Review of Coming Back Stronger

As a supplement to my adventures in blog land, I became a book reviewer through Tyndale Blog Network. As a reviewer, Tyndale House Publishers provide me with a complimentary copy of a book, I read it, and then share my thoughts. My first book was Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Diversity. This book is an autobiography of Drew Brees and this is what I thought of it:


Drew Brees' autobiography, Coming Back Stronger, tells the story of an admiral person and professional athlete who overcomes a series of challenges in his life and career. Though I am not a fan of the NFL, this novel was both interesting and inspirational. I find it hard to believe that one could not read it and take back some message, meaning, or connection to his or her own life. The novel really allows for the reader to get into the mindset of a quarterback. I enjoyed hearing about games from a player's perspective. The writing, in my opinion, could have been stronger. Bree's seems to want to open up to the reader, and does for the most part, but at times I would have liked to see more emotion and detail about how the challenges were overcome. The memoir was filled with cliches, but it is very apparent that Brees has not only embraced, but lives by what they represent. Regardless of the mediocre writing, I finished the book satisfied and with a genuine respect for Brees, his teammates, and family.


And what does this have to do with being a teacher? At first I could not tell you, but the more I think about it, the more it has everything to do with being a teacher. It talks about motivation--internal and external motivation. It talks about overcoming challenges and failures--something I expect in my future career and I expect my students to have. It talks about the importance of family and community. The biggest lesson I learned from this book was related to the issue of trust and support. In Coming Back Stronger Brees talks about the feeling he had when being recruited by New Orleans. It was important to him to have a coaching staff and teammates who believed in him--people who were on his side. This support helped him become a better player. In my mind, it is this same trust and support that students need to be successful. Students need teachers and parents who believe that they can achieve. Before we can give them content knowledge, they must be ready to learn. We, as teachers, need to support students in their efforts. Brees intends his autobiography to be more than about football, and as a future teacher who does not know a lot about football, I can say in this aspect he was successful. 

Are you Christian?

I overheard a table of students talking about holidays and religion. One of the students asked another student:

"Are you Christian?"

Her response: "No! I'm Hannah!"

21

This week our arrival activity was Christmas Riddles. The children were working on word problems that used Christmas characters. I was working with one child who has a difficult time writing numbers and with number sense. He wrote "21" on his paper instead of "12." When I reminded him to fix it, this is what he said:

M: "But I like the number 21 better!"

Me: "Why? What is so special about 21?"

M: "Well I want to be 21 so I can be Santa."

Me: "I'm 21, am I old enough to be Santa?"

M: "Well maybe he is just a little bit older."

“If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job.”—Donald Quinn

Community Helpers Bingo

I have been reading a lot of blogs lately. I am addicted! There are so many great blogs by and for educators that I cannot seem to keep up. I started a folder in my documents for downloads from these sites about 2 weeks ago and it is already full! I have already downloaded about 30 different activities! My next big task is to organize them, but in the mean time I thought I would pay it forward so to speak.

Even though I am only a student teacher, I think I can contribute ideas and activities that other teachers can use. So here it goes: Community Helpers Bingo. This is probably my favorite lesson so far. My children LOVED it.

Materials and Directions:
- Print Bingo Cards. Each card has a combination of labeled community helper pictures on it. I put the cards in slip covers for durability (it is like cheap lamination!).The cards also have a full-page image of each community helper. I used these the first few rounds to help the children make sure they had the right answer to the clues.

- Give the children bingo markers. I used unit cubes because they are stackable and do not slide around easily.

- Print the Bingo Clues. I would read these clues and the children would be responsible for marking the corresponding clues on their board. I also supplemented the clues listed with images from community helper books we had read in class.

-Giving the clues: I would read each clue 2 or 3 times. The first few I called we discussed as a group. For the first few rounds I put up the corresponding full page picture. Then the children were on their own. I was pleased to see how well they worked with each other. They talked about their answers at the table and even helped each other find the pictures on their boards!

-Awarding prizes: I really did not want to emphasize the "winning" part. We would play until 3-4 winners called "Bingo". The first time a child won the game, I would check their board and give them a sticker. By the end of the lesson all of the children had won at least one game...I might have influenced the game a little bit and made sure certain helpers were called towards the end. I won't tell if you don't!

-Play, Play, Play! We played several rounds. We played lines, diagonals, corners, x's, T's, L's, and full cards. I drew a picture of what their card should look like on the board each time so the children could better understand what a "Bingo" looked like.

-Noise Level: This game was a little bit loud. I personally am not bothered by noise during games or activities. The children were really good about quieting down when I started to read the next clue, but you might want to use a timer or bell to transition between reading clues and looking time.

The children had such a good time with this activity, we left it out in our Science & Social Studies center for them to play independently.

Where do you go?

College is a never-ending source of mystery for many of my students. Even the students who have parents who are very well educated have some misconceptions about college. Things like the idea of a roommate and not being in class all day long are fascinating to my students. Here is one of the best things about college I have ever been asked, though it came from the daughter of a family friend, another beautiful first grader in my life.

"Michelle, Where do you go to the bathroom at college?"

My response: "Do you have a bathroom at your school? I have one at mine too."

What a great reminder about the simple, but very important things in life.

I am just sarcasm!

I was working with one of my students during writing. He was making a cover for his book and I kept sending him back to his seat to do better work and follow the directions given. The last time I sent him back to his seat he started sighing. I told him I thought he was exaggerating. 

His response, "I know Miss Prinzo, I am just being sarcasm. I am just sarcasm."