Happy final day of summer. Usually, this day fills me with joy and excitement. While I’m still eager to start what will be my 23rd year teaching, I am apprehensive more than any other year other than my very first year way back in 1998. So much of what we are going through as teachers is unknown: How long will we be in hybrid? How do I teach asynchronously effectively? How am I going to keep track of everything I go over under the new hybrid format? What if we have to go back to distance learning? What if I have to quarantine for 14 days? What if we run out of healthy teachers and have to go back to distance learning? How am I going to get my students who weren’t able to come to Open House the materials so don’t start the school year behind everyone else?
So many questions. I mean we are so hurting for bus drivers, there is an option for teachers to actually drive bus (as if we need another thing on our plates!).
Side note – I was intrigued for a minute that if I drove bus in the mornings and afternoon I could earn another $10,000 of income. So one morning, I asked my fourth-grade son, Cash, if I should drive bus.
He looked at me hard for a second and said, “But you love teaching.”
“That’s true. I do,” I said.
“Then why would you drive bus?” he asked.
“Well, they are short on bus drivers. The district would pay for my commercial driver’s license. They’d even get the bus to the school so I could just leave my room after school and start my bus route,” I said.
Cash shook his head. “You have to do what you love, Dad. Stick to teaching. I hear you’re good at it.”
Ha ha. Thanks for your kind words, son. I needed them.
Now to apply Cash’s advice to this crazy year: Slow down. Don’t get caught up in all of the stuff we don’t get to do anymore. Focus on the stuff you love to do in your classroom. Let that carry you.
I hate not having 25 kids in my room each and every block. But I’ll take having six students in my block with the other 19 Zooming in from home over awful distance learning any day. So find one moment during each period to remind yourself how fortunate we are to be in this amazing profession!
Inside this week’s Teaching Thoughts, you’ll find –
Images – There is a great image of a teacher in her classroom trying to shoulder four backpacks (“Responsibility for Public Health,” “Parents’ Fears,” “Personal Anxiety,” and “No info”). I don’t know very many teachers who don’t feel this way. That’s why it’s more important than ever for us to practice respect, patience, and kindness. Unfortunately, we are all trying to navigate a world where those things are in short supply.
Book of the Week – How Successful People Think by John Maxwell. This is such an important read, especially now. The number one thing I took away from this book was Maxwell’s insistence on the importance of focus. Yes, successful people have laser-like focus. I need to remember that now, especially now. I highlighted and underlined this passage: “Don’t allow yourself to look at e-mail until after 10 A.M. Instead, focus your energies on your number one priority. Put non-productive time wasters on hold so that you can create thinking time for yourself.” This is perfect for me as this falls right during my second period prep. As a teacher, though, you know how hard this is. If it’s not the blasted intercom interrupting class every block, it’s email after email. I think we could spend the first 4 hours of work just responding to emails and shuffling kids around to one meeting after the other. When is there time for teaching? That’s what I need to focus more on.
Teaching Thoughts – One of my favorite things to give my students is A.I.R., which stands for appreciation, inspiration, and recognition. Who gets tired of those three things? How do you do those, though? You have to give specific feedback. It does no good to tell your students (or teachers) about your core values if all you’re going to say is, “I know you all do a great job with these.” That feedback is meaningless. You might as well not even say it. Cut that part out of the class or the staff meeting. Just let them leave early. They will get more out of that than empty recognition. Instead, point out specific students (both in public and private) and tell them how you saw them living out one of the core values. Do that, and you’ll see a drastic change in culture.
Podcast of the Week – Jennifer Gonzalez’s “Four Laws of Learning” from her amazing Cult of Pedagogypodcast.
These aren’t the ONLY four laws of learning, but they are important to keep in mind as we start the school year. I will try to build all my lessons around these and reflect on how my content is shaped by these things. The four laws are –
1. Keep on the GPS - (one simple way of doing this is to use formative assessment to adjust and tweak your content).
2. Classify, Connect, and Compare - (use activities, such as graphic organizers or even one pagers, that allow for students to do this with the content. This is, after all, how we all learn and make sense of the world around us. How can students classify the information on their own? What can they connect and compare the content to in the world around them or – best of all – to the other classes they are taking right now?)
3. To Learn we Need to Churn - (This law takes place in that vital time between when we introduce knowledge to students and later when we access them on their mastery of that knowledge. This is about allowing students to ‘churn’ their knowledge and content. How do you get students to interact with the material you’ve just given the students? One way to ‘churn’ is to allow students to get up and move around the room – maybe having students do a breakout session or a gallery walk. Another great way to get students to ‘churn’ is to – shocker – take notes the old school way with pen and paper.)
4. Better to Retrieve than Receive – (allow for activities that call for students to retrieve knowledge via retrieval practice rather than just “sitting and getting” the information via notes and lecture).
Video of the Week – Coach Mumm shared this one with me: “Excellence in the Next 5 Minutes.” I really think this is just what we need now. Don’t worry about the whole week or the entire month. Focus just on the next five minutes of class. What opportunities will be presented in that time where you can be excellent? Do that enough, and you’ll make a great impact.
Give this a try in your Classroom – This isn’t ideal in our new hybrid format, but it can still be done. Think about bringing in former students to talk to your new classes. I did this last year for my College Comp classes. I even left the room so the former students could be brutally honest with my new class. I wanted my former students to share what they really learned from class, how they were able to be successful, what advice they had for new students, tricks that worked to help get them through, and what they would do differently if they were to take the class again. This sure beats just going over the syllabus and grade scale on the first day!
I know many of you feel buried under all the responsibilities and burdens placed on us right now, not to mention that we have to teach like we have never taught before. Just take it one period and one day at a time. Your work matters. Trust me. It does. For those of you who have taught KoKo, Kenzie, and Cash, I know the impact you have (and in KoKo’s case, the impact you had on her). Likewise, when I read what my students have written about you (and I try and share these with you as often as possible), they speak so highly of you all. Your work matters. Remember that! And if you need a pick me up, shoot me a text or give me a call!
Have a great week and year!
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