New School Year, New Role

It's unbelievable that practically an entire calendar year has gone by since I have last posted on this blog. Yikes! As I reflect on the reason why it simply comes down to what took place last year. 

Sometime during the first quarter of the 2017-18 school year, I was asked to take over a class that I had never taught before. If you have ever taken over a class from another teacher(s), you know the challenges that can present themselves in regards to teacher expectations vs student behaviors, student work ethic, and student skill levels. But to no fault of their own, this group of students had as many as SEVEN different adults managing the class in a four week period of time. Such is the facts of life in a hard-to-fill teaching position (high school science) in a state that is now known nationwide for its low teacher pay (Arizona). 

While I was happy to fill in, I was not anticipating teaching the class for the remainder of the year, which is exactly what ended up happening. And I just wasn't ready for it. But I had to do it, it was now my assigned job. 

If I am being completely honest, I intentionally left the classroom full-time because I was completely emotionally drained. I love teaching and was willing to put 100% of myself into fulfilling my position with the best of my ability. But after 18 years, there wasn't much left in my tank. I had to make a change. 

Fortunately, the position of Technology Integration Specialist opened up at an opportune time and I was selected to fill it. I loved the fact that I could focus my energies on teachers and making a difference in a different way than I had ever before. 

But circumstances change and I had to adjust, no matter how difficult it was to do so.

And so, I find myself three weeks into the 2018-19 school year, once again doing something I wasn't anticipating, but thankfully, a bit more energized.

The title of my responsibilities has changed to Instructional Coach for Secondary Teachers. I get to work primarily with new teachers (Yay!) and providing professional development (Double Yay!). AND...I am still teaching one hour a day, but doing something I have never done before, providing support to our English as a Second Language learners. 

The group of students I work with are at various levels of English acquisition and are from multiple countries, mostly Spanish speaking regions. By the way, did I mention that I am NOT bilingual? The group of students is small compared to regular classes (Whew!) and they are all supremely pleasant to work with (Hallelujah!) I am finding that I STILL have time to balance my other responsibilities of working with new teachers and planning PD, something that I couldn't balance last school year.

My goal for this year, is to be intentional about blogging more regularly, both for reflection and sharing purposes. I want to continue to grow as a professional as well as connect with other educators. 

I wish you all the BEST for the 2018-19 school year! 

-bethany

Have you ever been re-assigned in the middle of the school year? How did you handle it? What are you most looking forward to for this school year?    

The Five Ingredients for Inspiration

What causes us to be inspired?

A connection. Whenever I have listened to an "inspirational" speaker, the framework of their message is based on their ability to connect with the audience. The speaker describes a circumstance in which a majority of the listeners can relate to in some sort of manner. A stand up comedian is able to generate laughs because we've "been there and done that" too. The ability to uncover similarities is what sparks the connection between you and me; it's the beginning of a relationship. The more ties that we can create, the stronger the connection. 

Vision. It is said that Michelangelo could look at a block of marble and see the sculpture that was meant to be discovered with his hammer and chisel. Being able to see what yet does not exist requires us to shed personal biases through which we currently view our experiences. A vision-caster has the ability to deliver a perspective for the future that is fresh and innovative. A clearly stated vision can show us the filters and blinders we have and how to remove them in order to begin stepping in a new direction.  

Potential. The belief that a new vision is possible is core to being inspired. Have you closely observed a droplet of food coloring into a jar of water? What about when the water was cooled compared to when it was heated. The color dissolves much quicker in the heated water because the water molecules have more space in between due to the added energy. A vision-caster heats the water so to speak, creating energy and building potential in order to instill the belief that a new vision is achievable. 

A Plan. Without a plan, inspiration fizzles. The vision simply becomes framed words on a wall. It can be repeated at every gathering, but without a course of action, it is meaningless. Inspiration gains momentum when the people directly affected are involved in the development of the plan. Empower the stakeholders to determine their own path to achieve the new vision. 

A Network. Nothing is quite like being surrounded by your supporters. Knowing that for better or worse, you have a team that will stand behind you amplifies inspiration. Not only that, but a solid network of others expands the available talent pool of resources from which to draw. I might be able to do one thing well, but with nine others who have a variety of skill sets, a great many things can be carried out. 

As the 2017-18 school year commences, how will you inspire the people with whom you work the most closely, whether it be Kindergartners, 12th grade Seniors, the Technology & Transportation Departments or the entire staff at A+ school?

This is the year. Let's be inspirational! 

Offering my BEST to you!
-bethany

Knowing When to Shift

By Wolfgang Staudt from Saarbruecken, Germany (steep grades - sharp curves)
[CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I was about 20 years old when I learned how to drive a stick shift. Or at least I thought I knew how to drive a stick shift. Growing up in the Valley of the Sun didn't afford me the opportunities to drive on many inclines - so you can imagine my frustration the first time that I attempted to drive up the mountains to college with my newly acquired driving skill set - I couldn't get enough speed. I mean I was literally (not the figuratively, literally, but LITERALLY) pressing the pedal to the floor and not going anywhere. Semi trucks were passing me. Giant RV's were passing me. And I couldn't figure out what was going on. 

Once I finally made it up the mountain I called my dad, because, who else do you call in times like these? I felt so uninformed when he explained to me that I should have down-shifted in order to get more power when driving up a steep grade. 

Part of being able to survive in life is knowing when to shift; shift patterns of behavior, shift expectations, mindsets, and attitudes, shift positions. 

But truly successful people anticipate a necessary shift and do what it takes to be ready beforehand. 

I'm picturing a crowd of people on an airport transit train. It never fails, someone forgets to hold on to something or at least plant their feet - and before they know it, they are thrown off balance once the train begins moving. And then again, when the train comes to a stop, the same person is caught off guard and trying to grasp onto something in order to keep from tumbling over. 

I always wonder...How can do they not prepare themselves for what's coming? They know the train is going to start/stop moving. Did they not pay attention to their 8th grade science teacher during the lessons on Newton's Law of Inertia???

But life isn't much different. If we stop paying attention to all the signs around us, we wouldn't be caught off guard so often, we would be able to begin to shift behaviors and mindsets long before circumstances demanded that we do so. 

And in case I discourage myself while I'm writing this and you while you're reading it, a shift doesn't imply turning something comfortable upside-down and inside-out. A shift is simply a tweak. A nudge. A scooch. A bump up or down, left or right. 

It's just doing something different in such a way that the next hill in life doesn't find us with the pedal to the floor going nowhere. 

Offering my BEST to you!

-bethany.

This post is part of my reflections for my OneWord2017: SHIFT. To read what I've written previously, click HERE. 

What about you? Where might you need to shift something - either professionally or personally? When was a time you made a minor adjustment and it made all the different in a particular situation? When was a time that you didn't make a shift when you should have? What advice you do have regarding making shifts?

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.

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