Socrates Says Take Care Of Yourself. It's For The Kids.

I know you’re dreaming of wasting away in Margaritaville next week. Or at least sleeping in, past 7am. Or at least getting to use the bathroom when you want to. Or 

We’re almost there, my friends! You GOT this! 

I swear that February is the toughest month in which we teach. Despite being a short month, it somehow goes on for-e-ver. There is no spring break, no major state or district testing, no holidays, no big parties. The kids are sick of each other, the adults are sick of the kids, everyone is sick of everyone else -- and everyone is just plain old SICK!

But it’s March. Third quarter is blessedly almost over. Spring Break is within our reach. . A whole week to refuel, relax, rest, and make ourselves whole again. 

Y’all know I’m a big fan of goal setting. Big goals, small goals, micro-goals. They’re all good for us. 

I know most of you --and those of you that I know ALL want to be good role models for your kids. It’s why you push yourselves to be the best “you” that you can be. 

I know you MEAN to take good care of yourself. But those papers aren’t going to grade themselves! 

So I have one question before spring break. 

How can you be a good role model for your students’ self-care  if you don’t take good care of yourself?

Yup. 

In order to teach your students to take good care of themselves whether they are 

• The nervous kid who is too anxious and and stressed about grades, social issues, or whatever
• The kid who stays up all night playing video games and can’t stay awake in class
• The kid who uses too many unhealthy substances
• The kids who is in every club, team, band, and organization and who can’t keep up with it all
• The kid who over or under exercises, eats too much or too little. 

Famously, Socrates used to ask his students regularly if they were taking care of themselves. And during his historic trial (in which he was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens), he came back at his accusers and said “You preoccupy yourselves without shame in acquiring wealth and reputation and honors'' but do not take care of yourselves. How dare you try to run this city-state when you aren’t insightful and don’t have basic self care?

In ancient Greece, to take care of yourself, meant to pursue beauty, truth, wisdom, and self-mastery. 

I know we are all overworked and underpaid. I know we are all tired and there’s not much anyone is going to do about it in the next couple days before Spring Break. 

But I’d like you to think about this: if you don’t do it for yourself, “do it for the kids”. Take care of yourself to teach your students how to take care of themselves. 

• Eat lunch daily. 
• Exercise. 
• Get rest. 
• Don’t stay up all night grading papers. 
• Keep your stress level down.
• Turn off the news sometimes. 
• Turn off social media sometimes
• Say “no” to some commitments. 

It's not sustainable to run at top speed all the time without food, water, bathroom breaks, sleep, social lives, and while being sick. 

Doesn’t that sound ridiculous when I put it like that? But there's a good chunk of you all reading this 5th period that haven't eaten, drank water, gone to the bathroom, had a decent night's sleep, seen your friends/family recently and are feeling sick. ALL THE THINGS. 

I see you. I know you’re there. 

So, use spring break to rest and relax. And then, when you come back, work on taking care of yourself, and doing it intentionally for yourself and to teach your kids what more healthy adulting looks like. 

You got this. Hang in there.

Enjoy those margaritas and think of Socrates over Spring Break! 

If you need coaching through ways to make the teaching part less time consuming, I’m glad to try to talk it out! Email me! newmantr@psb.org 

Dear Future Self

Dear Future Self,

I wrote some notes to you on my lesson plans from this week but you will have no idea what they mean. They were hurried and cryptic. When you try to teach this lesson next year, you will struggle to remember what you did with this lesson.

Did we read this independently or out loud? What reading strategy did we do? How did it work out? Did you have to change it midway through 2nd period? Did they learn it well? Did you have a good processing activity?

Future Self, I apologize for just tucking this reading in a folder with the a sticky note that has 3 words on it. I realize that you are now having to re-create this lesson and that you can’t tell how well or how much the kids learned the last time you did it.

I apologize for not fixing the typos or unclear directions on this handout. I apologize for not making a note about the awesome lesson fix I discovered during 4th period that took the lesson from “ok” to “awesome”.

Dear Future Self, have fun recreating this lesson and doing it Groundhog Day Style -- making the same mistakes as before.

Sorry ‘bout that!  Good luck!

-Love, Me-From-The-Past

* * * * * *

I don’t know about you all, but I am not always the best supporter of Future Me. Future Me would be a lot happier if I ate healthier, exercised more, saved more money, didn’t procrastinate, cleaned out the fridge more often, and flossed more regularly.

One of the ways I can help out Future Me is to make notes about how lessons went this year, so I have something to go off for next year!

There’s nothing worse than being halfway through a lesson and suddenly remembering that it bombed last year. Now what do we do?

It sure helps to reflect in writing so you can save your Future Self some hassle.

There are several ideas about how to do this.

1. If you type your lesson plans, go back into that document and highlight stuff that went well and strikethrough things that went poorly. Or, type in your thoughts into another column or box so you can see it next year. Then, you have to get in the habit of looking at last year’s lessons when your Future Self writes the new ones.
2. You can keep a document to yourself in each folder (digital or IRL) of a unit and jot down your thoughts as you go through the unit.
3. If you hand-write your lessons, go back and add another piece of paper or a couple sticky notes. Put your handouts and thoughts in the same folder to reference next year.
4. Grab a notebook or calender and keep it by your desk (or better yet, somehow keep it by your door). Then, as you stand at your door between classes, you can multitask and jot down a few thoughts under the date.

Now -- here’s the hard part!

Making sure your Future Self can understand the notes you write!

Make sure you don’t assume that you will remember the context 52 weeks from now. Make that context explicit.  Try some of these ideas:

• Don’t call it ”the  video”. Make sure to note what video you used.and what you had the kids do with it . Copy the actual link and the length of the video.
• Instead of saying “read section and did questions”, tell your Future Self that you read the section out loud and that the kids answered #1-3, 5, and 8 and that Question #8 was your formative assessment for the day.
• If you found a discussion question or a turn and talk prompt particularly great, make sure to write that down!

I know that different teachers write lesson plans differently -- but it might be what we write AFTER we teach the lesson that might be more valuable to us next year.

How do you tell your Future Self about how your lessons went? Do you do it at all? How can you streamline your post-lesson notes to make your Future Self more awesome?

As always, I love to hear! Email me at newmantr@pcsb.org

And Make A Change

I have recently noticed that my kitchen counters have become overloaded. I remember moving into my house five years ago and thinking “I’ll never fill up all these cabinets!”.

Guess what? They’re full.

AND it seems to be spilling over to my counter tops. The Instapot never gets put away. I have a pile of tupperware that keeps falling out of the counter, so it just sits on the counter.  The charging area is spilling over with ear buds and cords and electronics. There is Valentine’s candy sitting on the counter because it won’t fit in the box of candy in the cabinet.

I think it’s time for me to make some changes in my kitchen.

Like Michael Jackson sang about, sometimes you have to “take a look at yourself and make a change”

How did I decide this? How does anyone decide when it’s time for a change? Something triggered me.

I learned recently in a training about what are triggers for change. Check out the main three triggers for change:

1. A Big Event: Even if it only happens once, a big event can change your outlook, becoming a trigger for change. An enraged parent. A test failed by every single student.. A fight in your classroom. These things are “Big Events” and can trigger change.

2. A Breaking Point: Maybe it isn't’ the first time everyone failed a test -- but the 6th time that MOST kids failed a test. Maybe it isn’t a giant horrible, angry, world-ending parent email but the 10th email from a parent who is annoyed. Maybe it isn’t an actual fist fight in your classroom but the latest in a long string of behavior problems.

3. A Better Way: Sometimes change is triggered by seeing a better way. I used to take home papers to grade all the time (cursing the whole time) until I had a colleague who showed me some shortcuts to minimize my grading time. I used to battle kids not coming in appropriately until I observed a colleague who used bellwork beautifully to start class smoothly.

Now, having said that, there are things we can control and things we cannot. You cannot control the background knowledge that kids come into your class with. You cannot control their parents. You cannot control which kids you teach. You cannot change your state standards (yet?).  You can’t control that public school has some kids tough to teach.

Before looking at change, you need to make peace with the idea that there are things you can control and things you cannot.

Maybe just making peace with something you can’t control IS the change you need!

But once you have identified something you can control AND you are inspired by a) that big event, b) that breaking point or c) that  better way -- now it’s time.

Albert Einstein maybe (but probably didn’t) say “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result”.

So, just a couple of questions to help you think about change this week:

• Where is your tipping point in your classroom?
• What issue is most concerning?
• What area do you have control over? (you might not think you do ... but often you have more choice than you think)
• And how can you make a change? Where can you start?

Need help or just an ear? Want to talk it through? Email me and I’m glad to talk through change with you. Honestly, that’s half of my job. Literally.

Email me your thoughts! No judgement  -- you make changes where YOU feel inspired, not be cause I (or someone else) tells you to make a change

What Are You Good At?

Everyone has strengths and gifts.

When I was in the classroom, I taught down the hall from Ms. C. Ms. C was somehow magic. Kids who were squirrely in most classes came into her class quietly, prepared, and behaving beautifully with “yes ma’am”s and “no, ma’am”s.  She was magic.

Before I knew that it was ok to learn from colleagues, I used to lurk outside her door during class change to see what it was she did that made these goofball kids and turn them into model students.

She thanked every kid personally, by name for coming into her room quietly and respectfully. She didn’t yell. She expected them to behave and they did. And she had some pretty powerful one-on-one conversations in the hall with kids when they didn’t behave. She didn’t try to be their best friend.

She was strong in an area where I needed to grow.

Outside of school, some of you are great cooks or restore old cars or teach Sunday School or foster homeless pets or make beautiful crafts or volunteer or grow kumquats or bartend or play tennis.

Everyone has their strengths outside of school. But I want to talk about those strengths you bring to the INSIDE of school.

What are you particularly good at, teaching-related?

Some teachers make wonderful lesson plans. Some teachers have incredible relationships with their students. Some use innovative technology effortlessly. Some of you get things graded thoughtfully and entered almost immediately.

I used to have great relationships with kids -- but I was never the teacher the kids confided sensitive problems to.

I love writing great lesson plans -- but I take two weeks to get everything graded and then I rush through it and give lousy feedback.  

I was strong at planning and doing one-time events -- running the awards ceremony or the Valentine’s Day dance. But I struggled with corralling and focusing the Student Government kids every single week.

I have had the wonderful fortune to observe in tons of classes over the years in this job. And this year, I have had the joy of taking teachers to go observe other teachers to see them teach.

It is one of my favorite things to do --- and it might be the most powerful PD I can offer! There is nothing more REAL than to see a REAL teacher teach a REAL lesson to a REAL class in REAL time.

And I love getting to see so many different teaching strengths!

Every teacher I see has strengths. Check the list below and identify a few of your OWN strengths.

• Tons of content knowledge  
• Strong processes and procedures
• Gives great feedback to students
• Manages classroom beautifully.
• Creates powerful relationships with students
• Teaches kids higher order thinking well and frequently
• Runs engaging classes regularly
• Uses tons of strategies that are “just right” for each lesson and class
• Really good with English Language Learners.
• Awesome at putting scaffolds into lessons to help struggling students
• Use turn and talks a couple times a period
• Great storyteller
• Makes solid assessments
• Uses new and effective technology -- and uses it well
• Inspires the best in kids to work and learn hard
• Organizes materials and kids for optimal learning
• Keeps a gorgeous classroom
• Makes learning relevant to the kids’ real worlds
• Teaches to different modalities, learning styles and multiple intelligences
• Keeps parents happy and informed
• Differentiates for different kids
• Gives clear, quick, specific directions and transitions
• Stays positive
• Collaborates well with colleagues
• Intentionally teaches study/thinking skills .
• Formative assessment ninja -- and uses that info
• Tries new things regularly -- and adapts them so they work
• __________________________________
• __________________________________

I’m sure there are more teaching skills that I missed. Feel free to add a few more on to the end.

Now, make SURE you have identified a few of YOUR STRENGTHS.

In a field like ours where you never get enough praise and props for what you do, please pat yourself on the back and give yourself a high-five.

Now, think of how you could help another teacher who needed to strengthen that particular skill. If you are a master at giving clear, quick, specific directions and transitions, think about how you could help a colleague who could use some improving in that area.  If you form great relationships with students, how could you help someone who needs to improve their relationships with kids? What would you say or do?

Now, go back through the list again. Identify 3 or 4 of the skills where you could use a little improving.

Nobody is perfect. No shame -- and you don’t have to share this with anyone. We all have strengths and areas to improve!  

As  you talk with your colleagues, have official PLCs, team meetings, informal hallway chats, lunch conversation, even just back-and-forth emails... Think about who has skills you could learn from.

Then, just ask them.

It requires us to admit to being imperfect. But other than that, it is POWERFUL for use to ask our colleagues -- “hey, how come you never have any behavior problems in your classes? What’s your secret?” or “What do you do that works so well with ELL students?” or “How do you keep your class so engaging? Kids are always talking about what they’re doing in your class!”

It’s a little humbling to ask for help. But it’s also the only way we grow.

Even a teacher you might not be BFFs with or who might be out of your grade level or content area or magnet program -- that teacher may have something to teach you.

Ask them how they manage to remember to use turn and talks daily or how they manage to make everything relevant or how they keep such a calm, well-run classroom or how they get everything graded so quickly!

There’s a ton of PD we can provide -- or teachers can be doin’ it for themselves. Think about your strengths and areas for growth. Then, take it in your own hands and figure out who to learn from and go learn it.

Any ideas? Or need help finding out WHO is awesome at a particular skill? As always, I love to hear and help! Email me at newmantr@pcsb.org