Full
disclosure – I know next to nothing about running. I am not, nor have I ever been, a
runner. While my daughter was on the
track and field team in high school, she pursued pole vaulting. Sitting in the required annual meeting for
parents of pole vaulters while they describe the possible injuries and/or death
possible from this sport is a whole other level of parental hell, but it sheds
no light on running. Yet, despite all of
my lack of knowledge of the sport, even I know that you should not start a
marathon by sprinting.
But
each year that seems to be exactly what teachers do. Ask a teacher to describe how they are
feeling right before the kids come back and you are sure to hear the word
“exhausted”. Yes, excited, hopeful,
nervous, and other words are used too, but I have found the common feeling was
exhausted. I expected to feel that way
my first year of teaching, was surprised that it was still going on around year
seven, and a little sad that in year fourteen this still hasn’t changed. Like many of you, I’ve heard the
explanations: teachers have the whole
summer off, plus all those holidays and are just lazy; districts can’t share
all the changes, new programs, teaching assignments, etc. until right before
school starts because …; if you were more organized, less type-A, more
flexible, more demanding, less organized, more type-A, less flexible … you get
the point.
Maybe
the question needs to move from why this is happening to how can we handle it
better? Each school year really is a
marathon and it isn’t good for the kids or the teachers to start the year
exhausted. Plus, starting off tired
really sucks a whole lot of joy right out of a very happy time of year. As teachers we are so fortunate to have the
opportunity to start over each year with a new group of students. We should be enjoying and embracing that, not
struggling to finish each day or dig so deep for the energy to teach our kids
properly that we have nothing left for our families or ourselves.
I
fully admit that I am a perfectionist and this is really hard for me. I’m taking baby steps rather than do nothing
and am sharing with you in case you too need to move away from starting the
school year exhausted. Some of the
things I have tried this year:
Ø I
scheduled a few days of icebreakers and getting to know you activities the
first week of school. My icebreaker
included review questions to get me past my “I don’t have any days to waste
with this curriculum” mentality.
Ø Valid
district assessments are being used as quiz grades. I am required to have “x” number of quizzes
and tests each marking period. Using
their assessments as a quiz helps cut down on the number of quizzes and the
number of assessments my kids are taking.
Valid means the assessment is based on covered curriculum. Unfortunately, not all of our district
assessments are.
Ø Revisit
my idea of a “quiz”. I do a lot of
interactive activities in my class. We
color, cut-and-paste, do walk-abouts, scavenger hunts, puzzles, play games,
etc. Since I was already using these
activities to access student learning, it was easy to start using a few of them
as assessments and the kids are more invested than ever knowing that the
activity can be used as a grade.
Ø Understanding
that great classrooms don’t have to be perfect.
Not having tutoring passes, groups arranged, color coded stations, and
all my posters up did not have a negative impact on my kids. They’re not looking for that stuff and it
allowed me to be more present in the moment with them and have more family
time.
I’m
a work in progress and will continue trying to improve my back to school
experience. If you have ideas that work
for you, I’d love to hear them. Let’s
start this marathon at a steady pace.
Happy
teaching!
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