Tootin’ My Horn

We had parent-teacher conferences yesterday.  In spite of my disappointment about some of the calls I made to disinterested parents, over half of the parents showed up.  I think that’s great compared to last year when I think I had 3 or 4 parents show.  Some of the ones who said, “Nah, I can’t come in,” surprised me and showed up!  Yeah!

Most of the folks seemed a bit shell-shocked.  Apparently, I’m a pretty demanding teacher.  Who knew?  (Insert evil grin here.)  They said they haven’t seen this much homework ever and ALL the parents who came in said they’ve NEVER had homework in Spanish.  Interesting, especially considering we are a bilingual program.  (I’m not sure if I believe it or not.)  My mantra to them was pretty much, Get used to it.  I’m getting the kids ready for middle school.  They all seemed open to that.  Either that or they’re afraid of me (anybody who knows me knows that’s REALLY funny).  One of the dads said, “You don’t know what power you have over these kids.  Whenever they act up, I say to my wife, where is Ms. Whiz’ phone number?  I’m going to call her…and the kids scream, NO, DADDY, NO! and they behave!”  Nice.  Muahahahaha.  I love my class SO much this year!

I had a really nice conference with one of the parents and at the end of it, she said, “I just HAVE to know…WHERE are you from?”  I said here.  She said, “But where were you BORN?”  I said, the United States.  She looked at me like she didn’t believe me.  “Then HOW do you speak Spanish so well???”  I said, I studied in Mexico.  She slapped the table and said, “I KNEW IT!  I KNEW you were Mexican!  You LOOK like a Mexican!”  Too funny.  (For the record, I’m NOT Mexican, but I always say mi alma es mexicana. )

 So, the day was good, but it got better.

My principal did his observation of me teaching last week.  He gave me the post-observation feedback yesterday.  He was SO positive.  His ONLY suggestion was that I walk around the room more.  That’s it.  I was very nervous about this observation because I’m still such a new teacher (year-wise, but I have a good deal of “life” experience).  I know I’m being a braggin’ dragon, but I have to list some of his comments.

“Ms. Whiz is an insightful teacher who has challenged her students to maintain her expectations for learning to take place.”

“All students were on task from the start of the lesson to the finish.”

“The culture of the classroom has high academic integrity.”

“Response to student misbehavior was firm yet discreet and dignified.”

“Students feel safe and encouraged to take academic risks.” 

“If a student took a risk and did not get the correct answer, Ms. Whiz found a way to frame her feedback in a positive manner to encourage her students.”  

“Ms. Whiz continually encouraged her students to dig deeper, to analyze, to synthesize, to think critically.”

“Ms. Whiz’s acceptance and patience for her students set the tone for the climate of the room.”

“Ms. Whiz consistently established respect for her student in her interactions with them.”

“It was a pleasure to be in this positive and stimulating learning environment.” 

He said I was a masterful teacher.  Wow.  That’s awesome to hear it from an outside source (especially when that source is my boss).  I’m bookmarking this post for those down days (cuz I KNOW they’re out there!).  It’ll be nice to have this as a pick me up when I’m singing “Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll go eat worms…”

Goin’ Postal

Ok.  So maybe it’s the fact that my students were NUTS today.  Maybe it’s the fact that today there’s a full moon.  Maybe it’s the fact that I am an elementary school teacher and when my students are rude, I call them on their behavior.  Maybe I just couldn’t shut that off.

I was going to pick up my daughter this afternoon from sports.  It was just dark as I backed out of our driveway and proceeded up the street.  I stopped at a stop sign and continued.  Suddenly, there was a huge pick-up right behind me.  He must’ve been FLYING because he wasn’t there when I made my first stop.  I kept going on to the next stop sign.  This guy was RIGHT ON MY BUTT.  I stopped at the stop sign, and he did too, but only because I did.  When I say this guy was tailgating, it’s an understatement.  I kept my cool and just kept going, hitting the speed limit of 30 mph.  This guy continued to stay right on my tail only NOW he started flashing his brights at me.

Have I mentioned that I drive a teeny, tiny car and this behemoth was blinding me?  I fail to understand how people (who are probably [mostly] well-behaved in person) turn into monsters once they are surrounded by steel.  I was getting irritated.

At the next stop sign, I put the car in park and got out to go see what was the problem.  (I know, I know, that’s why I said I was going postal.  Probably NOT the sanest thing to do, but like I said, he was being RUDE [not to mention UNSAFE] and I was going to call him on it.)  I went up to the window to see this tiny old man (figures) behind the wheel.  He pretended not to notice me.  Too funny.  Seriously–at this point, I almost started to laugh (inwardly).  Dude, you’re up my butt and flashing me and now I’m in your face and you’re gonna pretend I’m not here?  Ok.  I tapped on the glass and said  Excuse me, sir, I couldn’t help but noticing you flashing your lights at me.  Is something the matter?  He kept looking forward, but said, (through the closed window, mind you), “You’re blocking my way.”  Ay-yuh.  (Damn straight, I’m blocking your way, you old codger.)  I said, Really?  Well, you were flashing me, so I figured something must be wrong and I wanted to check.  Are you ok? 

He gets a piece of paper and a pen and starts craning his neck over his dashboard (looking for my license plate I guess?  HARD TO SEE IT WHEN YOU’RE ON MY ASS, ISN’T IT???).  At this point, it all just felt so ridiculous.  I wanted to say, I work with crazy little people all day long; BRING IT, OLD MAN.  I didn’t though.  I just repeated, Are you ok?  He said, “You blocked my way back there.”  I replied, Was that because I was making a LEGAL STOP?

At this point, one of my friends (neighbor) walks by and says, “Are you ok?”  I cheerily say, Oh yes, fine, except this guy was tailgating me all the way down the street with his brights on high, so I just wanted to see what the problem was.  She says, “Oh!  Love you!” and walks on.  (She knows me oh-so-well!)

The guy is a little less belligerent now and repeats, “You’re blocking my way.”  I say, Like I said, I was just checking.  Nothing wrong?  He says, “No.”  I say, Ok, then.  And I got back in my car, pulled up to the stop sign, made a complete stop, and went on my way.  I almost HOPE he turns in my license plate–I’d love for an officer to come talk to me. 

Now I get to imagine all the reasons he was in such a hurry and was so rude.  Maybe he had a fight with his mommy?  Maybe he was on the way to the pharmacy for his Viagra and Rogaine?  Maybe he’s just a jerk.

~sigh~  Reminder to self.  Treat people nicely, even if I am surrounded by 1,000 pounds of steel.

Current Reads: October 2009

How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely.  This is one of the funniest books I’ve read in a while.  Basically, the main character, a man who “dreams big” (not) and makes his living by rewriting other people’s garbage into essays that will get them into college, has been jilted.  His ex-girlfriend falls in love with someone else and invites him to the wedding.  He decides he must humiliate her and the best way to do that is to become a best-selling novelist.  Trouble is, he doesn’t have the time or the history to really write a novel, so he researches the NY Times best-seller list and, after careful analysis, says that in order for a novel to be a best-seller, it has to have a natural disaster, a secret club of some kind and a tragedy.  So, he sets out to write The Tornado Ashes Club.  I love the main character and his snarky earnestness.  He reminds me a little of Dr. Horrible.  I love watching the changes he goes though.  I laughed out loud a LOT.  There’s a LOT more to the book.  I highly recommend it!

Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster.  My friend Institutrice recommended Jen Lancaster to me.  I read Pretty in Plaid  and giggled my way through it.  This one, not so much.  It was still the same wonderful Jen, but the topic (dieting) didn’t do it for me.  I’m on the lookout for her other books though.  Love, love, LOVE this author, but didn’t love this book.

I’m a Stranger Here Myself  by Bill Bryson.  Bill Bryson is another author I love.  This is a compilation of his newspaper columns.  It’s REALLY funny.  There’s some good material here to use as mentor texts for my kids and their writing of personal narrative and personal essays.  His article on how many Sven Svensons and Johan Johansons in Sweden is hysterical.

When Everything Changed: The Amazing journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins.  I’m always thinking about the broad shoulders I stand on and I’m grateful for the women who came before me so I can do what I do and be who I am.  I like this book for the history and insight it offers, although it is a bit dry.  I must admit I’m more used to fiction and while reading this book, I kept waiting for the conflict to come up! 

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.  I heard some story on NPR that talked about this book (and another that was written because of it).  I didn’t get the name of the book that was written because of it (which sounded more interesting), but I figured I’d read this one.  I haven’t gotten very far, it’s kind of tough going for me.  I’ll let you know next month if I make it through.

Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind by Phillip Done.  This one was left in our faculty room, so I snapped it up.  It’s another really sweet book about teaching by Done, the author of 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny.  (Thanks for the head’s up, about this author, Institutrice!)

Why the Adirondacks Look the Way They Do: A Natural History by Mike Storey.  Yeah, ok, so this one probably wouldn’t make it on the list of anyone outside of this area.  I liked it though, since we spend so much time climbing around in these mountains.  The book has more than just why the mountains look the way they do.  It also has information about the plants and animals.  There are LOTS of drawings and photos.  One of my fondest hopes would be to take my class for a hike in the ADK.  This book is going to provide a great deal of the information I’ll use for my lesson plans if that happens!

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt.  I’m re-reading this book for an after-school book club that several other teachers and I are starting at school as part of a gifted program.  I adore this book.  I love the characters so much.  And I love the way the author deals with the concepts of racism and injustice.  I can’t recommend this book highly enough.  I’m also excited that I get to share it with some of my students.

Cuando Tía Lola vino (de visita) a quedarse by Julia Alvarez.  I’m reading this book to prepare for our next read-aloud.  It’s a sweet story that is relevant to many of my kids (mom and dad are getting a divorce).  The family is Dominican (also relevant).  Tía Lola comes to stay with the family and help them get acclimated to their new life in Vermont.  She’s wonderfully friendly and has an extremely positive attitude, in spite of not speaking much English and living in an almost entirely English-only environment.  It’s a great look at trying to manage two cultures.  I’m excited about reading it to my kids.  It’s in Spanish, but I definitely think the vocabulary will be accessible to all my students.

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt.  I read this one in preparation for my unit on the Civil War.  I love this book and think it gives an excellent perspective on how the Civil War changed so many lives.  I also love how it’s told from Jethro’s point of view.  Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be able to use it for a whole class read aloud.  I might be able to use it with some of my higher readers though.

Ice Cream, You Scream, NO WAY!

We did our banking yesterday.  Instead of an auction this month, I offered tickets to an ice cream social that we held today.  The price was $500.  Four kids bought tickets.  They don’t “get” the point, obviously (delayed gratification).  They had a great time and asked if I was going to do it again.  I said yep, sure.  They were so excited.  Then one of them asked, “And it’ll be $500, right?”  Oh, no, it’s going to be a LOT more.  Their little faces were so sad.  It almost got to me.  Almost.  Cuz they didn’t get it, but I think they got an inkling.  They WILL get it when other children buy their desks and they have to pay their money to other kids.

However, there were several children who did (and do) “get it”.  I had one boy earn about $625 in bonus money!  He was able to buy his own desk!  YEAH!  I made a big deal out of it, printing out the deed and handing it to him with great fanfare.  Everyone applauded.  Another sharp little guy, Billy, is about $300 away from buying his seat, but, like I said, he was soooooo tempted by the ice cream.  His brother was in the class last year, so he thought he knew what was going to happen.  He was explaining to the others, “Oh, it’s $500 to get in and that gets you one scoop of vanilla, but you have to pay for everything else.”  I corrected him, no, Billy, that’s not how I’m doing it.  This year you get all the fixin’s and more for the price of admission.  His faces twisted into contortions and you could just SEE the wheels turning!  I think he was considering, “Wow, I COULD get all this for $500.  What a bargain.”  It was as if he was listening to the angel and the devil on either shoulder.  He was SO conflicted.  Suddenly he said, “NO!  I’m saving for my desk!”  YES!  YES!  YES!  He understands! 

The boy who bought his desk was so adorable.  He said, “Now what happens to my rent money?”  I said, you keep it.  I could see the gears turning and suddenly the light bulb went off.  The look that came over his face was priceless!  “Ohhhhhhhhh.”  He was thrilled.  So am I.

First Referral: F*%#

~Sigh~ 

I had to write my first referral yesterday.  I was SO bummed.  We almost made it two months!

I co-teach our Spanish Language Arts with another teacher.  She was doing the lesson.  Maximillio was getting really frustrated because he wanted a part in the readers’ theater and the other teacher didn’t call on him.  I noticed he had his hands under his desk, so I casually walked over to see what he was doing.  He had carved the word, “f-u-c-k” into the bottom of his text book.  I felt like Holden Caulfield.  I was shocked.  He’s a GOOD kid.  Really.  He just made a stupid decision.

I didn’t even get mad, I just took the book, shook my head and walked up to the front of the room to get a referral form.  Here’s the irony of the situation: I couldn’t FIND any because I HAVEN’T HAD TO WRITE ONE!  I finally got one and filled it out, with little Maximillio sitting there, tears streaming down his face.

Oh well, everyone makes mistakes.  He spent some quality time with the assistant principal sandpapering the word off the book.  Hopefully he won’t do anything like this again.

~Sigh~

Your Report Cards Are Done

What are you gonna do now?

I’m gonna blog and blog and blog! 

Principal = First Teacher

Have I mentioned how much I like my new boss?  Well, I do.  I’ve seen many little signs about how good he is over the past few weeks, but he’s so calm, so unreadable, I was withholding judgement.  After yesterday (and last week’s staff meeting), I am ready to follow him anywhere.

First, about yesterday.  My daughter and my son both came home from school on Monday.  They had been at a crew meet all day on Saturday, in the dink and the dank and the wind and the rain.  It was HORRIBLE.  Still, they’re hardy children, and we figured they’d be ok.  Wrong.  My husband got calls on Monday.  First he went to get my son.  Then my daughter called at 1:30.  He told me later to sign him up for parent of the year because he said to her, “You’ve only got 45 minutes to go.  Can’t you tough it out?”  To which the nurse (who I guess had overheard) yelled, “TELL HIM YOU HAVE A FEVER OF 102!!!”  (Ooops.)  My husband picked her up and was able to be with them on Monday and then on Tuesday morning, but after that, he had meetings at work and could not stay. 

Neither of us wanted the kids to be left at home alone that sick, but I was really worried about asking for time off.  (Have I given my rant about how no one works harder than elementary school teachers?  I love how when SOME teachers call in sick, a sub isn’t even called for them.  But me?  No.  My students MUST have someone there!  And since subs are almost impossible to come by in our school–truly, it’s mind-boggling–I don’t like to ask for time off.  Ever.)  Still, I had to try.  These are my kids.

I went in and asked the principal if I could go home.  I told him that I would wait until lunch, drop my class off and then go, and that I’d only need someone to cover for me for 45 minutes, since the kids had music at the end of the day and I could ask the music teacher if she’d dismiss them.  He didn’t bat an eye.  He said, “It’s your kids.  You HAVE to go.”  (He had me at kids.)  Then we went to the secretary and he said, “Ms. N., Ms. Whiz needs to take some time to be with her kids, but she’s being nice enough NOT to take the whole afternoon.  Can we help her cover her class?”  Ms. N. said, “Sure.”  (Did I mention I also love her?)

I got the plans for language arts together and left.  When I came back in this morning, I checked my email and saw that the principal had personally sent out a plea asking for someone to cover my class.  When no one was available, HE covered my class.  All I can say is WOW.  He left a note on the chalkboard that listed what they had done (covering all my material) and how the kids had behaved.  He gave them an A-.    I thanked him profusely and told him that when I think about “principal,” I think of it in the old-fashioned term, when it meant, “First or top teacher” and that’s surely how I saw him.  He just grinned and said he’d had a great time, that it’s been a few years since he’s been in the classroom, and that he enjoyed it very much.  Awesome.

Here’s the second story about him, the one I heard last week.

Our school has a really high suspension rate, something that really surprised me when I got the job interview.  I couldn’t believe that an elementary school could be a “dangerous” school, but ours is.  (Our principal says, “This is completely unacceptable and we have to cut our suspensions in HALF.”  I agree and if I were a betting woman, I’d put my money on him.)  A few weeks ago, we had our first suspension.  One of the kids brought a toy gun to school.  He bought the gun right around the corner at a store near our school.  We have a zero tolerance policy, so out he went.

The principal was upset and rightly so.  He sent a letter to the store owner saying how upset he was about the incident and citing that toy guns de-sensitize our kids to violence.  He said that as a former secondary school principal, he’s seen the other end of it and it’s not such a stretch to go from a toy gun to pulling a real one on someone at a gas station.  He got no response from the owner, so he decided to pay him a visit.  (A side note here.  Our principal is a pretty sizeable guy and a very sharp dresser.  He wears a suit EVERY day and the man KNOWS how to accessorize.  He wears his hair military short.  Everything about him says, “Authority.”)  He called our local cops (the ones who are often in our school), tucked the gun in his waist band, and they went to the store.  When he walked in with the cops, the owner assumed he was a detective.  “I pulled open my jacket to expose the gun.  When I started to pull it out, the owner got VERY nervous; at least, until he finally saw the orange tape around the end.”

I gotta say, that takes a pair.

But it doesn’t end there.  He spoke to the owner and asked him to please stop selling the guns.  But he also gave him a suggestion.  He said, “You stop selling the guns and we can get together our supply lists and get them to you early.  You can stock the stuff the kids need and we’ll put your name on the supply lists when they go out, so if a kid needs 400 green folders, you’ll have them on hand and the kids can buy local.  It’s a win-win situation.”

We’ll see what happens.

All I know is he is a true PRINCIPAL.

Ice Cream for Breakfast

The end of the month is coming.  (I can hardly believe it!)  That means payday for my students, and boy, howdy, are they excited!  They’ve been desperate to know what we’re going to be doing.  I told them that I was not going to do an auction EVERY month (it gets to be a bit overwhelming) and that I like to keep changing it up for them anyway.  (Keeps ‘em on their toes!)  I told them I’d be doing an “ad” for what we’d have on Tuesday.

So, yesterday, I brought in all the fixin’s for an ice cream sundae, and once they were in the room and working on their morning work, I started getting the things out.  I started to slowly and deliberately make myself an elaborate sundae.  Shiny bowl.  Big scooper.  Ice cream (chocolate AND vanilla).  Double fudge topping (move the arm UP and down for dramatic effect).  Big SHUUUUUUUSH of whipped cream (out of the can, of course!).  Sprinkle on m&ms (plain, not peanut…allergies, don’tcha know).  Finally, add the cherry on top.  By this time, you KNOW I had their COMPLETE attention.

You know, I said, Ice cream isn’t JUST for breakfast anymore.  And then I began to eat the sundae in dramatic fashion (channeling Steven Colbert all the way).  Mmmmmmm, I said, Mmmm, mmm, mmmmmmm.  This is sooooo good.  They were watching me, their mouths hanging open.  Finally, they couldn’t take anymore.  “MS. WHIZ!  WHY YOU SO MEAN?!?!?”  Mean?  Me?  Oh, no no no, babies.  I’m not mean.  I’m teaching you about LIFE.  Some of the kids started to get it.  “Ohhhhh.  We’re gonna have an ice cream party on Friday!!!”  Yes, indeed!  Mmmmmm.  “Can we come?”  It’s MAY we come and of course.  You just have to pay.  “Uh-oh.  How much?”  It’s $500.  “FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS???  WHY SO MUCH???”  It just is.

Here’s what I love.  Last year, there would’ve been an uproar.  This year, no way.  The kids immediately put their heads down and started thinking about how much money they had.  I could SEE them calculating!  One girl said, “Huh.  $500 for ice cream.  That’s whack.  I’m not going.  I’m saving for my desk.”  (GOOD GIRL!)  One boy REALLY wants to come.  I’ve given them until tomorrow to decide.  This boy is going back and forth: “Do I go?  Or do I save to buy my desk?”  He’s really torn.  And we’ve had some really nice conversations about how this is like real life.  Sometimes there are things we really want, but we can’t have it all.  We have to decide what’s important and worth sacrifice and what can go by the wayside. 

Of course, then there are those kids who have not turned in homework.  I have one kid who has not turned in 21 assignments.  TWENTY ONE.  I decided to start docking at $5 per the first 5 assignments, then $10 for the next five, then $20 for the next five, and so on.  He owes me $525.  You should’ve seen his face when I posted the bonus/fine list today.  (Yep, that’s right, I POSTED it.  I said it was like the newspaper and the public page.  Everyone gets to see.)  He was aghast.  “Ms. Whiz, I’m so sorry!  Could you get me all the assignments again so I can do them?”  Uh, that’d be no, Wingnut, but you can do better next time.  We’ll see if this little punishment has any effect on his behavior in the future.

There were several kids who had perfect attendance and handed in ALL their work AND got several perfect scores.  THOSE kids are raking in bonuses to the tune of $600+.  I love how they are all taking this so seriously.  I’ll let you know if any of them buy in.

Parent Conference? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

I’m excited because I signed up 3 parents at Back to School Night.  I got six more sign-ups through slips I sent home.  Half my class!  Kin I git a whootwhoot! 

Of course, I’m gunning for 100%, so I started making phone calls today.  Of the numbers that were actually IN service, I left a few messages and got to talk to a few more parents.  Most of them said, “I’ll think about it.”

Seriously?

Like, you don’t WANT to talk about how your kid is doing in school?  (Insert sadly-shaking-head emoticon here.)  The worst though, was the one parent who REFUSED to come in.  The conversation went like this:

Hi, this is Ms. Whiz.  We’re having parent-teacher conferences next week and I’d love to chat with you about your child.

“Oh, I don’t know.  I work a lot.  What time does the thing take place?”

Well, I have many slots available.  Just name me a time.

“Um, I’m always working.”

Well, I certainly understand.  I get here at 7:00 in the morning, if you’d like to come in then.

“No, I’m working then.”  (Funny, since I’m CALLING you at NINE THIRTY in the MORNING and you’re AT HOME.)

Oh, well, we could do some other time during the day or even the evening…

(Big sigh on the other end of the line.)  “Just send me the form and I’ll look at it, ok?”

Sad, sad, sad.  And I’ll give you ONE guess about how this kid is doing in school…

Walkabout and Mixed Messages

We recently went on walkabout at school as part of our writers’ workshop.  The goal was to write down things we observed as part of our idea generation for our personal essay.  For example: “I look around our room and I see 3 computers and 18 students.  This makes me think that we don’t have enough computers.  Thesis: Every child should have his/her own laptop to work on.”  (We do a lot of “t-chart” work in our room.)

I told my kids that I expected them to be perfectly well-behaved.  One peep out of you, ONE WORD, I said, and I drop you at the nearest classroom to sit and wait for us to get back.  They know I mean it too.  I’ve had to do it once.  ONCE.  Being consistent isn’t easy, but boy, when I can do it, it sure is effective.  (Uh, DUH.)

Well. 

They were perfect.  They were SO GOOD, as a matter of fact, I was able to take them EVERYWHERE in the building.  We even went through the principal’s office.  And all the while, they were completely silent, busily taking notes on all they saw.  I was so impressed and happy, I wanted to cry.

They were EVEN perfect when we went to the lunch room.  *I* about had a hissy fit though (afterwards).  One of the lunch aides (the same one who shocked me last year by screaming at the kids for doing nothing) saw us coming and said, “WHAT’S GOING ON?!?!?!?”  I quickly walked up to her and whispered (loud enough to be heard above the din of the 3rd graders), we’re doing a silent walkabout the school.  “Oh,” she replied and shrugged.  Then she proceeded to totally get into the kids’ faces.  Not even kidding.  She started to block them as they were trying to walk by, hugging some of them, talking to ALL of them, literally getting in some of their faces.  I was agog.  Seriously.  I was to shocked to even say anything.  I mean, WTF???  This is the same woman who is always telling me my kids don’t know how to behave.  WRONG, SISTER.  It’s NOT them.  It’s YOU.  IF YOU WANT THEM TO BEHAVE, THEN STOP ACTING LIKE A CHILD.  YOU ARE THE ADULT!   Talk about sending mixed messages!!!

But.

They didn’t respond.  God, I’m so proud of them right now.  I took them all back up to the room and praised them to the heavens (it was so easy to do) and gave them all a $50 bonus!  (It kept me from slapping the aide.)

The observations they came up with were awesome.  “I noticed there was a fire extinguisher in the hallway, which is important, but if someone ever gets into the school, and we have a lock down, that same extinguisher could be used to break open one of our doors.  Thesis: Our schools need to rethink some safety issues.”  “I noticed there are lots of stairs in our building and only one elevator.  If you are in a wheelchair, it might be hard to go to school here.  Thesis: There need to be more ways to make our school accessible.”  Finally: “I noticed the lunch room is really noisy.  It made me think kids need time during the school day to talk.  Thesis: Children need time to relax during school.”

Excellent.  Way to push that thinking!