in the files below. I dont have the book for the assignment and was wondering if you would still be able to complete the assignment?
Microsoft Word - Perfect Day.doc Perfect Day: Mediation about teaching A student in a teacher seminar once asked me, “Did you ever have a perfect day when you taught elementary school?” The question made me think for a moment. I said, “Yes, I have, but only one day comes to mind.” It is funny. In the 18 years I taught in California public schools only one day stands out as being perfect. That is not to say that many other days were not good in themselves. Rather, this day was the best day because I learned something. My perfect day happened in November 1984 when I was teaching a Spanish bilingual kindergarten at San Pedro Street School, Los Angeles. I remember the year because it was also the year my baby brother Victor was killed. Victor died in a car crash in San Bernardino, California. He died in August at the age of 19 years.. The emotional and psychological toll on my family and me was intense. The baby of the family was gone. To be honest, I do not recall many details about the funeral because the pain was so strong. Nevertheless, I resume teaching in September unsure I could manage. My resolve was to do the best I could and teach. I feel strongly that it is my responsibility as a teacher to always be there for my students and do the best I can. So my perfect had much to do with grieving over the loss of my brother. It also had to do with an oak tree. At the time, there was a huge oak tree in the kindergarten courtyard of San Pedro Street School. It was the largest tree in the neighborhood. You could see it a half mile away it was so big. When the sun shined the courtyard was complete shaded by the oak tree’s full branches. Because an oak tree is deciduous, it’s leaves change color with the seasons. While looking at the oak tree one day I decided to teach a unit about autumn because there are no real seasons in Los Angeles. The oak tree, I felt, would serve as an emblem of how seasons pass and the impact that climate has upon leaves and plants. Having made my decision, I developed a unit about the autumn. On my perfect day in November I woke up felling happy. It was Friday morning. I was excited about what we going to do at school. This Friday was to be the culmination of my unit about autumn. I had planned the day to be a day-long experience with a number of learning activities. When I entered my classroom I was still happy. The weeks prior I felt as if I had been swimming in a sea of grief but now I landed on an island. Standing on solid ground, I was happy. I prepared the materials for the day’s work. The school bell rang at 8:00 a.m. It was a cold morning; the children straggled into the classroom all jumpy and excited. We took off our jackets, hung them the closet. Lunch bags were deposited into their proper corner. Everyone was laughing. Everything was in sync. I do believe there was not a single argument between my students that day. I sat my students down on the rug and we sang the good morning songs. I talked to them about the day, about what we were going to do in our work stations. I read stories about autumn to the class. We recited leaf poems, “The red leaves are dancing, the orange one laugh, the brown leaves wave good bye to the branches of the tree.” I showed them autumn pictures of trees in various parts of our country. I asked the group, “Why do you think the leaves of some trees change color? My students did not know. I explained that the reason the leaves change color is that the sap withdraws from the leaves when the cold weather comes in autumn. The sap leaves the leaves retreating to the trunk of the tree. In this way the tree can survive the winter. So as the sap retreats the leaves change from green to red, orange to red, red to brown because the leaves are dying. Eventually the dead leaves drop and that is why autumn is also called the fall. After the lesson we divided up and worked in our stations. In those days I worked with two wonderful women, Minnie Grimes, my teaching partner, and Estella Villanueva, our paraprofessional. Mrs. Grimes worked the station where the children painted oversized leaves with red, orange, and yellow paint. Mrs. Villanueva helped the children create window art with leaves and wax paper. After cutting two circles of wax paper, the children sprinkled crayon shavings, pieces of paper, and leaves onto one of the circles. Mrs. V. then carefully took the circle and placed in on a ironing board. Placing the second circle on top of the collage, Mrs. Villanueva ironed the circles together. The crayon shavings and the wax melted to form window art. The finished circles were taped onto the classroom windows for all to see. At my station I had a big drawing of a tree without leaves on the floor. The children had to come and draw leaves on the branches of the trees. I also had them draw a line from their leaves to show how the sap retreats to the trunk in autumn. I wanted my students to think further about why leaves change colors so while they worked I asked repeatedly, “Why do the colors change?” Hearing the explanations offered by my students provided a wonderful assessment about new learning. It was great to hear their words. Before we left for morning recess we cleaned up our classroom. The children returned to the rug. I sat in front of the group to explain our last activity before recess. “Today,” I told the class, “ we are going to be a forest. I want you each to grab two bean bags from this bucket, one for each hand. We will pretend to be trees, the bean bags are leaves. Do you understand?” After checking for understanding, each child grabbed their bean bags. “Alright class,” I continued, “Find a place in our classroom to stand. You can stand anywhere so long as I can see you.” The children scurried to their places. It was remarkable how creative their were in choosing a place to stand. The children stood beside my desk, beside our sink, next to door, in the middle of our group rug, and in our class library. When they settled down I continued, “Stand still. You are trees. Put a bag in each hand. Now open your arms. Your arms are the branches, your body the trunk. It is spring now. Your new leaves are starting to come out. Show me your leaves. What color are the leaves?” “Light green,” the class chanted.” “Good, “ I said, “Stand for a moment in the rain. Your leaves are growing. They are still connected to you. Stand in the rain.” M y students stood for a moment. “Good,” I said,” now it is summer. Your leaves are full grown. Let them dangle in your branches, put don’t let them fall. Hang on little leaves. Hang on. Now children, stand like a tree in the summer sun. The bees fly around you. Families are having a picnic underneath you because you give them shade.” “Jesus,” I asked, “what is your family eating? “Tamales!” said Jesus. “Rojelia,” I asked, What is your family eating?” “Arroz con leche and ice cream,” replied Rojelia. “Very good,” I said, “Now class, stand for a moment. Yes, the summer is ending and it is starting to get cold. The families are gone; they are safe at home. Fires are burning in the fireplaces. The leaves are falling now. I want you all to hang on to your leaves. I will say the following words: cold, colder, coldest. Remember, coldest means the most cold. When you hear the word coldest I want you drop your leaves. Hang on until you hear the word, coldest. Do you understand?” “Yes, “ the forest said. “Here we go, “ I continued, “Cold, cold, colder, colder, colder, coldest.” At the signal the bean bags fell. The children giggled. “Very good, class,” I said,” Now stand still. It is the fall.” A moment later I continued, “The fall is ending and winter is coming. We have to be quiet in the winter. The snow has fallen. The leaves are buried beneath the snow. It is the quiet time, be quiet. Quiet, quiet. Think about the winter…” The children stood for thirty seconds. In that quiet I had a thought that Victor’s birthday is November first. Were he alive Victor would have been twenty years old. I felt him near me and I did not speak. “The winter is over class,” I told the children, “What will happen next?” “The spring,” the children shouted. “And what will come