With Grace

Tales of the first week of school. Here are some things I saw and heard of from the first week of school 

• Hand sanitizer everywhere

• Kids (in-person) forgetting how to be around other kids

• Teachers adapting

• Kids who literally don’t see another live human being all day

• Kids not getting “let in” to a class all period. *Bonus craziness if it was during block schedule. 

• Some kids and teachers glad to be home and safe.

• Some teachers crying. 

• Some technology failing. 

• Great cleanliness processes 

• Younger kids melting down and having nightmares.

• Older kids being weirdly sweet and nice to their families. 

• Classrooms shut down due to Covid. 

• Schools not letting children bring school-issued computers to class (yes, really!)

• Plexiglass.

• Super-cute face masks.

• Teachers ghosting their jobs. 

• Canvas confusion

• A lot of Tech-Help tickets

• Creative teacher geniusness 

• Kids glad to see other kids 

• Everyone trying to figure out the “new normal” so we can get into routine. 

This “Home Learning Dome” below is a joke. It’s, sadly, not a real thing, otherwise, I would have put two on my credit card. But I wish it was real...

Y’all.Y’ALL!

I know we had to do a hard shift in the spring. And this is a whole ’nother giant adjustment. 

So this week, all I can ask you for is this. 

Grace. 

I ask that you give yourself and others around you grace. 

By grace, I mean goodwill, understanding, and kindness. 

This is not a normal year. So don’t treat it as one. Not at this point, anyway.

• Sure you normally start giving homework -- and grading it -- the second week of school. Show a little grace. Maybe wait another week. Or extend the due dates. 

• Sure, you normally have a certain set of expectations . It’s not “lowering expectations”. It’s giving a little grace when it takes the kids a little longer to learn those expectations. 

• I know you are a perfectionist and you expect yourself to have amazing lessons. But Canvas is new and it's hard to tell what’s going on behind the kids’ masks. And you have to sleep sometimes... Give YOURSELF a little grace. Let it go. Not every lesson can be an A+. It’s okay if this one is only a B. 

• Your administrator set up this wild schedule and it’s not what you wanted. It’s messy and hard to pull off. Show a little grace. They’re doing the best they can, too. 

• The parents are emailing you all the time, even sticking their faces into the screen to see what’s going on. Of course it makes you anxious. It’s so weird! They’re anxious, too. They’re worried if they made the right choice (about online or face to face learning). They’re worried about their kid. They’re trying to be involved (which they know they’re supposed to do). Give the parents a little grace.

• The kids at home have their cameras off.  It’s so hard to teach to a set of initials instead of to a face. But there are a million reasons why you can’t see those beautiful faces, starting with lack of cameras, moving to adolescent embarrassment about peers, and ending with home lives they don’t want others to see. Show grace and allow cameras to be off (although you might do a one-on-one conference with cameras on in the coming weeks and let the kid use a fun background, just so you can get to know their face).

• Your awesome lesson bombed because of technical difficulties. You worked so hard and the internet went down or the computer froze or Canvas acted up. You deserve grace too. S--- happens and you are still a wonderful teacher even when technology doesn’t cooperate. Take a breath. It’ll be okay. 

The only people you do not have to show grace to are the ones who use their anxiety to attack you in some way. If their anxiety turns into blame, bullying, unsafe behavior, or manipulation, then you do not have to show grace in that moment. You can walk away. But you can show grace. It feels good.  

But generally, we are all trying our best right now. Parents, students, staff, administrators, and teachers. We all want what’s best for our kids, with what we have to work with. 

Give yourself and others grace. Assume good intentions. Show understanding and give kindness. 

We will get through these first few weeks and we will figure out how to do this. It will get easier. And someday we will look back and tell people “I taught during the pandemic” and they will say “Holy crap! How did you do that?”

And you will say “We did it with grace” 

Have a better week than last week. 

Let me/us know how we can help. 

-Tracy

Welcome Back and Adjust Expectations

 

 Welcome Back, my friends and colleagues, 

I HAVE MISSED YOU ALL SO, SO MUCH!!!!

I am so glad that you are back, whether you are back to traditional classrooms, virtual classrooms, some of each, or blended classes. 

Welcome to what is going to be the weirdest year on record! It “otter” be a wild year!

This is my 20th year in teaching. I was in teaching during 9/11, Hurricane Irma, the year of the 5 hurricanes, the year our school got a new building, the year of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas shootings, the year we didn’t know the results of the presidential election for weeks, and even the year Swine Flu (or was it SARS?) taught my middle schoolers to fling hand sanitizer on each other and snap the elastic of masks at each other.

Nothing could have prepared us for this. 

Whether you are at peace with the school year now, whether you are not that worried, or whether you are crying into your adult beverage nightly, here we are. 

The world has changed so much since you left your classroom. 

There are 4 major events that have occurred. They may not all have been major to you. But be aware that it’s pretty likely that at least one has been major to the kids in your class and the colleagues in your building -- and different events have hit differently to different people. 

1. Coronavirus -- of course, the ‘Rona is the most obvious event. The global pandemic is a big deal. 17,000 Pinellas County residents have tested positive. 500 have died. Hundreds have been hospitalized. This has been big and scary and traumatic for us and for the kids. You and they likely know someone who has had the virus, maybe someone who has been really sick or someone who has died. 

2. Economy -- As of this week, in Pinellas County, nearly 150,000 (16% of the population) is identified as “food insecure”, meaning they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Families that have never needed food banks or financial help before may need it now. Maybe that’s your family or your neighbors. It’s definitely some of our students. Small businesses & folks in hospitality have been hit especially hard. This happened fast and it hit families hard. 

3. Loneliness -- A lot of us or our kids have quarantined and limited our interactions a lot. We have not gone to Disney or to bars (us) or to camps (them) or travelled or to many other places. We have been lonely. This has affected people differently, but know that people (kids and adults) are fragile. Things we could have handled with ease last year will be tough this year. Some kids literally haven’t seen another kid in 6 months.Others have been to day camps or have spent plenty of time with friends. There’s so much variety, but virtual interactions are not the same as in-person and it shows. 

4. Racial Reckoning -- With the violent death of George Floyd seen by all of us, America’s anti racism movement went mainstream. Kids who, before, felt that nobody heard their cries of racism -- suddenly felt that a lot of somebodies heard, and felt empowered. Americans of all races, ages, and socioeconomic groups took (and are still taking) to the streets in mostly peaceful protests.... And then there are students coming from households that are pushing against this movement, households where racism is still acceptable (or where it is an invisible topic and thus racism is still acceptable that way)

Whew, friends! That’s a lot to work through. 

Things are going to be different. 

So, so different. 

Today, I’d like you to let them. 

Let them be different. Adjust your expectations.

The only way to a) be safe and b) keep your sanity is to NOT expect things to look like normal. We’re going to have to adjust our expectations. 

• Your classroom can’t look like it usually does

• Your teaching style can’t look like it usually does

• Your supply requests can’t look like it usually does

• The kids are deeply affected by some (all?) of the above Big 4 events. They won’t act like they usually do. 

• You can’t see each others’ faces like you usually do. 

• You can’t do the same classroom culture building you usually do. 

• You can’t pass out supplies and handouts like you usually do.

• Kids can’t even walk down the halls like they usually do.

EVERYTHING. WILL. BE. DIFFERENT. 

(or at least everything is “on the table” for being different). 

Our wedding anniversary was last week. LAST YEAR for our wedding anniversary, my husband and I went to the Bahamas. So, uhhh... we had to have different expectations this year. The pandemic changes everything. Instead, our kids (both in elementary school) threw us an “anniversary party” (for just the 4 of us) with some decorations we picked up from the order-and-drive-up at Target, some art they made, and some Thai food take-out. They even used streamers across the dining room and made us have a ribbon cutting ceremony. 

I will never forget this anniversary. It cost next-to-nothing, had no travel, no date night, and not even a babysitter to get away from the kids. But it was meaningful and lovely and sweet.

In a pandemic, we have to adjust our expectations. And out of new expectations can come different beautiful things. 

We humans can adapt to anything. You, my colleagues, showed us this in the spring, showed us all how amazingly adaptable you are. I was constantly amazed and awed by you all. 

So here are my two pieces of advice for you as we start this school year. Maybe they’re my wishes for you, like little blessings. 

1. I wish for you to be adaptable and flexible. Put away your expectations of certain types of

2. collaboration and specific notebooks you like and favorite classroom procedures that won’t work in the new normal. Try something new. And if that doesn’t work, try something else. And if that doesn't work, try something else. Don’t stick to your Old Ways because they’re habits. It’s time to form some new habits. Adjust your expectations. 

3. Take extra-good care of yourself. The best parenting advice I ever got holds just as true for the classroom. As every airline safety video says, put your own oxygen mask on before that of your children. You have to be so, so aware of your own mental health this year, now, more than ever. Be aware of your signs of stress and signs of being overwhelmed. And step back and care for yourself. You can’t care for your kids if you aren’t caring for yourself.

I know you all. You will teach through a freaking pandemic and be rockstars. You will find safe ways of making meaningful connections with kids through masks and through computers and through plexiglass and through all the chaos to come. 

But we have to adjust our expectations before we can create new ways of doing things. 

I wish you flexibility and self-care. Those tools will serve you well in this wild year. Don’t forget we are all in this together. 

I hope to see you all (virtually) at DWT or elsewhere soon! Stay safe! 

-Tracy

  

Flying Off a Cliff

My friends, we have been pushed off a cliff into our current digital teaching, haven't we? Not by anyone being unkind, of course. This pandemic and its timeline were not anticipated by educators. But here we are, at our respective homes, in our respective bunny slippers, worrying about our respective students, trying to figure out our respective tech problems. 

But as we have pretty much settled in, I know that most of us have seen some silver linings in digital teaching. 

Other than our bunny slippers and our lack of commutes. 

I have seen some of you SOAR with your digital teaching -- not like the guy falling off the cliff, but like the superhero flying  off the mountain that you all are (even when you don’t feel like it) 

There are things I know you all have discovered that you love in digital teaching. 

• Maybe it’s DBQ Online
• Maybe it’s having kids use the chat to collaborate
• Maybe it’s stepping down the kids’ workloads
• Maybe it’s virtual field trips
• Maybe it’s Canva for student projects
• Maybe it’s letting go of “right there” questions. 
• Maybe it’s Flipgrid for engaged student responses
• Maybe it’s leaning into the social and emotional side of teaching
• Maybe it’s Safari Montage for safe Youtube viewing
• Maybe it’s some cool resource you’ve discovered you can’t live without. 
• Maybe it’s something else entirely! 

Whatever it is, do me two favors. (please)

First, tell me what is your favorite thing about digital teaching (bunny-slippers-wise AND ALSO teaching-wise). Send me email, chat me, or whatever. I’m not going anywhere, either. 

Second, make a digital note for yourself. And start thinking about how you can use that thing you like from the NOW, from digital teaching when you go back in the physical classroom in the fall. How can you use Flipgrid or digital chats or Canva or whatever? 

Let’s start thinking now about the things we are learning to love about digital teaching -- the ways we are all GROWING as teachers from digital teaching -- and how we don’t pack those great teaching moments away with our bunny slippers when August comes around. Let’s bring our great digital teaching “finds” to school with us and keep those things rolling, just like we’ll keep the hand sanitizer rolling. 

Although I don’t think I will pack my bunny slippers away completely. I am in LOVE with my bunny slippers. 

I know some weeks you think you’re drowning. Some weeks your kids think they’re drowning. 

You’re not drowning and you can make yourself “drown less” (if that’s a thing). 

Remember you are only supposed to be giving 2-3 activities per week that are 20-30 minutes long, right? This is not brick-and-morter-school. Life and school are drastically different. This is hard. We aren’t supposed to be stressing out the students which in turn stresses out the parents which stresses out the administrators which stresses out the teachers! The solution to a lot of the stress (but certainly not all of it) is to give kids (and ourselves) less work.

Slow down. You don’t have an exam. Your kids won’t die if they don’t cover a benchmark as thoroughly as they usually do. Make it fun. Keep it fun, so they keep learning for the next month. 

And then, tell me and make a note for yourself about what worked well and what you can take back to your classroom. 

Hang in there, team. It’s almost May!  And this summer, we can all... hang around our houses some more? 

Anyway, email me and let me know what’s working for you about digital teaching! Like you miss your students, I miss my colleagues! Have a great week! 

-Tracy

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