My Favorite Day

Photo by: @BethanyLigon (2016)

My favorite day of the school year has come and gone. From the photo above you may be tempted to think that Graduation Day is the day that I am referring to, but while that certainly is in the Top 10 of great days in the life of a teacher, I actually get more excited about the day BEFORE all of the commencement ceremonies take place - the day when the grounds crew set the field.

I've mentioned before that the district in which I have the privilege of working is small. We have three elementary schools, one junior high and one senior high school. And the town is rich in tradition, one of those traditions being, we still hold a special ceremony for our promoting eighth graders on the high school football field. 

As a classroom teacher, driving by the football field on the day that they set the chairs and paint the field, would always stir in me a feeling of relief. Relief that I made it through another year with seventh and eighth graders. Relief with a sense of satisfaction that I had given those 135 students my very best on every single day - I poured my heart and soul into what I did for 180 days. Not every day was a great day, but I never backed off, never gave up, persisted through the tears, and was inspired by the successes. 

This is the day that the stress starts to roll off my shoulders. The day when I look forward to soon being a "normal" person, not a teacher who is hyper-aware of every movement and every noise and every bizarre odor within my immediate surroundings.

This day is my personal celebration. Yes, Promotion Day is exciting for the students and their families. But the day before is MY DAY. 

This is my first year as something other than a classroom teacher. This year was much different - my responsibilities didn't demand the cat-like reflexes that are standard for every teacher I know. And if I smelt something awful, I could just walk away rather than trying to figure out the source. 

The biggest difference, I think, has come from the type of emotional and intellectual connections that I did or rather didn't make with highly emotional 13 and 14 year olds. I have missed that this year. Those students of mine had a way of making me feel the highest of highs and the lowest of lows all in the span of one class period. (That sounds like I am some sort of crazy emotionally unstable adult, but I promise that I'm really OK.) But it was those dynamic days that confirmed that I was making a difference. Now my confirmations come in other ways from often more emotionally stable adults.

Yesterday was our Promotion Day. The principal of the junior high asked if I would still participate in the ceremony and be a line leader as students walked onto the field to take their seats. And as we made our way down the center aisle passing the numbers 2 0 1 6, I got a bit emotional knowing that this promoting class of eighth graders would be my last students. This day was about them and their accomplishments thus far and all that lies before them. 

I am happy and excited for them and glad that they have this day because I already had My Favorite Day.  

The Pep Talk I Wish I Would Have Given

Remember the scene from "You've Got Mail" when Shopgirl (Meg Ryan) is lamenting to NY152 (Tom Hanks) about her inability to have a satisfactory retort on the spot whenever someone says something to her that causes some sort of distress?

That's me. 
All.the.time.

I'm always thinking of just the right thing to say about 6 hours later. And it's not just when I'm under pressure that this happens. It happens for completely random conversations too. And sometimes it can take much longer than 6 hours. 

How about 12 months later? 

This is what happened to me last night. As I was going through my nightly routine of getting ready for bed, a former student, let's call him Harold, randomly popped into my thinking. 

Harold was a hard case. He came to us as an 8th grader late last year. He had earned his way out of the alternative educational center and back into the regular classroom. But before he was at the alt school, he had bounced around from school to school, always getting into trouble. Not surprisingly, his home life sucked and as a result of all of this - his trust in adults, especially female teachers, was dirt-bottom low. And he found himself with us, four very strong-willed veteran teachers. Some might call that karma. For him, it was a blessing - he just didn't see it at the time. 

Like I said, Harold came to us late in the year. And in that short amount of time we worked and worked with him. And we began to see progress. For example, he actually spoke to us without grunting. He began turning assignments in. Then he began participating in my STEM challenges. He became a leader of a group because he could build the perfect paper airplane. 

But his confidence when it came to testing was shaky at best. He had never been a "good student". It took a lot of effort on our part to just to get him to attempt the state assessments and not completely shut down.

At one point, the four of us strong-willed veteran teachers had a sit down with Harold. We used all of the growth mindset, positive talk we could think of. And it seemed to help some. After all, he managed to make it to the 8th grade promotion ceremony.

But last night as I was getting ready for bed, the following conversation began in my mind and I wish that I could have said these words to Harold. Shoot, I wish I could have said these words to many junior high students that sat in my classroom over the years.

Harold, you like cars right? 

Yeah.

Imagine having an old Mustang convertible sitting up on blocks on the side of your home. It used to be drive-able, like for going to the grocery store. But over time, it just wasn't used much and now it just sits there.

So?

Now imagine that your dad tells you that you're going to go on a road trip for your birthday. And as an gift, he's going to give you that old Mustang to fix up so that he and you can go to all sorts of places. How would that be?

Cool, I guess. I'd get a car.

Yeah! Exactly! Now imagine that you are that car. You used to be all shiny and new but now you just sit up on those blocks wondering if your owners have completely forgotten about you. But then like a miracle, you hear that you're going to be given new life! You're going on a road trip! If you were that car, Harold, how would you feel?

I don't know, I'm not a car. 

Just pretend, Harold. What might that be like?

Good, I guess.

Good!?! How about GREAT! That Mustang was made for driving with the top down and the music up! If you were that car, you would be thrilled because you were finally going to fulfill your purpose - to do what you were created to do! 

I guess.

Ok, so what would have to happen in order to get that car in working condition? You'd have to get it new tires and off the blocks, yeah? You'd have to change the oil, grease up the engine. Maybe replace or repair broken parts, right?

Yeah. 

Would it be easy? Would it be quick? Would it be nice and clean? Heck no! 

I guess.

Harold, YOU are that car! And your brain is the engine. And we, Mrs. H, Mrs. A, Mrs. C and me are your mechanics. You've been sitting on the sidelines of class for way too long and now it's time to get back on the road. But in order for you to be ready, there are a few things that we are trying to do so that your "road trip" in school is successful and you don't go breaking down on us in the middle of your adventure. 

You were created to think, and to learn, and to create! And we're giving you the opportunity to do what you were born to do! Yes, it's hard. Yes, it's frustrating. But we're really good at what we do! You've got to trust us! There is only one thing that could sabotage all this work that we're willing to do in order to get you ready for doing well in school. Any idea what that could be?

I don't know.

Ok, what would happen if you put diesel gas into an unleaded engine? 

It would ruin everything. 

Exactly. Your attitude is like the gas that will make the engine inside your head go or stall. If you have a negative attitude thinking that everything sucks, all of the work that we're doing with you, will be for nothing. But, if you have a positive attitude, nothing will be able to stop you. You'll be able to keep going for as long as you want. 

Harold. We see you as a kid that has a lot to offer. We need you to work with us in making sure that you're ready to go out into the world and be an active participant with something to contribute. You can do this! It'll take a lot of hard work, but remember, we're really good at what we do and we will not let you down.

If only...Harold moved on to another placement sometime during the first semester. I have no idea how he's doing. I wish him the best. I wish all of those hard-knocked kids the best. I hope that there are adults in their lives that are "good mechanics" willing to put the effort in to restoring something much more valuable than a classic Mustang convertible. 

If you're still working in the classroom and have daily contact with a difficult student, do me a favor and do whatever it takes to breathe in new life to that child. He/she is worth the effort. 

Offering my BEST to you!
Bethany.

Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 

And thank you for commenting!
   

Sharing Our Best Practices

Can you see it? The light that is at the end of the tunnel? The end of the school year is quickly approaching. Out here in Arizona, most of our state's high school seniors will be graduating May 25 or 26.

And it's this time of year, that I think that it's the perfect time to try something new! Hopefully, most of your curriculum has been taught and now you're in review mode for state testing or district benchmarking or maybe you're giving previews for what students can anticipate for the next school year. If you try something new now, it's not going to set you back a week or two if it doesn't work out. But if it does work out...look out! You'll be ready to rock and roll! 

If you're jazzed about this permission that I am granting you, maybe you already have something in mind to try out. But what if you're excited, but not sure what to experiment with? I have a suggestion that will foster conversations with the entire staff at the school. And it works. And you want to know how I know it works? I tried it...at the end of last year. 

This could be done several ways, but the teachers at my school just used a simple Google Document that was shared out to all teaching staff. The document had spaces for teachers to record their name, the teaching strategy or technology tool/app that they wanted to share, and why the strategy or tool was so awesome and worth sharing.This document was shared out a week before a staff meeting with the expectation that all would share at least one idea. 

Once at the staff meeting, teachers could review what had been shared and time was given for teachers to ask each other questions and brainstorm how a great idea that was used in the journalism class could be implemented into a science class, or something like that. 

Why was this 45 minutes time well spent?

1. Teachers left that staff meeting feeling both inspired because of the new ideas and validated because others found value in what they done.
2. This time of collaboration fostered communication when it's most tempting for teachers to hide out in their own classroom because there is so much grading, contacting parents, organizing files, etc, to do in the last weeks of school. 
3. This staff meeting was just-in-time professional development. And it required very little planning and was kept short and sweet. 

This is what worked for us. I hope that it will encourage you to do something similar before the last bell rings.

Offering my BEST to you!

Bethany

Would you say that you are more or less likely to try something new at the end of the school year? How does your staff share out practical teaching strategies or technology tools with each other?

Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 

And thank you for commenting!