Lessons Learned from the Bunny Teacher: January 2018

Friday, January 26, 2018

“Good teachers know how to bring out the best in students.” Charles Kuralt

The Grammy Awards provided a great platform for teachers this week, as they awarded a Music Educator Award to an elementary music teacher in the South Bronx. Teacher Melissa Salguero is making a huge difference in the lives of her students every single day.

Melissa began her teaching career in Florida, but she chose to go to PS 48 just 7 years ago to resurrect a music program that had been abandoned for 30 years. When Melissa arrived at the school, one of the neediest of all the public schools, they did not have a school song, instruments, or even a school mascot. All of that has changed.

Students arrive one hour before school begins to learn and practice their instruments, which are provided to students free of charge. Band is strictly a before school activity. Melissa’s innovative methods of teaching music, chorus, and band have earned her the respect and adoration of her students.

I applaud the efforts of this extraordinary teacher! In a school with a 22% homeless population, her skills as a teacher and empathy for others have raised children to embrace learning and attend school, even coming in an hour early. She has set high expectations for her students, and they have responded by meeting, and even exceeding, those expectations. She has made them believe they can do wonderful things with their talents and by working hard, like sing, and play the trombone, and be a part of something greater than one person..

It is a red-letter day when educators are recognized for their work. Please take a few minutes to watch the CBS story of this amazing teacher. You will see that here students love her so much, and she is the reason they come to school. Teaching is all about relationships, and she has touched the heart of each of her students. Melissa won a personal prize of $10,000, which she is putting toward her college debt, and a matching amount for the school, which will go toward the purchase of new instruments for the students. This story is so inspiring! Congratulations to Melissa, and to every teacher who is making a difference, with or without the public recognition. #teachersmatter

Here is the link to the story: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2018-grammy-music-educator-award-winner-bronx-music-teacher-melissa-salguero/

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Rittman Publishing, LLC ®

Please invite Grady Gets Glasses (and me) into your school. if you are not in the Pittsburgh area, we do virtual field trips with a group called Field Trip Zoom. www.Fieldtripzoom.com GRADY GETS GLASSES was the winner of Best New Children's Book 2016 from The Authors' Zone. For more information about The Authors' Zone, please visit http://www.theauthorszone.com/submissions/

Visit Dede's webpage for complete details on her award-winning book, STUDENT TEACHING: THE INSIDE SCOOP FROM A MASTER TEACHER. Many colleges have made the book required reading. Signed copies are available www.dederittman.com Dede is also a national speaker on The Three C's for Classroom success: Confidence, communication, and Creativity; Avoiding Teacher burnout; and many other inspirational topics.

I LOVE writing. And I love writing children's books- my newest passion. Although it will be a ton of work, I am looking forward to selling my books. Since I was a secondary teacher, I know that I have much to learn about elementary students, and I will have to follow my own advice and be my genuine self. However, I also know that I am passionate about helping kids who have to wear glasses, and that GRADY GETS GLASSES sends a positive message. I am willing to work hard and do all the things that also made me a successful teacher for 37 years. I remain inspired!

Elementary teachers in Western Pennsylvania and beyond - I am willing to come into your classroom in person or as a virtual field trip through a group called Field Trip Zoom. Check them out! http://www.fieldtripzoom.com/

Teacher friends- let me know if you want me to read GRADY GETS GLASSES at your school. I am willing to come in to discuss the creative writing process, why writing is important, and personal fulfillment through writing, along with reading my book. I would appreciate the exposure, and I would make signed copies available for purchase in your classrooms following the reading. Please email me at dederittman@gmail.com The website www.gradygetsglasses.com now has plush Grady bunnies for sale!

Please like Dede's new page Grady Gets Glasses for updates about her children's book. https://www.facebook.com/gradygetsglasses?ref=hl

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Sunday, January 21, 2018

"Expectation is the mother of all frustration." Antonio Banderas

This week has been a challenging one for me. On Tuesday evening, my barely-4-years-old desktop computer stopped being connected to the Internet. I took it to the Geek Squad, and the network card was broken. I attempted to circumvent the issue with a wireless net connector, but even that would not work. Additionally, my laptop developed a virus, which the Geek Squad fixed through a remote connection, and two days later, the computer started acting the same way as before the fix. Many hours later, it was fixed remotely again- the touch screen was not working correctly, and the technician had to disable that function.

The news is I bought a new computer today, Sunday, and I am not happy about it. When I buy a product and take care of it, I expect it to work correctly.

Then, on Thursday night at 11 pm, a major transformer exploded in Pittsburgh's North Hills, plunging 2400 customers into darkness and no electricity for 21 hours. I was already so frustrated by the computer experiences, and dealing with no electric made a bad situation even worse. I live in a valley, and my iPhone will not work without the booster from AT&T, so I did not even have phone service. Once again, when I pay for a service, I expect it to work, or at least, to be repaired in a timely manner, but I had no control over the situation.

Can you sense my frustration? Before the power outage, I spent at least 12 hours trying to connect to the Internet, following suggested methods for addressing the problem from researching the problem on my iPad. After the power returned, I spent 2 hours on the phone with the Asus support people trying to get the wireless network device to work, and another 2 hours with a technician at my home, who said that whatever was broken in the motherboard, it was not worth spending the money to fix.

This week was filled with so many wasted hours, working to control things that I had absolutely no control over, although I thought I did. My frustration had even turned to anger!

Thinking about all the frustrating events of my week, I reflected on the anger and frustration of many of my former students who lived with severe learning disabilities. So many of them tried and tried to meet teacher expectations, but they needed a different pathway to learning, because the methods being used by many of their teachers simply were not working. As their English teacher, I worked with these students individually, asking questions and helping them to devise ways to get information into the brain without causing so much frustration! We made silly sing-song sentences, used highlighters, read with note cards, and I even made elaborate study guides to serve the sequential learners, along with hundreds of other tricks. Every student with special needs presented a new challenge; I wanted to help them because of their level of frustration, and the anger that ensued from that frustration. Teachers who do not understand student frustration become angry when the student is angry. All that does is escalate a situation.I always found it was better to ask the student, "What is really wrong?" Allowing a student to vent leads to creating a solution, as well as student-teacher understanding. Isn't that what we want for our students?

So, I have vented. My power is restored, but my new computer will not be ready until Thursday. I can't control that. However, just sharing this information with my readers has helped to relieve my frustration, which I can control, and for that, I thank you. Teachers, please reach out to your angry/frustrated students! They need to be heard, and helped, because dealing with frustration of not being able to meet expectations is difficult.

Have a great week.

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Rittman Publishing, LLC ®

Saturday, January 13, 2018

"TEACHING - The profession that creates all other professions." - Anonymous

I believe that overall, teachers in the United States are undervalued. Discuss teaching with any group, and you will hear phrases like, "They only work 9 months a year," or "They don't really have to WORK very hard." Statements like that continue to infuriate me, but I think the biggest slap against teachers came this week when a teacher in Louisiana questioned the 27% raise of the school superintendent, and she was taken out of the school board meeting in handcuffs. (Teachers in that district have not had a raise for 10 years.) It is plain to see that teachers are NOT valued in that district.

I watched this story on the news and read about it online, along with the rest of the country. Along with thousands of others, I thought, "This can't be happening in the United States!" But it did - all because of a single teacher questioning a raise.

People need to wake up! Teachers are the profession that creates all other professions. Teachers work with students of all ability levels, encouraging each child to be the best he can be. Every teacher I know spends hundreds of dollars of their own money to buy classroom supplies. Watch the national news, and you will see that teachers work in some terrible conditions, with students from all walks of life, including homelessness, to help children to move forward to a better life. Like many of my former colleagues and friends who are still teaching, I loved being in the classroom, teaching, and all of the challenges that came with it. I was fortunate to teach in a school district that valued teachers, and our salaries were commensurate with that value. Many of my counterparts across the country are not so fortunate.

I hope Deyshia Hargrave receives an apology from the school board who had her removed in Vermillion Parish, Louisiana. I applaud her courage in speaking up, when others were afraid. Deyshia knows the value of good teachers, and she is not afraid to extol that value. Here is the link about the story: http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/10/us/louisiana-teacher-jailed-speaks/index.html and the link about Deyshia asking for an apology: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/01/11/louisiana-teacher-demands-apology-after-being-handcuffed-meeting/1023615001/

Indeed, the value of good teachers cannot be fully measured, and all other professions are created by those who choose a life of service through teaching.

I am grateful for the many good teachers in my life. Those wonderful educators not only encouraged me, they also were my role models and mentors. #thankateacher

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Rittman Publishing, LLC ®

Saturday, January 6, 2018

"I think it's important to find the little things in everyday life that make you happy." Paula Cole

If you live anywhere in the Midwest, Northeast, or East, temperatures these past two weeks have been brutally cold, with no end in sight. All schools in the Pittsburgh area are already called off for Friday, January 5, because of wind chills of more than 20 degrees below zero, which is dangerously cold. The "Bombogenesis" storm hitting the East coast will not give snow to Pittsburgh - just lower temperatures in an already really deep freeze.

I love the change of seasons in Pittsburgh, and all the weather that comes with them. I have always enjoyed reading about weather ( I am a big fan of the Weather Channel, too.) I really like studying the weather and noting how the weather shapes both people and the environment. Right now, the pictures of the just-about-frozen Niagara Falls that have been circulating are both intriguing and thrilling. I have been to the Falls many times - in the summer. What unbelievable beauty! When I am looking at the Falls, I like to think about what it would have been like to be the first person who ever saw this giant gorge filled with water, and how a person could possibly describe such a sight! The stunning beauty of the pictures of the frozen Falls is almost too beautiful to grasp. (If the weather breaks a little, I think I may take a drive up for the day to see this unusual phenomenon. If you haven't seen any pictures- these ones from USA Today are great!) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/01/03/niagara-falls-freezes-over-winter-weather-slams-u-s/999124001/

The extremes in temperature provide so many beautiful and unusual patterns in nature - almost like paintings - from the frozen crystals of a car windshield to the wind-whipped icy feather drawings on windows. The loud crunch of the snow underfoot and the freeze/burn of inhaling such cold air through frozen nostril hair makes every sense more aware,reminding me that even such brutal cold offers real beauty to appreciate and enjoy.

As one of my New Year's resolutions, I am choosing to be more joyful, and part of that joy is about recognizing and embracing beauty, while expressing gratitude for all that surrounds me. Even with these extreme temperatures, I am finding much beauty in the temporarily frozen tundra which Pittsburgh has become. Take a look around! Our world is beautiful - even below zero! #Keepingitpositive

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Rittman Publishing, LLC ®