OH! The world owes me a living....

I remember when I was a kid, there was an old Disney cartoon about Aesop's the grasshopper and the ants.   The ant spent all summer gathering food and storing it away for the winter while the grasshopper just sat around and played music.  The song he played was, "Oh, the world owes me a living...(insert violin music here)." The video was part of Disney's Silly Symphonies shorts.  We had just gotten cable TV (yes, I'm a child of the 80's) and Disney channel was new, so I watched it every afternoon.   I have included a YouTube link of the video (just for nostalgia's sake).

The grasshopper spent his entire spring/summer playing and singing with no thought about how he would prepare for winter.  He felt entitled to have his summers free from work. He couldn't be bothered by work.  It was "foolishness" to him.  However, when winter came, he found himself in dire straits.  He was cold and hungry.   As he drug himself to the ants' colony, he peeked inside to see the ants all feasting and enjoying the fruits of their labor.  Grasshopper weakly knocked on the door and was carried inside and nursed back to health by the kind and generous ants that he had earlier mocked and ridiculed.  When the queen ant saw the grasshopper among her colony, she said to him, "With ants, only those who work can stay.  So take your fiddle....and play."  The queen was quick to remind the grasshopper that he was still responsible to earn his keep in some way.  He had to somehow contribute to the feast.  The grasshopper's talents were then enlisted to liven up the festivities.  We never find out if the grasshopper really learned his lesson and went on to work through the next summer, but I think that Aesop and Disney would want us to infer that moral.

Entitlement is an issue that we hear a lot about these days. Entitlement encompasses two attitudes: (1) I am exempt from responsibility, and (2) I am owed special treatment.  In other words, I don't have to do my part, and I should get special treatment.

Many of us have "grasshoppers" in our lives. Perhaps it is a co-worker, family member or friend who wants you to wave a hand over their situation and fix their problems.  Maybe your child, despite your best parental efforts, has chosen a path of laziness.  They feel they deserve special treatment with no responsibility.  I am not exempt from "grasshoppers" myself.  I have a sibling who is a perpetual "grasshopper".  I also fight this battle at home with my own children.  We all want our children to do well and maybe have things or do things we didn't have the opportunity to do.   It is a struggle as a parent to find the balance. The difficulty comes in trying to teach them that what they have comes from work or effort of some kind.  It is not "owed" to them just because they were born into this world.  My husband and I want our children to understand that and we hope that we are teaching them correctly.

As an educator, I see many, many grasshoppers.  I see it in all ages and all socio-economic areas.  There is an epidemic among young people of entitlement.  I feel as an educator it is part of my job to show students that their grades, behavior, etc. are all related to their choices.  I say time and time again, "I don't give grades-you earn them."  "I don't give marks, your choices determine your behavior marks."  Don't get me wrong...many students will own their choices-both good and bad.  However, there are always a few that want to throw me under the bus, so to speak.  Their failure on the test or project, their inability to attend the behavior reward party is all due to some fault of someone else.  They plead this case to their parents and even to me or my colleagues in an attempt to get a different result.

Our job as parents is to be our child's advocate.  If we don't speak up for them and defend them, then who will? RIGHT? Absolutely!  I have been guilty myself of jumping to the wrong conclusion about a situation.  I have emailed teachers to ask questions and receive clarification.  I have called assistant principals to ask about a recess or lunchroom issue.  But I ALWAYS look for my child's responsibility in the situation.  Believe me, as good as my kids are, they are NOT perfect.  They do things that embarrass me and make me question my parenting sometimes.  I am not immune.  I learned the hard way how tough crow is to swallow.  So, (keeping with my growth mindset) I learned from my mistakes and I approach issues in a different manner...so as not to make a fool of myself.

I was reading just the other day and came across a post about entitlement by Dr. John Townsend.  He has written a book called The Entitlement Cure.  In this post, he discusses the Biblical story of Naaman and Elisha.  In this story he describes how Naaman, a powerful man, was offended by Elisha's instructions to come wash in the river to cure his leprosy.  Naaman expected Elisha to come to him, say a few "magic" words and he would be cured.  He felt entitled.

Dr. Townsend goes on to say that the way to cure entitlement starts with compassion.  In the post I read, he gave three tips on how to help entitled people (of any age).  I have listed them below.

1. Be truly "for" them.  Entitled people need support.  Even when they are driving you crazy, frustrating you, and making you feel helpless, they still need elements of grace.  We all have failed and need second and third chances.  This will help you have mercy and identify with the person, keeping you away from being judgmental or giving up too soon.
2. Be clear about your expectations.  Entitlement often causes people to not listen well to requirements and to others' needs and expectations.  Because those things don't support their view of themselves as special and above the rules, they tend to dismiss them.  Do all you can to defeat this dismissive attitude by being unmistakable in what you want from them.  Whether it is specifically defining a payment plan or writing out a goal for their future career path, err on the side of being over-clear.  Clarity requires that you don't assume anything in your relationship with your entitled person.  (Just a quick aside-THIS IS WHAT I TRY TO DO IN THE CLASSROOM!!!! I TRY TO MAKE ALL ASSIGNMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS CLEAR SO THAT STUDENTS ABSOLUTELY KNOW WHAT I WANT FROM THEM!)
3. Find health.  Look for friends, churches, counselors and coaches who are full of grace and truth and who could be a resource for your entitled person. Finding your entitled friend, co-worker, child this kind of help isn't being codependent or enabling.  It is supporting them.  It is doing something for them that they can't do well for themselves. 

-Dr. John Townsend, The Entitlement Cure

Entitlement is not an incurable epidemic.  It won't be fixed by a wave of a hand.  It will take patience, consistency, and compassion to help those who feel entitled become who they were meant to be. We don't want the people we love to get stuck on the escalator.  Watch this humorous video to understand.

I look forward to seeing you at parent/teacher conferences this week.  As I said in our last post, we ARE all in this together.  We are a TEAM united to give our students the best education and provide the best possible future for them. 

Happy reading-

Mrs. Tipton

One down...3 to go!

Can you believe we've already been in school for a whole nine weeks?  Friday marks the last day of the quarter.  It has gone by like a whirlwind!!  I guess time flies when you are having fun.

It has certainly been a busy nine weeks.  We have read 2 novels, completed a project, increased our vocabulary, and learned to identify eight different types of figurative language.

I was pleased to see that, so far, the majority of the projects have been very well done.  I have had more A's and B's on these than I have in the past.  I hope that continues to be the trend.  I'm glad that most of the students took this assignment seriously, listened to my instruction in class and applied it to their work.

We will be jumping into a non-fiction unit next month.  I hope to be able to do some really interesting things in class that will engage the students and get them excited about our study.

If you have not purchased a copy of Tuck Everlasting and would like to do so, you have until October 26.  I will send off the book orders then.  It would be very beneficial for your child to have a copy of the book.  The project that goes with that nine weeks will be a lot easier for them if they can highlight or mark pages and specific evidence in their book.  Of course, this is NOT a requirement.  It is just a suggestion to help make things a little easier on the kids.  This month I can purchase the text for $1.

And some FANTASTIC news to report....ACCELERATED READER IS NOW WORKING AT FMIS!!!!!  Students have taken their STAR test in my class.  I will add this assessment to the others that I have done so that I have a better understanding of where students are in their reading abilities.  Students are now REQUIRED to take AR tests over books that they read and finish.  By Friday, students must take a quiz over Holes and their fantasy novels.  We will take an AR quiz over The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe after we discuss and review next week.

Again, thanks for all the support you give me.  It won't be long...this year will be over in the blink of an eye.

Happy reading-
Mrs. Tipton

Responsiblility or Accountability?

"Accountability is something that is left when responsibility has been subtracted." -Pasi Sahlberg

I think this quote is amazingly accurate.  When one is responsible, accountability is not necessary.  It is almost the end of the first quarter.  Many students have acclimated themselves to the "5th grade lifestyle" so to speak.  They remember to follow procedures, do their assignments, and participate in class.  These students understand that the bar is high and they are rising to the occasion.  These children are being responsible for their education.  They do not need to me to continually remind them to do what is necessary.  Accountability is not required.

Unfortunately, this is not a unanimous occurrence.    There are a few students who are behaving in an irresponsible manner.  They come to class without their materials...OFTEN.  They "forget" to do their assignments.  These children even fail to follow the procedures (example:  completing their agenda) that are repeated in ALL THREE CLASSES.  This is when I have to hold them accountable.

As of today, I have a total of 12 grades in the grade book.  I have another 5 or 6 coming before the end of the quarter.  Students have been given several opportunities to correct or override some mistakes or poor scores.  One of these opportunities was the reading log.  This was worth 100 points. It is the EASIEST assignment I will ever give.  Students just have to read and write down what they read on 20 different dates.  I want them to read EVERYDAY, but they only have to write down 20 of those days.  That's it.  They can read a book, a bible study, a magazine, newspaper, Internet article...anything with words!  Even studying for another test is reading...IT COUNTS!  When students are not responsible and fail to complete or turn this in, it results in a traumatic decline in their overall score.  For example....one student had a 55% because he/she failed to turn in his/her reading log.  Had he/she turned it in, his/her score would have been a 71%.  A reading log could be the difference in passing or failing a nine weeks.  Please encourage your child to do this assignment.  Hold them accountable if they are not responsible.  I promise it is an important assignment.

Back to classroom responsibilities:

I have added independent work centers to my daily routine.  In these centers, students are expected to complete their word study practice, check over it, and ask me any questions for clarification.  We do a "check point" on Wednesdays because we do not have work centers on that day since it is our library day.  After word study is completed, students move on to writers' workshop.  In writing workshop, students choose a prompt or topic and write according to the directions given.  Students are generally given a full 5 days to 1.) write a rough draft, 2.) self-revise and edit, 3.) peer revise and edit, 4.) write a corrected final draft.  At this time, these are the only work centers we are implementing.  The goal is to make sure students understand the procedures for these two centers so that they are independent of me.  My role during this 30 minutes will eventually be to meet with small groups to work on skills that those students need to improve.  The rest of the class will need to be responsible for their own work so that I can work with these students for an uninterrupted amount of time.

I know 5th grade is an adjustment for kids.  We work with them, remind them, encourage them...we want them to be successful.  However, at some point, they have to take responsibility for their education.  They have to decide whether or not it is important.  They have to see the value in it.  You and I can hold them accountable because they are minors and are not mature enough to make every decision on their own. We just need to work together so that they understand that it is their responsibility to take advantage of this educational opportunity that is available to them.

As the gang at East High would say, "We're all in this together!" (It's a High School Musical reference-just in case you didn't have a daughter who was obsessed with the movies)

Happy reading-
Mrs. Tipton