Leaving the Kids - Teaching is a Strange Job!

Teaching is such a strange job. As a second career teacher, I’ve been in several environments. There isn’t one other job that I would have felt teary at leaving.  In fact, there is normally massive excitement at a break ahead. But teaching is weird.

Here we are. The day I leave for the UK. The day FMLA starts & I wing myself over to the UK to look after Mum. She’s excited & desperate for her daughter to be there. She doesn’t always remember that I’m coming, but the reaction is the same every time I remind her. Happy tears. Being 90, living alone, facing Alzheimer's, and knowing that you need help - it must be scary. There are times she's cognizant of the facts but forgets that I am coming to take care of her future.  There are times that she pleads for help and is delighted when I let her know that I will be there.  Hearing your own mother - a strong, independent woman - scared and alone is heartbreaking.

But I'm on my way.

Yesterday was my last day. A day filled with surprises and emotions. One class threw a ‘British tea party’ for me - adorable - with a list of who was bringing what - highly organized. The other seemed to be completely unaware but then stunned me with a surprise party - designer cake and all. Both groups showered me with gifts and made me feel incredibly special and loved.

I've never quite felt that way as a teacher, and now I’m a mix of emotions. I’ve taught most of these kids for two years. I have become a huge proponent of looping after this experience - I've been a better teacher, and my students have been better learners. We became a team as we grew together. We accomplished things we might never have done without that trust and those relationships in place. But that makes leaving them even harder. So hard.

These kids have truly embraced my investment and 'crazy' ideas. They have reflected, learned, and (I like to think) grown as people. If nothing else, they love ELA - and that's a WIN in my book.

The kids will be just fine without me. I haven’t done my job if they aren’t independent, reflective learners by now. I’ll see them as I start my new role in August and they begin 8th grade.  The bottom line is that Mum needs me. As a single Mum, she gave up so much to care for me…now it’s my turn to be there for her.  

She deserves it.

Cheers!

Joyful Anticipation

My mind is whirling with goals, plans, intentions, and all the things that happened at the beginning of a new school year.  There are so many ideals and ideas, there are so many things I would like to achieve.  

Just an average August in a teacher’s life!  

I do always say that one of the joys about teaching is that you get to reinvent yourself every year, you get to have new goals and thoughts, you are able to create the very best you can be and make it better every single year.

This year is different for me, I have a new role. One I’ve been striving for a couple of years, one that while I know I can do - one I also worry that I’m not ready for.  There is a complete mix of emotions rummaging around inside me right now. 

One, I’m still a teacher, and I need (as always) to strive to be the best I can be to support my kids. My first goal of doing everything I can to make learning joyful for both students and teachers, holds true for whichever role I am focusing on. 

Joy. There needs to be more joy.

Two, I’m there to support our newer teachers.  Lead, guide, coach. I’ve trained for this, I’ve practiced, I’ve read the books. Now it’s real. I’m excited to share my passion and ideas. I’m ready to research and do the work.  I’m also nervous because this could be a massive first step towards my future - but a lack of perceived success will mean that the opportunity will no longer be there next year.  Reality is though, I can’t think that way. If things don’t work out, it’s because it’s not meant to be. If positive results don’t abound then our collective thoughts about what role is best for Bridget, and how I can best help the team, are not correct. I know that I’m a good teacher - now I need to work on being a good teacher of teachers…

I must believe

I must focus on what they need and remember that I can only change myself

I must remember to be joyful 

Let the journey - and joy - begin

#joyful #teachersupport #leadingandlearning

ELA - Enough of the Essays!

I wonder how many more ELA teachers we would have if we didn’t have to grade essays. 

No really. 

I’m serious. 

I myself am looking for ways to continue my love of literacy and teaching children the joy of reading and writing, without having to be an ELA teacher. 

Because I love it. 

Yesterday, we literally geeked out about syntax and diction as we looked at Langston Hughes‘s poem, Mother to Son, and talked about the word choices, and painted pictures. 

The prompt was simple, “What’s the story?”

The kids loved it, I loved it. 

They wrote such amazing things. They found passion, made connections, related. And I did nothing but give them the moment.

It was one of those, what I call, Robin Williams moments. 

But then I came home and spent two hours immersed in essays. Essays that have created pressure in my life to get graded and back. 

We’re on a timeline, have expectations. The kids need to hear feedback about their work. Parents want a grade. 

It's not fun. 

And yet, I love to work with writing. That’s fun. The building, the improving, the idea-sharing. 

It’s time-consuming but satisfying. Hard work but pleasing.

But then there are the 140+5 paragraph essays to give a final grade to.  

Yes, the hard graft is done, and these are much quicker to check than when I had to get feedback on the introductions, the body paragraphs, the conclusions.....and therein lies the rub. 

It isn’t so much the grading of the essays, it’s the fact that I’m grading these essays the week after I’ve been up late every night giving feedback on the rest of the writing.  

And of course, with the virtual students, the issue that they keep working according to the plan, ignoring your feedback.

It’s why people don’t choose to teach ELA. How many great teachers opt out because of this?

Because there is little I like more in life than sharing great writing with kids, giving feedback, diving in, and analyzing. That’s fantastic. The kids love it, I believe it makes them better students of everything. 

Imagine a world where the focus was on that. Imagine a world where we created better readers and writers by studying and enjoying great writing.  

But they have to write, right?

The only way to become a great writer is by writing. And that writing needs to be shared and the craft grown through advice and suggestions. And that’s my job.  But there has to be a better way to do this. 

I talk to people all the time who say they would’ve taught ELA if it wasn’t for the grading. I talk to people all the time who now teach different content areas but miss ELA. They just had to switch over because of all the grading. These are good teachers who would’ve made a difference.  They are still good teachers. They are still making a difference. 

But the world of ELA needs them.

Oh I know, there are plenty of tricks and strategies - plenty of ways to just focus on part of the essay, to divide up the feedback, to use peer feedback....and if we could build our units with more writing time, perhaps that would be doable. It’s time to sit and redesign.  To be honest though, whenever I do that, the load seems greater. And even more to the point, in our current virtual reality, the amount of feedback needed to support our young writers’ growth is immense.

The grass is always greener, right?  I look with envy at other content areas. What was I thinking not transferring my social studies and science qualifications to Georgia?  

But then I have lessons like that one this week.  

Well, enough musings...I have essays to grade. 

Teaching is Everywhere

I’m not the only one who sees teaching connections wherever they go am I? 

Some of them are obvious. Like when we are at puppy training, and there’s a comment about a puppy having learned to refuse to do something, because it just wasn’t fun. Ha, sound familiar? We have to learn to do things that aren’t fun, but perhaps we can find fun ways to learn how to do them! 

But then there are less obvious times, like when the vet tech comes outside to pick up the puppy – in these COVID times things are aa little different – and I find myself telling her glowingly about my puppy, about how she knows how to sit, how she’ll behave better if she’s bribed with a treat, how she does have ‘down’, but she won’t stay there very long… I’m pretty sure that the vet tech knows all these things. I’m also fairly certain that every puppy owner believes his or her puppy is the cutest and best puppy in the world. Yes. There’s a definite connection.. I felt a little bit like multiple parents at open house 🤦‍♀️

Then there’s those things that you see, that you’re experiencing, and you think… Oh my goodness, how can I integrate this into my teaching? Like lines at Disney. Instead of being bored waiting, we are engaged and interested by the by-play, the characters, the little signs… We know exactly how long we’re probably going to wait, and there’s something in between this sign and the next sign, and we’re ready for it. The ride is such a small part of the whole experience. Well, how can I replicate that in my teaching? How can I make the boring slow learning the engaging part, so the ride is the cherry-on-the-top. I might add, that my husband was not amused by all these musings while at Disney.

Then there are dining experiences, obvious things like creating a playlist that’s like a menu, but then more importantly, how to entice… How to tempt the customer to try something new? How to use images and word play to make something sound more interesting?. Taste tests, samples ... so much that can be brought into our teaching.

What about arguments, threads on social media? How do our interests and passions direct our thinking? Can social media commentary be used as a tool?  I saw the quiet kids participate when behind a screen (during distance learning), so there’s an important connection there too.

Everywhere I look, I see something that ties to my teaching.

Everywhere.

Ideas to grab interest. Real world connections. Valuable to me. Connecting with my interests. 

My husband calls it an obsession. I call it good practice. If it isn’t interesting or relevant, if there is no purpose ... then how do I compete with everything else out there? If students are enticed into the learning, if they see a point in the content, if they are shown how this is replace them to their lives - if all those factors are in play, then I’ll have success.

Wow - it's been a while!

Last year was a strange year, and looking back at my lack of blogs, there is nowhere clearer that this shows than right here on my website/blog.  Good gracious...for someone who thrives on writing, who loves to put the proverbial pen to paper (or finger to key), it's pretty pathetic to see the lack of writing. No, it isn't as if I have a huge fanbase, hanging on my every word, but I need to write for reflection, for deeper thinking, to share my ideas with myself and dig a little deeper.  It's a little concerning that I didn't carve out time for it.

So, with a new school year, comes the time to renew and refresh.

The teacher rebirth.

That's one thing that is so cool about this profession. You can literally reinvent your practice EVERY SINGLE YEAR!  Right the wrongs, adjust the learnings, change the nuances, change the path...what didn't work can be easily removed, what did may be honed.  It's one of my favorite things about what I do.  Recreating the space and the moments each year.

It's actually been hard starting back up this year.  My first summer, I worked almost every day to reinvent myself.  My second year I did a lot...and the pattern continued. This year, as I ended my fourth year and approach my fifth, I switched off instead.  I stopped the thinking, didn't do the reading, let the cotton wool invade my brain.  It was good - but starting up again has not been easy.  I had to worry that I had lost my passion.  I started to get concerned that I wasn't as excited, that I wasn't going to be able to give as much to my future students.  I mean, that's what I have loved about teaching, the way it fires me up every day.  But as time has moved on, a couple of conferences and good books later, I am beginning to feel the fires ignite and the desire rise up again.

Take last night for example.  A restaurant with a good group.  My poor friend just asks one question about teaching, and I was OFF! Lecturing the crowd about the creation of moments to make connections and impact learning (shout out to the Heath brothers and their AMAZING book, The Power of Moments).  As I listened to myself (something I seem to do upon occasion), I cast an inner smile. Ahhhh, there it was.  The fire is back in belly.

Let's go!  Room 1113, we have one heck of a year ahead!