Welcome to my blog!  This is a representation of the puzzles and questions I have from my experiences working with children and while training in my Masters of Arts in Teaching program at Chatham University.

When you think of the expression "P's and Q's" you probably think of "watching your behavior or manners."

"I" am the one watching "manners and behavior" of the children I work with in an after-school program and during my field observation and student teaching.  But "P's and Q's" also represents all the "puzzles" and "questions" that have bubbled up for me.  Puzzles and questions I want to solve in order to be most effective as a teacher.

I want to create  a safe and structured environment, one in which children feel free to ask questions and be themselves.

I do not want to be an authoritative teacher who yelps at every "i" that isn't dotted.

Like a bricklayer, I believe it is my work as a teacher to learn how to help children learn best, brick by brick, class by class, subject by subject, moment to moment.  And so, some big questions and puzzles:

          Puzzle: What environments and strategies are important in their growth and understanding?

         Question: How do I create a classroom discipline, a behavior management system without being too mean or too much of a pushover?

          Puzzling question: How do I build rapport with students and help them to learn social skills? And this perhaps is THE question that resonates most for me, because I think it is soooo important!

         THE BIG ONE: How will I set the stage for students so they can learn about themselves with joy and light-heartedness?  So they can share their gifts and talents, contributing to something larger than themselves?

Why do I write?  Why do I care about these issues? -Because it is my hope that students stay strong enough as they learn and grow to see both sides of an issue, to work collaboratively and with verve.

        School: An institution that perhaps is like no other, having seen so many children pass through its doors.

        School: a beautiful foundation where the groundwork of building character, academic success, and a child's sense of "self" emerges and evolves.

Thank you for reading this introduction.  I hope you continue to tune in as I post my insights and experiences, and as I figure out how-- like the mortar of the bricks--everything "sticks" together.  Perhaps you can even offer your experience and advice, as well.

Much Peace,
MEGAN