if I had store bought cupcakes! I'm going to try that at school this week when I make spice cupcakes. You can't have a light enough cupcake!

***
Another thing I learned was how to make Pizzelles. They are little griddle cakes you make with a press that turn into large cookies or ice cream cones, or bowels. They are charming and delicious. I made orange rum flavor and they were wonderful. I plan on making them for the kids this summer as sandwich bread for their peanut butter.

****
I learned how to use condensed milk to make bar cookies. This is a very nice substance and very usable in making all kinds of bar cookies. One recipe calls for:

2 cups flour
2 cups of oats
1.5 cups brown sugar
1 package white chocolate chips
1 package walnuts or pecans
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs beaten
1 can of condensed milk
2/3 cup peanut butter

Mix all dry ingredients; divide in 1/2.

Into one half mix your beaten eggs and press this half into a baking dish and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Mix milk and peanut butter together and pour over first layer hot from the oven.

Put second half of dry mix on top, press, and bake for 20 more minutes. Let cool and cut into big fat squares - to die for.

****
One of the things I learned to do properly is fry left over mashed potatoes. The secret is to mix them up with eggs and let them sit. Then when you melt your butter in the pan, you LEAVE THEM ALONE until they are fairly brown on one side then flip them ONCE!

*****
One of the things I've been making is "The Recipe." This is made with fruit and brandy. Needless to say I can't make it at school; it has to be a home recipe ;-}. It's made with sugar, brandy, and canned fruit beginning with pineapple, then cherries, then peaches. The ultimate goal is to make a very adult fruit cake. It's very delicious. This is NOT traditional fruit cake. This is really quite a different kind of cake. Upon giving one of our teachers a small bit of pineapple, she had to sit down. Now if you are reading this and would like to sample some, please let Miss Judy know. I will be making them this coming weekend.

*****

Until next week c'est bonne!

Holiday Tattler

Good morning on this cold Tuesday.

Just a reminder that we are open Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week and closed on Thursday and Friday.

School starts next Monday in the regular schedule.

Calendars will go out today. Please read them.

This Fall, we sent out a questionnaire about parents' desires for the best possible communication. Most parents wanted a monthly calendar so I produced a colorful cute calendar with dates and explanations. Because of the nature of the business, I also decided to include a weekly newspaper when something big is going on. We make sure we tell every parent verbally that there is something big happening, what it is, and what they need to do and when. We post an axillary announcement board at the front of the school announcing the event for a week. We send a parent letter that goes out along with post cards that remind parents of upcoming events. And I do as many blog reminders as I can.

At Christmas, I even sent out a packet at the beginning of the month with everything parents needed to know on separate large type print. The week of the Christmas party, ten parents did not know that there was a Christmas party.

I am not sure I know what to do at this point. This month there will be two events: The pajama party on the 8th and our International Feast on the 15.

We know that parents are busy, but kids matter too, and their life at the school is important. So please read what is sent home. It's only the beginning of "reading for your child." Parents will find thirteen years of reading materials coming up fast, and when you don't know, your child suffers.

Pajama party on the 8th. NO Slippers.

More about the International Feast later.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Saturday's Something Else

National Geographic Pictures best pictures of the year:

Catching Up Friday's Tattler

We had a delightful day on Friday. A little breakfast, a nice trip to the Nutcracker. The children really enjoyed this and were the best behaved children in the house. I was so proud of them. We hope you like the pictures. The Nutcracker was more in line with child friendly this year, and the kids responded with those wonderful children's stares that make adults laugh. They were wide eyed and wide mouthed.

We returned to school for a nice lunch of homemade chicken soup, cheese on biscuits, and fresh fruit. There was not a crumb left. After an hour of recess, we came in and sang Santa in. He arrived at 3:00 and distributed a big bag of toys and then took off to his busy schedule ;-}

We announced the very best boy and girl - Scott and Jasmine who both had 15 points toward the Santa prize. We were very very proud to give them each a nice gift.

The party lasted only a little while and then we dispersed for the Christmas holiday.

We shall return on December 28.

Wednesday's Wonder

Got this from a friend. Thought it would amuse those who love nature.

View Here

Tuesday's Thought

During the Christmas Season things pop into your mind that make a kind of mystical connection with the whole Christmas Story. In the past couple of hours, the whole idea of kindness has kind of swallowed me whole. This morning at precisely 6:00 a.m. ( precisely because she is NEVER late) my eldest daughter, Katy, arrived at my house for the 4th early morning time to help me bandage a stray cat who we found at school with a terrible injury. His rear paw had been "decuffed" and the flesh was down to the bone. As I hold the cat, she applies a complicated bandage she invented for the wound.

There are many people in the world who would ask, "Don't you have better things to do with the little time you two have?" The answer to that would be, "We have lots to do, and this is just one of those things. It's about kindness. Kindness to a cat is none the less kindness."

The keeping of animals teaches kindness. The ability of an adult to be kind to creatures smaller than self, less able to understand than we are able, and needy when we are not is a movement of spiritual side of the heart. When this kindness is demonstrated to the child, the child models the parent and becomes kind. Kindness often earns more than it costs to do.

As a child, kindness was not a thing I learned at home. There was little if any kindness applied toward the scapegoat child. I learned kindness from two beloved neighbors, Parky Doyle and Margaret Kyle who treated me with great kindness when there was little at home. My first grade teacher, Mrs. MacDonald, also showed me great kindness. For these women in my life, I am truly grateful.

Kindness is really an act of mercy. We don't use the word mercy much because it has a flavor of the "court" these days. But using the words interchangeably, we can quote Shakespeare and understand a little about kindness and mercy: "The quality of Mercy is not strained; it dropeth as a gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed; it blesses him who gives and him who takes."

And that is the message we want to give to our children. Kindness offers so much to so many. When we are kind to one student in front of other students, children learn how powerful an act of kindness is. When we are kind to parents, they learn, when we are kind to animals, children can actually model this behavior because they can be in charge of this kind of kindness.

We have had many little projects going on at school these days. I would call them "corporal works of mercy." It's an old term meaning it's a physical act of goodness which the children are involved in. One of those things is the Advent Box. Every year we have done the Advent Boxes, and never before has there been such an interest. One little child is so keen on getting one, she talks about it at home. Trouble is, this child is SO good all the time, that her quiet little goodness is often passed over - but not today. Today, her kindness to her friends and teachers will return a little box of kindness to her.

Do we teach children to choose works of kindness? Do we calculate kindness and apply it to some things and not others? Do we keep back kindness because it might not benefit someone in our own family? Do we hold back kindness because "too much kindness is never a good thing." Those are questions that make kindness something it's not.

Kindness, it seems to me, should be a spontaneous offering from the heart. When it has to be scrutinized and weighed by the brain for possible gain, it becomes the Old Scrooge rather than the New Man, Scrooge.

Should kindness be acknowledged, or is kindness its own reward? Kindness is its own reward, but because of the nature of the human being, acknowledgment is an essential part of communication and community. When there is a failure to give praise to a child who is kind or even some adults - a failure of communication, a spiritual loneliness can fall upon a person and pull community apart.

As a child I was "Alphie Kohn-ed." I was allowed to be kind only to those people my parents deemed worthy. It was calculated and engineered. If I was kind to someone they didn't like, I was punished and belittled. It made me wonder about people and behavior from a very early age. It still does. As an adult, I am always sad when my efforts of kindness and affection are dismissed without a word. It takes me back to the icy hearts who reared me and makes me shiver. People who dismiss other people, to me, become the Old Scrooge.

The Christmas Season is filled with possibilities for kindness and right modeling for children. "Tis the Season" should be our reminder line. When we hear it, it should send us into right action because more than any other season of the year, Christmas is by its own nature a whole act of kindness and fulfillment of promise. Blessings always.

Monday's Tattler

Good morning!

A warmer day today. The kids will play outside today. Please remember to send hats and mittens on very cold days.

This is our last push to Christmas.

If you are participating in the Christmas gifts for the AIDs gentlemen, please bring your gifts by Wednesday. If you would like to participate, please take a heart from the tree in the front of the school.

Christmas gifts for the children are due now. Please bring your unwrapped gift to the kitchen after you have dropped off your child. Every child who will be at the party needs to have a gift. Please do not buy expensive name brand items. This is supposed to look as if it came from Santa's workshop.

The Garden School is a tuition based program. We operate on tuition only. Tuition payments are due at Christmas time when we are closed. Please post date a check and include it in your payment this week. Envelopes will be given to those who would like to mail in their payment.

Friday we will have a visit from Santa at 3:00. Children will carol for about twenty minutes and then Santa will come. A party will follow. Please plan to bring a treat to share.

Have a great week!

Friday's Tattler

It was quite a week. We all seemed to be tired. A few children went home sick. Jacob had surgery and did fine. It was a hectic week, however. Might have been the weather.

Some of the parents have asked about the Dove Tree giving to the AIDs guys. All the little gifts are on the tree up front. Yes, it's fine to donate a slightly used coat etc. I'm sure they can use it. Please look on the tree, and take a heart with a gift on it and return that heart with your gift. This is such a great Christmas opportunity to give a little to a stranger.

Next week as soon as possible, please bring your child's gift to the back door of the school. It needs to be unwrapped and in a bag so it is not seen by the children. Please have your child's name on this. If you are bringing other children to the party, EVERY child needs a gift. For neglectful parents, we will have a three pack of flutes that will go to all non gifted children ;-} The other option is a ream of paper and 164 crayons ;-}

On Friday, we will be going to the Nutcracker. Please have your child wear his regular school clothes and his red sweatshirt. Please make sure his name is in it. Please send your child in tie shoes on Friday. Digging slip ons out from under the Victory Theatre seats is a real pain. Leave time will be posted in the front of the school.

Party on Friday promptly at 3:00 P.M. All children MUST have an attending adult. At this time gifts will be given by Santa.

Blessings.

Tuesday's Thought

So when DO children finally decide that they will fit into society and do what is expected? That depends on what they are seeing in their models, or what they are gleaning from what they see.

Every human child develops a little differently from another and at different times. There are lots of components to making up a pattern of behavior. We have to consider the personalities of the parents, the environment, intelligence, exposure to things, the ability to experience, and the motivation to use new ideas, and many many more.

There are many obstacles to growing up for many children that parents don't see because they are repeating what they grew up with, and that's their pattern that is being handed down to their child. In my own background, I rejected many things my parents did in order not to bring the kind of chaos they loved into my own home because I felt it was destructive. Sometimes we have to examine our lives and reject or rebuild patterns for our own sake and the sake of our children.

In my own childhood there were few rules because my parents weren't home long enough to establish rules, so rules came and went like bullets, and if you got in the way, you were shot by one of these emerging rules, and punishment was a lot like impending death.

I liked the idea of few rules for my own family because I think children should think things through and come to their own conclusions about the world. Consequently, when something went wrong, some brief questions about what should have gone right was enough to curb further stupid behavior. Enough independence and freedom encourages children to think things through.

I was never a coddler. I'm not enamored of infants. I think infants should become three in about two weeks. The whole idea of infant care leaves me cold. I was lucky; my children were infants for about six months, and then they were more or less toddlers. At two, they were three. They expected one another to speak intelligently early, be potty trained by eighteen months, and start very early contributing to the work.

This independence contributed to exploration. Brendan tried to build a nuclear accelerator in his bedroom in high school. Molly was the only girl fire cadet in Warrick - Vanderburgh Counties. Katy trudged off to the Navy at barely eighteen. Anne announced to Angelo that she WOULD be cooking for him when she was seventeen. He said it would last a week, and it lasted seven years, and she still cooks for him when she visits EVV.

So where do all these tangents lead? I think the success rate for very young children doubles when we let go and let them. If a child's favorite toy is the parent, there is a problem of independence. A lack of independence will manifest itself in selfishness, stubbornness, and neglect of the world. When a child doesn't have to really do anything real for himself, he is negatively charged to be hostilely dependent on the parent, and that's where the poor behavior comes from.

It's a question of motivation or ability - that's where the parent's parenting skills come in. Is my child able to listen to me or not? Is my child motivated to listen to me or not? It's usually pretty clear. Listening to the parent's direction comes from respect. Respect often comes from fear. Sometimes the fear is simply a sense in the child that he or she has disappointed the parent. Most children want to please; it's in their natures; it's a goodness. When they don't listen or don't want to please, the parent needs to find out why and change his or her behavior to accommodate a better exchange.

We had a child at school who could strike and scream at his parents. It was OK behavior. When he did the same thing at school, the parents recognized his behavior, but they could not take the next step to stop it. When the child tied to kick me, and I grabbed his foot and sent him flying, he was so surprised that he quit acting out at school. Why couldn't his parents do this when he first showed this kind of behavior? Probably because hideous tantrums and screaming and kicking behaviors belonged to the parents as well who learned this from their own parents, who...

We had a child who refused to listen and invariably got most work assignments wrong, didn't know what we were doing and generally was lost most of the time. It translated into terrible behavior. When approaching the parents, the subject was changed almost immediately; teacher's sentences were intercepted, and both parents turned physically away from the conversation. Where did the child's behavior come from?

We had a child at school who had no concept of right or wrong. When dealing with the parents, they didn't either, and the child ended up in the special classroom for the socially disordered.

These are extreme cases, but the story is the same. It's a matter of early independence. Give a human being the independence to achieve good things in his life from the beginning, and he will prosper. The nature of the human being is be independent, to make appropriate choices, to achieve on his or her own.

Independence is brought on by doing. A three year old can and should dress himself and should be able to choose his own clothes. A three year old should use the bathroom alone. A three year old should bath himself within earshot of mom or dad and know when he is done. A three year old should be able to choose what on the plate he or she wants to eat and eat it at his or her own rate. There should be consequences and the three year old should know it. A three year old should be able to choose his or her own toys, play with them and put them away. A three year old should be able to begin making his or her bed and putting his or her clothes in the hamper.

Threes can set the table; help feed the house hold animals; help mom choose fruits and vegetables at the grocery store; run household errands like fetching a sweater off a bed, closing a door, finding a pair of glasses.

By six, a child should be able to do a lot more. By letting go and letting a child do, other things fall naturally into place. Nobody wants to be an ornament.

Monday's Tattler

Do you know who these guys are? If you do, you win a free cookie. Just tell a teacher and you'll get your prize.

It's a bright week already. Started with a great day! Kids made parent gifts today. It was a mess, but we are sure you will like the result!

We have school pictures on Wednesday, and then later in the afternoon, we will be decorating the Christmas tree. It's an all school event.

We were very good about bathroom playing today - except for two little girls!

We also created our 12 days of Christmas song which we will practice and sing for Santa on the eighteenth! This year the children were very sweet and the things that are on their twelve days are very cute including FIIIIVE brand new puppies!

Please remember to get your Christmas gift for your child in by next Monday. Please do NOT bring this into school with your child. Please bring it to the kitchen after you drop off your child.

And if you can, please take a heart from the tree at the front of the school for the AIDs gentlemen. On it you will find one of their little needs. Kindness to anyone is still kindness in the eyes of God. "I was naked and you clothed me."

Please stop by and visit all our new animals. We continue to do new things with the pet room. Takes a lot of time, but we think it's worth it. If you have fish you no longer want at home, bring them by. I tried to get some at the pet food store, but they were temporarily out of stock.

Blessings!

Saturday's Newbee

Finally, a super-safe, incredibly comfortable booster seat is available for less than $15.00.

Harmony Juvenile introduces the LiteRider. This booster is incredibly lightweight and at $13.50, it's available for parents who can now have a booster in every car (rather than taking one in and out.)

The Harmony LiteRider is for kids 20-100 pounds. It exceeds the most stringent safety impact testing for ultimate safety and is exceptionally comfortable. There's a belt path that prevents children from sliding under the lap belt on impact.

The Harmony LiteRider is being sold at www.

Walmart.com and www.HarmonyJuvenile.com

Friday's Tattler

Lots going on at school this past week. Learning to think about "outcomes" and learning to think things through has been a kind of theme this past week. The children are all hyping for the Christmas season and their behavior needs a lot more thought. Getting them to think about this is not easy.

We had some winners for the Advent Boxes this week we were very pleased about. The Advent Box goes to the best behaved child in the school each day. The first winner was Trevor, second winner was Phoenix, third winner was Jasmin, and the fourth was Emily. We will announce Friday's winner on Monday.

We are trying new cookies every day. On Monday, we had a little number called Ginger Cream Cookies. Tuesday, Miss Molly made Thumbprint mint cookies on Wednesday, Mrs. St. Louis made cornkrispy treat wreaths. On Thursday, Miss Molly made Oatmeal Raisin cookies. On Friday, Miss Judy made Apple Cherry Crumb Bars - delicious.

We told the story of the Annunciation on Friday during Bible Stories, and on Tuesday, the children were able to intersect the navigation lines for Israel on the map. Miss Amy has been teaching a lot of modern Christmas songs, and this week we start the traditional carols.

Friday morning we rescued two chinchillas, a cage of six finches, some gerbils, and another rodent. We will be making room for these animals over the next few weeks. Children are welcomed to visit with a teacher.

It's busy, busy, and there is lots to do.

Teaching Thursday

One of the things that is a stumbling block to meal time is the ferocious screaming and talking and playing in the bathroom that children will do if not stopped. At the Garden School we are making every effort to Stop, Think, and Be careful in everything we do.

One of those things is attending our natural business in the bathroom quietly. We have talked and talked to the children about "sharing" in the bathroom because this lengthens the time that it takes to manage thirty five children taking care of their needs, sitting down, taking meal attendance, saying a quick prayer and finally eating.

When boys talk in the bathroom, their natural tendency is to push, to quarrel, and somebody gets hurt. When boys chatter in the bathroom, they will share stalls and somebody's feelings get hurt - not to mention the mess. When dealing with very young children, recess and hand washing effectively is a very hard thing to do well when a teacher is constantly trying to supervise the horseplay.

So since Thanksgiving, we have silenced the bathroom. Every child is reminded when he goes into the bathroom that there is no talking in the bathrooms. He is warned once, and then he will lose his medal. It is amazing how many children think the rules don't apply to them and have lost their medals this week for visiting, directing other children, fighting, and just not "thinking" when they go into the bathroom. This, of course, pulls a present off the Santa Prize string.

On the good side, when silence is maintained, the bathroom trip for all thirty five children is a little over five minutes. When the children are not quiet, the trip is closer to fifteen minutes. The best behaved children wait and wait, and it's simply not fair.

The question for teachers to ask is: Is it too difficult for children to do? Is the bathroom a place that teachers should allow for play? Is this a social zone that teachers are not aware of?

Collectively, Garden School teachers think that every child has the ability to do this. Perhaps the motivation is not there, but the ability certainly is. We teachers think the table is a better social zone than the bathroom. And collectively we think that hot food is better than a hot lunch that has cooled off.

The discipline of the guided child makes for a happier environment. Children come to the table quietly, thoughtfully and ready to eat when the free for all has been squashed.

In big school, children will need to know how to stand in line quietly, how to use the bathroom with other children with a fight free mentality. These are all good things to learn to do. We are proud of most of our children. Please encourage your child not to play in the bathroom at home and to remember to flush, wash his hands, face if necessary, and be quickly and quietly mindful of what he is doing in there !

Wonderful Wednesday's New Cookie Recipes

The Children of the GS really enjoyed these cookies:

Ginger Creams:

1/3 cup Canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup water
2 cups whole grain flour
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Vanilla frosting

Mix shortening, sugar, egg, molasses and water. Blend in remaining ingredients except frosting.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Drop dough by teaspoons on a Pam sprayed cookie sheet. They will be very runny and spread out on your cookie sheet. Bake for about 8 minutes. Cool and frost with a dab of frosting.

Frosting: in a food processor, put 1 stick of butter, 1 box powdered sugar, vanilla, and if you're daring, one raw egg white. Frost cookies when cool.

Tuesday's Thought

As children grow up and move into their own and independent lives, the role of the parent often continues to be "source and strength" for the child. That ideal of parenthood continues, but it continues on new ground. Many fledged children feel the vitality and freedom to explore and develop the ideas they formed in their teen years that directly contradict their parents philosophies. In response, parents cringe either because it's such a direct conflict or parents see the eventual crush that will occur because they made those mistakes themselves.

As the years pass, the adult child continues to see his or her parents as the ollie ollie oxenfree of their own lives. Whether it's financial, domestic, or their ability to cope, the safety zone of the older parent continues to be home base.

I was told by one of my children that one day in her mid twenties she suddenly discovered that I was human and flawed. It made me laugh at the time, but it ultimately meant that my pedestal had crashed and she didn't need me anymore. Independence has its costs!

One of the things that I reflect on a lot in my older parent moments of reflection are the ever elusive "issues" we all have in life. Did I brush aside my parents' issues because I was too busy with my own life? Did I allow my parents to have issues that I was willing to discuss with them? One of the things I have learned is that older people's issues are often ignored because those issues not so gently gnaw at the very pillars of the pedestals we continue to suspend for our parents. If mom or dad has a problem, it's a lot easier to sweep it, and all that comes with it, under the carpet because dealing with a crumbling mother or father is way more than most young people want to handle at any given time.

But the truth of the matter is that older people do have issues, and their ability to talk about those problems, fears and decisions are real, and they need the same time and effort that they routinely dish out to their children.

The idea that mom or dad never made a mistake and can never make a mistake often comes from a fear that if mom or dad is really human and not super parent, the idea must follow that I might be more on my own than I thought. People make mistakes, they err, and they make unpopular decisions. The question is more one of character than anything else. The question for children to ask about these unpopular times is: Is my parent making a mistake because they have lost character and are giving into popular whim, or are they maintaining a pattern they have always maintained? Is it really a mistake, or is it a decision that I don't like.

One of the things rarely done about unpopular decisions is to ask the question lovingly, "Why did you do what you did, or what were you thinking that made you make that decision?" Too often the ire and impatience of the young takes over, and the questions why and what are backhanded and threatening if they do come out at all. No one likes to be put on the stand as witness to their own behavior. Differences of opinion are best met with love and affection than anger.

Strong people who rarely if ever give over their philosophies and ways of life to lesser things are often regarded as the family stumbling blocks rather than the family cornerstones. The difference between stumbling block and cornerstone is generosity. The generous loving parent who does not bend to whim is a cornerstone. The selfish, ingenuous, mean spirited person who suits him or herself is the stumbling block.

How often are older parents regarded as the stumbling block when they manifest all the traits of the cornerstone! In my own life, I've been regarded as the block of the moment dozens of times. Mostly because the generosity is received as a right rather than a gift, and expected rather than appreciated, and when the ax falls it always makes me the monster of the moment.

One of my unfailing issues is life. As a battered and abused child who nearly died in spontaneous abortion, my life philosophy puts life of the unborn, the ill and the elderly as precious and important. I believe that all life is the cement of a real civilization, and the idea that any one of the most vulnerable of our society would be discarded like garbage is so loathsome to me, I would risk alienation from anyone to defend my point of view.

Regarding the older adult parent as a whole person with a point of view that is often different from a more common newer point of view is an important leap for the younger thinking person. The framework of thought does not start now; it starts in youth, and is built upon many things that are no longer a part of our world. Many things are brought out of childhood as just and right and good, and that commitment to just and right and good will not be deterred by popular whim.

But all these things said, the truth is, as the generations grow old, the young parent of the day will be the older parent of tomorrow, and the battle will continue to wage. It will be asked of any generation, what did they accomplish, what did they do to make the world a better place for the next generation, and the answer should be - much.