Old Lady Status

I tell my kids at school that I am working on my "old lady" status. Over Christmas Break, I taught myself how to crochet....blanket currently in progress. I am looking forward to the spring so I can spend time in the flower beds....tulips are peaking. My latest "old lady" skill: looking into genealogy. It all started with a moment of curiosity: who used to live in my 101 year old home?

Image from Society6

I knew the family name who came before us but that was all. So after utilizing the fantastic tools made available by my local public library, I had a name and began his story. Louis Strecker was an immigrant from Germany who grew up to open a local skating rink that is still in operation today.  (I actually just accompanied my kids on a field trip to the skating rink that Louis owned before I knew the connection!) I followed the "breadcrumbs" of details through obituaries, marriage records, and census data. It has become like playing detective without the awesome hat or magnifying glass.

I shared my new "old lady" excitement with the kids at school today. We were discussing "urbanization" as related to the Industrial Revolution. The Strecker family left Germany to Ohio where Louis Strecker's father worked as a glass blower. The moral of the story: history isn't famous people who dot our textbooks.  History is an accumulation of average people who believed that the future held promise. History shows us that things can go wrong, horribly and tragically wrong. But after each terrible thing, a new dawn....a new chapter.

To me, history is the knowledge that there have been countless family dinners in my dining room. History is the fact the Louis married Rose and they raised their children in the same rooms that my daughter is currently playing in. History is personal. When we as teachers approach history as the collection of "dates, names, and vocab words", we deprive our students of the curiosity that is born from the ghosts of history.

Stay curious friends.....you never know what you will find.
-time to brew the coffee....
Hannah

Adapting to Reality

I am a creature of habit. My husband laughs at me because my favorite color to wear is black. I order the same thing off the menu when we go out to eat. I have a favorite pair of shoes I wear all too often. However, I do like change a lot. To me, change is the invitation for betterment. Does the "new change" always work? Heavens no! But to change it ultimately to take a chance.

I changed it up in class today. I used a new app called Spiral, based out of London, that fits for a 1:1 classroom. Spiral found me via Twitter and I thought I would give it a chance. In a nutshell: today I was able to get instant feedback from my students without anyone raising their hand.

 That looks like a very different classroom from the image I've created in my mind. I want to see the classroom of Mr. Keating's before my eyes (Dead Poet's Society is my favorite....Oh Captain my Captain?!) where students are actively participating with curiosity at the core.

But that isn't typically what I see. I have great kids.....wonderful kids......but no one is jumping off desks for a new perspective. So today I took the different perspective. I changed the format. I jumped off the desk to see things different. What to know what I saw? A dramatic change of student participation. Students gained confidence to attempt an answer because they didn't have to worry about getting the answer wrong in front of their peers. As a teacher, I want my kids to accept change and take chances because imagine life if they didn't? However, I can't expect my kids to educationally "jump off the desk" if I stay comfortable in my chair.
-enjoy your coffee-
Hannah

And here we go....

Honest admission: this is my first blog post ever. This blog is in response to an online class I signed up for. The idea of a blog is daunting as I sit and imagine what to say. Should I start with my teaching philosophy? The goals for teaching? My fear of frogs?! I'm not an expert "blogger". I don't know if expert applies to anything in my life. But as a teacher, I don't want the title of expert for any area of my life. Rather, I want to continue improving and never settle. Thus....I'm bloggin'.

I love teaching my students. Coffee makes the morning (and evenings of grading) possible. The combination of family, students, history, and coffee makes for a job that I love. So without further ado, an introduction. My name is Hannah Montanez and I am in my sixth year of teaching Social Studies to 8th graders, further referred to as my kids. 

***Writing temporarily halted by the following conversation:
toddler: "um Mommy, my shirt is wet"
me: "It is?"
toddler: "I was washing the table with my water"
My "momma investigation" found she used a dryer sheet left over from the laundry to dunk into her water glass and wash the table. She's awesome. :)

As a teacher, time is a rare commodity. When I first thought about the blog project, I as an individual, mom, wife, and teacher wondered were that would fit into the daily life. But then I paused....as a teacher, mom, and a wife don't I ask people all around me to reflect on where they are and what they will pursue next? Reflection isn't easy. For the past six years I have had a sticky note taped to my Mac. The faded (and slightly grungy) orange sticky note reminds me daily: "Simplicity is difficult because it requires honesty". This was a thought of mine that came about in conversation with my husband/beloved side-kick years ago (he teaches too). So I will reflect on where I have been along the path of teaching and where I hope to go. I plan to incorporate my rambling reflections along with (hopefully) more polished pieces to meet the requirements for my class. Either way, I hope to write simply and honestly to do the daunting task of reflection.
-better brew more coffee.....
Hannah