Inspirational Quotes on Education

“The highest stake of all is our ability to help children realize their full potential.”

And the best way to improve a child’s performance,” he added, “is to teach the child, not test the child.” - See more at: http://soe.unc.edu/news_events/news/2005/meisels_samuel.php#sthash.vnugTCE3.dpuf

 "The best way to improve a child's performance is to teach the child, not test the child."

And the best way to improve a child’s performance,” he added, “is to teach the child, not test the child.” - See more at: http://soe.unc.edu/news_events/news/2005/meisels_samuel.php#sthash.vnugTCE3.dpuf

And the best way to improve a child’s performance,” he added, “is to teach the child, not test the child.” - See more at: http://soe.unc.edu/news_events/news/2005/meisels_samuel.php#sthash.vnugTCE3.dpuf

And the best way to improve a child’s performance,” he added, “is to teach the child, not test the child.” - See more at: http://soe.unc.edu/news_events/news/2005/meisels_samuel.php#sthash.vnugTCE3.dpuf

 
-Samuel J. Meisel



 "I'm not here to save the world, I'm here just to make a difference in the community I'm working"

-Raymond Hernandez

My Childhood Web

The people listed below are the people who beginning during childhood through to adult hood have cared for, nurtured, loved, made me feel special and influenced that person I have grown to become.



My Mother:
My mom is tenacious, intelligent, loving, nurturing, and strong. She has directly and indirectly instilled so much of her in me. She always made me feel important and loved. I learned from her the importance of putting my best foot forward and letting all the rest fall away. She also taught me how to keep myself in check! She never discouraged my passionate feelings about anything but rather challenged me to channel them and to be in control of them rather than let them control me. 
 
My Father:
My father is intelligent, level headed, loving and patient. My father has always been a strong supporter. My dad has a calm and steady presence. I learned from him the importance of organizing your priorities and thinking one step ahead. My father has taught me how love can be understated and strong. I recognize different forms of love in others as a result of his ways of showing love. His love wasn't shown through lots of hugs and kisses but by being a constant guiding presence. He ensured that we were prepared for any endeavor whether it be that the car was prepared for the daily commute to school or that we had and knew everything we needed when it was time to leave for college.

My Sisters: Kheshia and Kayla

My sisters are my first and forever friends. Kheshia is loving and nurturing. She has amazing passion and empathy. She is my older sister and she helped to carve the path for my life. She has and is always willing to listen and give advice. She is my go to for sharing new ideas because she masterfully sees the positives and negatives and shares them in a way that is empowering. Kayla is my buddy! She brings out the humorous side of me. I there is a part of both of us that just clicks and we understand each other's playful and childlike side. Kayla has taught me the importance of directing opinion and energy exactly where you want it for maximum impact. She doesn't waste energy concerning herself with small things. However when she really cares she is sure to voice her opinion and feeling strongly. By doing this her presence is made known and valued. Being that I am sandwiched in the middle by birth order my sisters have taught me how to be a leader and a follower. How to carve out a path that is unique and individualized to me and when to follow in anther's footsteps.

My Friends: Danielle and Belen

Danielle and Belen make up my longest standing friendships. We have been friends since the 3rd grade (16 years!). Throughout our time together these ladies have taught me the power and love of true friendship. Danielle is strong minded and one of the smartest people I know. She has strong opinions and is not afraid to share them. She is open minded with a huge giving heart. Belen is extremely passionate, she too has strong opinions. To me Belen represents the world, she takes on many worldly things such as politics, music, health issues and culture and embraces them making up a well rounded mind and spirit. She has a big beautiful smile accompanied by a warm laugh. Both of these ladies fight fiercely for their ideas and those who they care about. They helped to form my identity outside of my family. They share the same family values with their families as I do with mine but have shown how these values can manifest in various ways. It is so rare to grow up and maintain a friendship like ours over childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. I am so blessed and honored to have had such amazing positive influences on my education, personal identity, and spirit.

My Weapon of Choice: Education

Image retrieved from : https://ourgroup.org/media/cache/ogthumb69/bc/69bccb1806923977a2e17e86db243ad0/13745080281979a53_1.png

The Wretched Stone by Chris van Allsburg

photo take from http://mrsapiasclassroom.com/blogs-by-sapia/the-wretched-stone/

One of my favorite children's book is The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg. What I love about this book is that it blatantly and creatively stressing the importance of literacy;reading, writing and speaking while subtly showing the negative impact of too much visual media such at television. The illustrations in the book are vibrant and beautiful and help to draw the reader into the world created by the author. The learn more visit:
Chris Van Allsburg website with book summary

A Child Who Touched My Heart

I was recently touched and inspired by a student that I taught last year. When the student came to my class they were extremely intelligent,creative, and independent. This however often became lost behind the lack of organizational skills, out burst, and underdeveloped social skills with peers. Overall it appeared the student was in school succeeding academically on tests but wasn't engaged in school, the learning process, or their peers. As always I was prepped on the students' in my class prior to the year starting. Most of the responses I received about this student started as positive with anecdotes about how smart the student was but were quickly followed by all the things that set them apart from others and that frustrated teachers. I choose to do what I always do, listen to my colleagues feedback and then store it in the back of my mind until I formed my own relationship and opinion and then pull on the information shared with me as needed. I also listened to the positives and concerns of the family. As the first few months progressed I took a more observatory role and just watched how the student responded to various request and environments. I noticed that they choose to read on their own at recess or  secluded themselves and chat out loud with them self. In class they generally daydreamed during the lesson and then didn't quiet know what to do during independent work, but with a little guidance was successful in work completion. I noticed how they engaged with peers in large and small group work. After I had gathered enough mental notes I then put some plans in actions. I set up a self guided and personalized system to improve their organizational skills, when they were found eligible for TAG services I tailored the program to the student including content that was very engaging to them. One of the things that I did that I think had the greatest impact on me and on the student was that I always kept in mind that everything I was asking of them was a challenge and that I had to remain calm and firm. I did my best to calmly approach and quietly redirect to keep the child from feeling embarrassed. I posed difficult task as a challenge to the student when I realized that they really enjoyed overcoming challenges. I even had the student be my assistant and taught them how important their role was in the classroom to help other students when I wasn't available. I often heard from others in the building " how to you deal with _____, they must drive you crazy". My response was " No, not really, I'm not going to change who they are or their personality so I have to adapt myself and help guide them through appropriate social engagement and help them recognized and respond to social cues." Of course we often don't get to see the deep rooted impact we have on children however, I am posting this story because this was one of the rare instances that I did get to see the impact. One day while chatting with the student's mother she shared with me how happy she and her child was with the school year. She shared with me what her child told her about me. The child said something along the lines of "You know mom Ms. Cashwell isn't mean she doesn't yell or scream but she is fair and firm and she means business." I was very flattered because that is ultimately what I want students to see me as. This was especially meaningful because the family had expressed that they thought the child had been yelled at a lot in school. Over the course of the year I saw the student engage and initiate in recess play with other students daily, smile much more often and take ownership of the things that are challenging to them and set goals for improvement. This story is a simple one but I share it as a reminder to myself and to others that a positive approach to the small things have a huge and lasting impact. This student is now in the third grade and is successful academically and socially and has a strong sense of self esteem and importance. 

Integrating the Visual Arts into Math!

This year my class had the opportunity to study the different types of lines and shapes of artist Wassily Kandinsky to launch our geometry unit in math. We then created our own Kandinsky inspired mural as a class. I choose to post this artwork because it represents what I want to incorporate more of into my classroom; cooperative, fun,engaging,cross-curricular, differentiated and thought provoking learning. Here are the math objectives for this lesson:

Objectives:

·    Students will be able to describe the location of an object relative to another(above, below, next to) and identify 2D geometric figures (circle, triangle,etc.)regardless of their position and orientation in space.

  

·    Students will compare the size and shape of 2D geometric shapes.

    This project was so much fun and the students became very familiar with using attributes to describe shapes and lines such as horizontal, vertical, straight, above, below and next to. This also gave the students the opportunity to work collaboratively as artists. When we all finished placing the construction paper that we cut to be various colors, sizes and shapes we took a step back and decided as a class on the composition of the piece whether our shapes should be more spread out,condensed or shift up,down left or right. Finally the students named their art work " Shape City" and it was hung in the hallway with the following challenge to those passing by:

Can you describe the quantity, size, color and shape of the objects? Try using this sentence to help you:

I see ____________,        ________,  ________,  _______

    (quantity- how many)        (size)          (color)       (shape)

Can you find

  

       one                        medium               yellow                   circle?

     (quantity)                  (size)                  (color)                  (shape)

                       

 

I think I can, I think I can

Here is my first attempt at blogging. I think I have successfully created a blog and now will have also completed my first post. I tried to add an RSS feed as well but not so sure I was successful in that! If you are reading this and can let me know by commenting whether I accomplished that goal or not that, that would be great! Looking forward to this new frontier!