Life

There are days where we feel defeated.  We feel like we give it our all and our kids don't get it.

When I say "get it", maybe I mean understand what we all go through each day.  That what we are trying to do is to make them better people..first and foremost.  

Do they understand that we make them do homework because they have to practice to get a concept?  It is not because we like to correct papers.  We don't sit at home at night and rub our hands together, laughing diabolically at the thought of them doing said homework.

Do they understand that we are helping prepare them for something bigger than high school?  We are preparing them for life.  

Life.

The place where you will have deadlines for projects, reports, and bills...and you don't get an extension if you forget.  And if you do forget, it may result in you not having water at your house.

The place where you will need to work in order to get a promotion, get a good grade, impress a girl/boy.

The place where you don't always get a redo.  You get what you get.

The place where you won't like everyone you meet or have to work with, but you will have to get along with them.

The place where you won't like your boss.  But you will do what they say because...well...they are your boss.

The place where you will be expected to show up on time, stay until the last bell, and perhaps show up when you don't feel 100%.

The place where you will earn success on your own, through your hard work.  As the sign outside my office says, "The only place where you will find success before work is in the dictionary."

Life.  It isn't fair.

It isn't suppose to be.

It is March Madness and in this madness we can heard the words of great coaches talking about their teams.  People look to them for insight on the game.  I have found some of the most powerful things these coaches say have little to do with their players as players, but rather with their players as people.  

Coach Geno Auriemma is the coach of the UConn women's basketball team.  This is the team that has a 111 (and counting) win streak, has made the final four 10 straight times, and has won the NCAA National Championship four consecutive years.  People love him.  People hate him.  Regardless...he has said some pretty powerful things during the tournament.

Check out these two clips.  If you have HBO, watch "The March to Madness".  It is a limited series about the UConn team and their quest for their fifth straight championship.

While he likes to win, he wants good people to wear the UConn uniform, not just good players.

Take the time to listen to what these coaches (and like us, they are teachers...teachers of a game...teachers of life) have to say.  There are some very powerful messages for our kids that go beyond Xs and Os.

Spring is Here!

Spring is here!  While in most places, it means warmer weather we know in South Dakota it means it will be 70 degrees one day and 20 degrees the next day.  You will need a jacket, hat and gloves in the morning, but by noon you could be in shorts.  And don't begin to think that we are done with snow...it could always happen (remember Easter last year?)!  Did I mention the mud?  OH THE MUD!  There is no escaping the mud.

Spring also brings new life.  Baby chicks, calves, and lambs.  Robins singing.  Tulips.  Rainbows.

But Spring also is the time of year when students realize they are ALMOST done.  While we know this is the time of year where focus is lacking, it is the time of year when we are asked to do high stakes testing.  Seeing a workbook that is has nearly all the pages torn out makes everyone giddy.  Every day feels like a battle for us.  We are dealing with weather, students being gone, students not wanting to do anything, state testing prep...it can be a war zone.

As teachers, we may feel a little like this come Spring:

Enjoy the follow little laugh about Spring in a classroom.  
https://www.weareteachers.com/7-signs-you-know-its-spring-in-your-classroom/

(I can really relate to the snooze button one.  In the Fall I am up and out of bed by 6:00.  Today I hit the snooze button 4 times...at nine minutes a pop.)

Here is what we need to remember:

Spring is a season of new life.  It is the time of the year when the world comes out of the darkness and cold of Winter to bloom and grow.  You as a teacher and your students can do the same things.  Take this time to help kids be planted, grow, and bloom.  It is not too late to try something new or build relationships.  Don't make Spring a time to "just make it through until May".  End this year as your best year ever!

Decisions...Decisions...

My husband turned 40 on Sunday.  Our plans for a family supper at the place of his choice was put on the back burner due to the snow.  We settled for a quiet dinner at home and decided to head out on Tuesday night.

John chose to eat at Cubby's.  I love Cubby's.  It is one of my favorite places to eat (the fried green beans are AMAZING) and the addition of the roof top patio this year adds to the charm.  Did you know in the summer, you can do yoga on the roof top of Cubby's in the mornings?  The view is amazing! 

If I had to have one complaint about Cubby's (or any sports bar for that matter), it would be the overload on my brain with music playing, people talking, and about a zillion TVs all playing something different.  As we ate last night, I counted 11 televisions in front of me, each with a different channel on.  Some showed hockey.  Others baseball.  Still others had poker games and basketball games playing.  And then there were the televisions behind me.  One had the basketball game on that I really wanted to watch.  Add into that trying to have a conversation with my husband and our 5 year old and my brain was in overload mode.  My eyes were back and forth, back and forth, trying to determine exactly where my focus should be.

I began to think...this is what it is like being in the classroom each day.  There are all these different bodies in your classroom, each with something different to say or offer.  Who do you focus on?  Some of those bodies stay on the task until the day is done, others are constantly flipping between sitting and standing, talking or singing.  Each one is demanding your attention.  They are screaming "Watch me!  Watch me!".  We have to make decisions on the fly in our rooms each day to meet the needs of our kids.  What can I do to make them stay on task?  Oh, oh...this isn't going well, how do I change it?  Great...I have a puker.  Your brain is in constant motion observing, planning, and implementing all at the same time.  

As we gain experience, we gain the ability to filter out the noise and focus on the biggies that are occurring at any given moment.  We gain the ability to make those decisions or movements without even thinking about it.  We gain the ability to tune out the annoying sound of the heater (the hockey game) and focus on the sound of a student sharing a writing they are proud of (the basketball game).  You may not be able to turn some of those things off like you can the television in the sports bar, but you can learn to work with them and determine where your focus needs to lie.

That being said:  Don't be afraid to take the time to turn some of those things off during your time away from school.  I talked about last week how we always carry our profession with us.  You will always be a teacher, but to be a good one and to make all those decisions, you have to take the time to take care of yourself.  Find peace.  Find some silence.  When the weather is nice, go to a sports bar and do yoga on the roof top.  Or when the weather isn't nice, go to the sports bar and do what you do in a sports bar.   Take care of you!

Teacher of the Year

There is a picture of an ideal teacher in everyone's mind.  What they look like, what they say, what their classroom would feel like, and how they would inspire generation after generation of students.  Many of these ideals come from what we have seen on the large and small screen.  Teachers have been portrayed as these extraordinary people who can walk in off the street, into an inner city classroom and have students speaking fluent Japanese in three weeks.  They have students who may buck them, but after the teacher finds out "the back story", the students come around and produces poetry that would make Poe weep.  They have fantastic lives outside of school.  They are able to meet fellow teachers after school at the local pub and they never talk about school.  There is a warm meal on the table each night for supper and their own children do all their homework and the teacher never loses their patience with their own child.  I mean those teachers in the movies and on television have it all.  They have their "stuff" together.

Fun part of the blog:  Try this little quiz to see how well you know teachers of the movie.  Perfect score for this movie nut!

https://www.weareteachers.com/quiz-movie-teachers/

But we all know the reality of teaching and it very rarely looks like that.  Each day feels like a struggle.  There are kids we never seem to reach.  We can spend all year on something and a kiddo may never get it.  Social life?  When we do get together with fellow teachers, what do we talk about?  School.  Dinner at your house...you mean if you are home?  You may be at an event at school, coaching, or in your classroom prepping for the next day.  And your own kids?  Man...they probably get the short end of it all.  After dealing with other kids all day, your patience is SHOT.  Does this sound a little more like your life?

A new documentary entitled, "Teacher of the Year" is being released and begins in 2013 following North Carolina educator Angie Scoili.  She brings to light what it really is like being in the trenches.  Watching the trailer I could relate to it all...and I believe all of you can too.  I encourage you to watch the trailer (which is at the bottom of page) and read the information under "The Story" tab.

http://www.teacheroftheyearfilm.com/

Sounds a little more like real life?  Here is a link to an article of the documentary:

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/02/how-pop-culture-misrepresents-educators/517923/

In the article, the first paragraph struck me.  I made a promise to myself when I was out on vacation, I wouldn't check my email.  We went to a place with NO cellular service.  There was Wi-Fi, but it wasn't great unless you were in your room.  I spent my days on the beach, so I wasn't getting emails.  (Oh...I saw the number each day creep up...by the time I came back on Thursday it was over 580 emails.)  I read four books that had NOTHING to do with education or teaching students the English language.  As we waited for the shuttle to take us to the airport our last day, a tear streaked down may face.  John asked why I was crying.  I told him for seven days I didn't think of my job.  The only kid I cared about and poured my energy into was our kid.  It was an amazing feeling.

Like you, I love my job.  I love what I am doing.  I love seeing you and the great things you are doing to reach kids.  But I don't think the outside world understands how much of us we give and pour into this profession.  We often put so much of ourselves (and our families) on the back burner.  As Scioli stated, "You can't seem to turn it off.

Keep doing good for our kids, but know that we may never be an Albus Dumbledore, John Keating, or Dr. Henry (AKA Indiana) Jones, Jr.  And that is ok.  Be the best teacher you can be. Find inspiration from these fictional teachers, but don't get down on yourself if your results are not the same.  Keep trying each day.  Find the things for you that work.  Find your piece of peace for yourself (I always say...you are no good to anyone if you are not good to yourself).

Keep on teaching.

Thank you for all you do.