Just like that it’s homecoming week. And it’s the strangest homecoming week I’ve ever been a part of. As this crazy year unfolds, here are some thoughts that have been on my mind recently –
** Mr. Kjono was subbing next door to me. As he left for the day, he said, “Man, this is weird. Where is everyone? The kids are just kind of in a daze. They sit still and do their work. They aren’t even acting like kids.”
And he has a point. The revelry is almost all gone from school. We are like a community college now where kids show up, go to class, and then leave as soon as they possibly can. That is just what we want with the pandemic, but it’s strange. Really strange.
** In our common prep meeting last week, we all took turns sharing two positives and one negative. For my two positives I first shared that I’m getting better at managing everything that is going on in a single class in terms of technology, attendance, tracking where kids are in each assignment, and staying sane. My second positive was that I haven’t gotten COVID yet.
My negative was that I’m stretched incredibly thin. There is hardly a single moment of the day when I have time to take a breath. Literally, I could be giving feedback via Classroom, grading essays, updating grades and lesson plans, cleaning my room and organizing physical copies of assignments, not to mention planning for a football season that is now a go, every single second of the day.
I have made a choice. I don’t do much in the way of grading or responding to work at home. I’ve found ways to take care of that during the day. But it has drained some of the joy out of it. No doubt about it.
** On a more positive note, I did receive a text from a student who is now a freshman in college. She said when I used to talk about how I’d receive texts from past students thanking them for teaching them how to write an MLA or APA paper – and to be fair, our students are the products of our entire education system, not just College Comp. They just have me last, so that experience stays with them, but I couldn’t get them to where they are as writers without all of the other great teachers who built them up to where they are when they walk in my room.
This former student went on to confess that she thought I was just kidding. She always thought, yeah right. And then she said she was shocked when her roommates came out crying. Apparently, they had been assigned a paper (5-10 pages due in December). They were stressed that they ‘only’ had a month to come up with a topic and write the first page. When my former student asked, “Didn’t you write papers in high school?” They responded, no. The longest paper they had ever written was just a couple pages.
Needless to say, this former student was very appreciative for all the writing skills we built into her over the years! That was a nice pick me up.
Inside this week’s Teaching Thoughts, you’ll find
Images – Seth Godin has one of my favorite lines: “Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers.” Now, I’ll admit there are a ton of things I’m average at, but when it comes to the stuff that matters – being a father and husband and being a teacher, I can’t imagine being average. Those jobs are just too vital to not work incredibly hard to be great.
Book of the week – Upstream by Dan Heath. I love the Heath brothers and their books, namely Made to Stickand The Power of Moments. This book, though, may be the most relevant to teaching. Dan focuses on how to truly solve issues at the root of problems as opposed to just addressing the symptoms of the issues, which is what most of us do. Let’s take for example the issue of litter in the parking lot that plagued us a few years ago. That is a problem, but there is a more serious issue at work: kids don’t value or respect LHS. You can threaten the suspend and reprimand kids all you want, but in a school that kids love and respect, they don’t litter in the parking lot. So – Dan argues – the key is to look upstream at any problem. Address the cause of the problem instead of just working so hard to solve the problems resulting from the cause.
Why I Teach – my amazing colleagues. My students often write about those who have impacted them. Time and again the names of my colleagues come up. I never miss a chance to stake a screenshot and send it to them too. We all need appreciation, inspiration, and recognition.
Podcast of the Week – American Shadows. This is a podcast that looks at the darker areas of American history. In their debut episode, called “Glow,” they look at haunting story of “The Radium Girls” and the terrible price they had to pay for working to paint glow in the dark watches for American Radium Company. It also looks at how their battle changed American history and why it’s vital – much to the chagrin of our president and his constant complaining about ‘fake news’ – to have the free press.
Give this a try in your classroom – TED Ed. This app is great for turning any video into a full lesson. This is great for days when you have to have a sub or for supplementary assignments. Right now it’s ideal for my LINC lessons as it allows me to deliver content in a far more engaging manner than just a Google Slide show.
Have a great week. Keep your head up. It’s okay to be one day, one period, or even one minute ahead of your students. Give yourself some grace. You won’t regret it.
No comments:
Post a Comment