Tag: Family

Posted in Reflections, Thoughts About Children

Summer…2021…

Posted on by Janis Sexton
Summer can be a lonely time for our children…

This challenging school year has ended for most children… Some may be attending summer programs…


Yet, so many of our young children will be missing that needed routine of attending school…

To them, school is their refuge; getting that love and attention from teachers, school staff, and classmates …maybe the only love they receive…

Our children in need…

In addition, they may also be dealing with food insecurity…And they rely on our free breakfast and lunch programs… Hopefully, many of our communities continue providing meals for those children…

That I lose sleep at night worrying about my students. How can I be a better teacher, role model, and leader? —Sarah H…

We as teachers know our children…And even during the times away from the classroom…So worry about those special children…

Posted in Reflections, Thoughts About Children

Begin Again…

Posted on by Janis Sexton

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Summer will soon be over for me, as I always like to start back early to set up my classroom…

Starting back earlier than the required time, gives me the much needed time to plan, organize, and utilize my creativity hoping to make it a “great year”…

I have found through my many years of experience;

Setting up a well organized classroom is fundamentally crucial to the success of the beginning of a new school year…

Supplies are essential, and I do hope my new students will be able to contribute…However, because our school has such a diverse population, I do realize, and understand many will not be able to help…We teachers do receive a small  budget, so in order to provide for our children, we do have to pay for much of our supplies out of our own pocket…

I can always hope after the many years of teaching, we would have the necessary funding and support for our precious children and our public education system…

I do love utilizing my creativity in decorating the classroom…I do believe a classroom, especially with young children, should be warm and inviting…one that will inspire
learning…

My hope is to have such a classroom, even with all the rigors and demands…My children will want to learn, and want to return each and every day!

Summer… Time for reflection…

This 2013-2014 school year is over…With each year, the summer gives me that chance to reflect…

My first thought, this year especially, is acknowledging how exhausted I am; All the extra demands of testing and keeping up the pace of a more challenging curriculum…While striving to keep the children motivated and engaged…

I do also worry how my children spend their summer’s free time…

Throughout the school year I spent my teaching time encouraging them the “love of reading”; encouraging parents to take their child to the public library…And now with this extra time, I so do hope my parents “if” they have the time in their challenging lives… to take their child to the public library… to become the owner of their personal library card, that will open up their “World” to all the joys of the Public Library; SummerPrograms..Movies…Reading Books…And free Computer time!

I will most definitely worry about my children; and how regularly they will eat…So many of them come from such chaos, and our classroom providing them that safety net.. At school they would have their breakfast, lunch, and many snacks that I would routinely provide…

Most of all, I too will be able to come back to school in August ready and recharged to be the best I can be… even with all its demands and rigors…Our children deserve no less…

Summer…A Time…to Reflect…

Quote• Posted on by Janis Sexton
Posted in Reflections

Spring Break…2014

Posted on by Janis Sexton

A week to rest and recharge…  My Children need that time for a break too!

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I do have concerns with many of my children… They have a week off to be in very unstructured lives… Many do  not eat well, nor sleep well…  I do try to instill and empower them with the desire to make safe choices, I try to provide reading and math work to do over this break….But of course they are little ones, and I do worry…

Posted in Reflections

Teaching Reading….

Posted on by Janis Sexton

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I have loved the joy of teaching young children to read…. It has been such a delight in seeing them for the first time realize they can read….There is such a look on their precious faces of surprise …

This year for me has been a quite challenging…Our school is a diverse school in a progressive district…We do have a majority of children from poverty…Our school does have a reputation, even with the challenges… Always striving to maintain the status quo… With all the demands of Common Core Curriculum, and the rigors of Testing…. These challenges, added to the many other teaching responsibilities…

We struggle with the problem our children face who live in such impoverished conditions…

I will always inspire my children to love to read, even with all these demands… I do feel though, no one is listening to our children…They are our future...

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I have always believed my role as teacher, would be such an influence on the many children I have taught…

Accepting this crucial role;

One being that positive role model, is the most critical responsibility; not which I have taken lightly…

Moreover, because I have taken on this responsibility, especially realizing in my later years; It has been of my opinion that I need to demonstrate my style through my actions; even with my appearance; those essential values that would hopefully teach my students how to balance their need to belong in being social;

To becoming that critical thinker; a person of integrity; one who who would respect and accept our differences…

I have believed to accomplish this; I have had to utilize my flair for drama, art, and my professionalism thus making our classroom warm, structured and a safe environment that  fosters such values as: having a strong work ethic; practicing kindness within our classroom essential with our classmates and others around our school ; learning to be honest and speaking the truth; learning how to cooperate and work through conflicts with their words; and especially the understanding and acceptance of our differences…

Hopefully, the outcome for my students would be to learn and appreciate values that they will need to become active and productive adults…living a true life…

I feel the children of today who live in poverty, many of the children that I teach, due to circumstance have few positive role models to guide them with the choices they make ; Therefore, I have felt the need to be that strong influencer in their lives…Hopefully making that difference…

Being a Role Model