The beginning of my why...

Have you ever lost your why?  In teaching everyone always talks about their why.  Why I teach.

Why I get up in the morning. Why I plan fun and engaging lessons.  Why I collaborate with my team. 

Why I have fun with my students. It’s the why!  Well a few years ago I lost my why.  I don’t want to blame it on one

particular thing; it was a cumulation of things.  I missed a few past co-workers,I was moved to another building

across the street, I lost my father unexpectedly, I wasn’t taking care of myself physically or mentally, I was seeing

behaviors I had never seen in Kindergarten; the list goes on but those are just to name a few.  So last summer I was

contemplating working a new job (Target?--I can look good in red) maybe just for a year to figure out my why, but I

was scared of change even though my why was gone I held onto hope I would find it again in my teaching.  

Then the school year started.  My classroom was ready for the kids and they were ready to learn! Eager to learn.

They came to school with smiles on their faces and said things like ‘this game is so fun,’ ‘I love this project.’

Not all of them had that attitude but the majority of them did and that positive attitude spread.  I found a little bit of

my why.  Was it coming back this year?  Then at the end of January when a lot of teachers lose their why because of

the Winter, cold, snow, no daylight, my why fully came back!!!  Here I just wanted to share how inquiry, student-led

learning can be the most powerful tool for a teacher (besides maybe wine after a week of hearing your name being

said 200+ times).  

We were starting our How we organize ourselves unit.  The central idea is “A community is made up of people who

live and work together.” Our provocation is having our students dress up as what they want to be when they grow up. 

As they walked in the door you can see the excitement.  We had a parade with all of the Kindergartners and it was

fun to see all the professions from the typical jobs (doctor, police officer) to the unique jobs (DJ, YouTuber).  We had

some different activities planned for them but what really gave me the why was when the students had free play. I

looked around the classroom and saw magic happening.  Some kids set up a beauty salon and pretended

(thank goodness) to cut each other’s hair.  

“Srta. Becky I’ll do your nails while they cut your hair.”

Others took the classroom stuffed animals and played Veterinarian, the Yoga teacher even joined in the play

because she wanted to teach Yoga to the animals to help calm them down.

“I’m helping Clifford calm down before his shot!”

  Then I looked over at the kitchen area and saw the chefs making food, the construction worker hammering the

restaurant’s table to fix it and the artists painting the restaurant a mural.  

“I am measuring for the restaurant”

“This is a painting for the restaurant” 

I was in awe.  They were coming together to create that restaurant.  During our reflection the architect said

“I can build a lego model of the restaurant and the construction worker can build it.”  The Field of Dreams quote

entered my head “If you build it they will come.”  So what did we decide to do—make a restaurant in our classroom. 

My why was alive!

I went home on a Friday and my head was spinning–there was soooo much we could do.  We could connect it to math

, literacy, writing, oh my!  I had to slow down and truly think about how this could work but also allow my students

to take the lead.  On Monday I assigned the two chefs to come up with a name for the restaurant–they decided on

Ramen y dulces (Ramen and sweets), RD for short.  That day I allowed more play to happen and listened to what the

kids said.  I wrote down what they were saying–I heard things like ‘it’s crowded in here’ ‘I want to be a maid so I can

clean the restaurant’ ‘who is going to be the customer.’ On Tuesday I allowed more play to happen, we reflected,

looked at different pictures of restaurants and talked about our plan.  We would have the architect be in charge

(he would verbally give us directions instead of building a lego model) and we would help the construction worker

to build it.  So Wednesday we were ready (unfortunately this week the flu was going around so the construction

worker was sick) but we kept on going.  The kids said ‘we can help Bob (I’ve changed the name of the construction

worker) since he is sick.’  So this part was hard for me….I usually like to be in control but nope I let a 6 year old

take over.  The 6 year old architect gave us his plan.  He would say ‘move that tree over there,’ ‘move the tables

like this,’ ‘Srta. Becky hang the plants above the tables,’ ‘Oh we need our St. Lucia lights’ (we learned about

St. Lucia during our celebrations unit so we had candles).  I was in awe.  Here were these 5 and 6 year olds all

working together to create an amazing restaurant.  

Afterwards we circled up and reflected again–what went well, what did they like, what did they notice.  Then I told

them to go home and think about who else works at a restaurant besides chefs.  Thursday came and I had 5 more

kids gone, but we kept on going!  I listened to them again in the restaurant and wrote what they were saying down

‘we need menus, decorations and a sign so people know what our restaurant is’—this would keep driving our inquiry.

  After free play we talked about who else works at a restaurant.  They said ‘maids, servers and a manager.’ I asked

how many do they think we need of each.  We decided together how many we needed.  Side note for the servers they

were saying numbers like 100, 50, 10 and then I noticed a girl stand up, count the tables in the restaurant, sit down

and raise her hand.  I called on her and she said 7!  I asked why, she said because there are 7 tables.  A few students

stood up and started to count and one student said yep that’s right 7!  We defined each role and talked about their

responsibilities.  We even discussed how customers ‘should’ act at a restaurant.  That afternoon I made necklaces

for the different jobs and planned for Friday where we would make decorations (connect it to math), menus

(connect it to literacy) and the sign.  

Well Friday came and guess what?  I had 8 kids gone so only 12 kids in the class but we kept on going!  For

decorations we made paper chains. Students worked in groups of two to decide what pattern they would make

(AB, AABB, ABB, ABC), then they picked colors and worked together to make the chains.  For the sign I had them

vote the day before what images they wanted on the sign and I drew it up (my best teacher drawing) on a big piece

of paper and the kids worked together to color the sign. 

 

For the menus I printed out clipart pictures of ramen, desserts and drinks.  One of my assistants

(picture below–gracias Profe Anna!) made a cover for the menu and the kids cut and glued what they wanted in

their menu.  

I saw a little girl giggling and I asked ‘what’s so funny?’ She responded ‘I’m just so excited, I love this!’ 

There’s my why.  I don’t know what Monday will bring, how many kids will be sick or what the kids will say

while playing in our restaurant. But I do know I found my why again and this Friday night my teacher heart is full

(and my tummy is a little wonky as well).