Day 29: How have you changed as an educator since you first started?
Because I've fallen behind in this blog challenge, sometimes I read the posts of my fellow #comcon members before I get to writing my own. This is both bad and good. I don't want to mirror their ideas closely, but I often get inspiration from their awesome work.
In this instance, I have been inspired by Maria Verwey and her post, "Moi? Changed?". Like her, I'm going to write this post as a letter to my past self from my current self.
I don't know how much I've "changed", but I've definitely learned a lot and if I could go back and share that wisdom with my past self, I'd make my own life a whole lot easier.
Dear Past Shauna of 2004,
You look great. Seriously, I know you don't think you do, but you do. Ten years and a bunch of sleepless nights and a lot of stress eating changes you. Enjoy how you look right now.
Cut yourself some slack. When you start to accept the advice you give to your students, life will get a lot easier. "Don't worry, be crappy" - just get things done. They don't always have to be perfect. "Be Velcro. Let the good things stick to you. Be Teflon. Let the bad stuff slide off you". The bad stuff does NOT weigh more than the good stuff. Let it go.
You have a sphere of influence. Those kids who come into your classroom everyday, they deserve the best of you. For the time you are with them. They have lives away from you, too. You can't fix everything about those. You are their teacher and they'll see how much you care for them, but they don't have to haunt your every waking hour. You're only one person.
There are only 24-hours in a day. Some of that needs to be spent on you. Captain Handsome and your friends deserve your full attention at least some of the time.
You can say no sometimes. You will meet so many amazing people who can run clubs, go to meetings, help students and mentor others. You don't need to do it all. Other people can do it just as well as you. Sometimes better. You don't have to be an active part of every single cool initiative you hear about. Sit back sometimes and encourage someone else to take a chance. Remember, you only have 24-hours in a day. I'm not kidding, working for 18 hours a day doesn't make the day itself any longer. You do have to sleep.
Take a day off when you are starting to get sick. Don't let the scratchy throat turn into Strep, then Bronchitis, then Pneumonia twice or three times a year.
Track your spending. You will spend thousands on teaching resources. It will be good to one day tally it all up and see the percentage of your earnings you reinvest into your career.
Those days when you feel like you are a failure? They get fewer and farther between over time. I promise, they really do. You'll also get better at holding on to some of the good stuff. It doesn't help right away when things go wrong, but having an "Atta Girl" folder on your email and keeping beautiful handwritten notes from students, co-workers and parents helps build you up.
Everybody makes mistakes. Even you. It's OK. People will like you more when they see that you're not perfect and when you let them see (a little) behind the facade of strength. You will start to make your best friends you've ever had when you do.
Relax. Laugh more with your students. Following their ideas, passions and interests always makes for the best relationships and the best learning. Don't worry so much about making the BEST educational use of every single moment. You, and the kids, will remember the other stuff more.
You know those people who said, "Never hug a kid" or "Don't smile 'till Christmas"? Your initial reaction to them was right. They're so very wrong. For you at least, the relationships you'll build with your students will make all the difference in how you reach them.
Let go of envy and jealousy. You're doing a good job. Teaching and learning are life-long processes and you're on a journey. You are exactly where you should be right now. Other people's successes do not change what you are doing.
Don't doubt yourself so much. You have pretty sound judgement most of the time. Trust it. When you make a mistake, own up to it, and then learn from it. You don't need to beat yourself up.
You know those kids who seem like they HATE you right now. They don't. They really don't. Someday, years from now, you'll get the most incredible reaction running into them in public. They'll tell you which of your words made all the difference to them. What you are doing is worthwhile. Those kids need you and you're doing what they need.
Take care of myself,
Love,
Future Shauna (2014)
Showing posts with label work life balance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work life balance. Show all posts
Monday, 29 September 2014
30-Day Blogging Challenge: Day 27: Holidays and Weekends
Day 27: What role do weekends and holidays play in your teaching?
Too much. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have a lot of trouble turning of my teacher brain. That's probably good for my students, as I'm basically always thinking about them, but it's not always great for me. Or for my in-person relationships.
I spend a lot of time online, reading, watching, writing, planning and sharing. I like to be easily accessible to co-workers, parents and students (current and former). A lot of my "downtime" is spent up - reflecting, planning and thinking. That means I spent evenings, weekends and holidays working.
I have this ridiculously awesome team of people behind me (partner, friends, colleagues, professionals) and all of them push me to look at my life and find a better work-life balance. The problem is, my work IS my life. That might sound lame, but I really, truly, madly, deeply love what I do and love learning from others and pushing myself to be better.
Because I am aware of the potential to burn out, I try to listen to my team and take some time for pleasurable, happy-making activities. Even if my teacher-brain is still on, I value the time I spend tuned into real live human people who love me. I need to do a better job showing them that.
That said, my mom and Captain Handsome need me right now. The rest of my blog catch-up can wait!
Too much. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have a lot of trouble turning of my teacher brain. That's probably good for my students, as I'm basically always thinking about them, but it's not always great for me. Or for my in-person relationships.
I spend a lot of time online, reading, watching, writing, planning and sharing. I like to be easily accessible to co-workers, parents and students (current and former). A lot of my "downtime" is spent up - reflecting, planning and thinking. That means I spent evenings, weekends and holidays working.
I have this ridiculously awesome team of people behind me (partner, friends, colleagues, professionals) and all of them push me to look at my life and find a better work-life balance. The problem is, my work IS my life. That might sound lame, but I really, truly, madly, deeply love what I do and love learning from others and pushing myself to be better.
Because I am aware of the potential to burn out, I try to listen to my team and take some time for pleasurable, happy-making activities. Even if my teacher-brain is still on, I value the time I spend tuned into real live human people who love me. I need to do a better job showing them that.
That said, my mom and Captain Handsome need me right now. The rest of my blog catch-up can wait!
Monday, 1 September 2014
30-Day Blogging Challenge: Day 1: My Goals
A principal who I really admire and who had a huge impact on my summer through his #SummerLS challenge and EduAllStars podcast (but I've yet to meet in person), Todd Nesloney, tweeted out a link to a 30-day blogging challenge. Despite the fact that I have an alphabetical list of at least 30 posts I'd like to write, I feel like this would be a good way to keep me on track. Plus, once I write one post, I'm always inspired to write another.
Reflective Teaching: A 30-Day Blogging Challenge for Teachers
Day 1:
Write your goals for the school year. Be as specific or abstract as you'd like to be.
I'm going to have to be specific. I have a LOT of goals and have spent a lot of time this summer reflecting on what they are. For ease of organizing my thoughts, I've split them into sections: Values in my Grade 3/4 Classroom (goals for my students and I); Professional Goals (things I'm going to work on as a teacher)
Values in my Grade 3/4 Classroom - EPCOT
Be Brave
Overall, my goal for the school year (for myself and my students) is "Be Brave". Day 1 in the classroom (tomorrow!), that will be our only expectation. As we form as a team, my students and I will work together to co-create roles, responsibilities and expectations.
I ADD EGGS
Last year, my grade 5/6 Rainbow Eggheads and I lived by the recipe for success: ADD EGGS. Initially, I created this recipe, but my students completely bought into it and owned it. They could reflect effectively on their choices, the choices of others and how to improve by using the language in ADD EGGS.
Last summer, I wrote a list of qualities I want to help develop in my students, qualities I'd like them to leave my classroom understanding and practicing every day. I came up with ADD EGGS - accountability, dynamism, drive, engagement, grateful, generous and supportive.
The Rainbow Eggheads lived these values last year. They could rhyme of the acronym easily and came up with "The Rainbow Rule" ("Be an ADD EGG, not a BAD EGG" - they even decided what BAD stood for)! In their end of year Ignite presentations, most of them referred to ADD EGGS and what a difference it made to their learning.
After lots of reflection (and discussion with my trusted colleague, Tiiu), I've decided to KISS (Keep It Simple, Silly) and share ADD EGGS with my incoming class. However, there is one quality that is missing from ADD EGGS, so this year, the acronym is changed to "I ADD EGGS" (I've added innovation to fit with another big class goal this year).
Imagineering and Blue Sky Thinking
Throughout my life, I've been inspired by Walt Disney, and lately, I've been reading a lot about his life, his innovations and his legacy. I can't help but think about how well his philosophies and his message tie into my dream classroom and teaching methods.
This year, my students and I will use Walt Disney (the person, not the brand) as a model. The way he, among other things: listened to all ideas while seeking the best way to do things; looked towards the future; learned from and embraced the past; told stories; thought about creating memorable and educational experiences; questioned everything and was open to change, will be essential to the way I think about teaching this year.
I will encourage my students to embrace Blue Sky Thinking by thinking big, following their dreams and believing in themselves.
We will think of ourselves as Imagineers as we use imagination to engineer our learning.
EPCOT
Because of my interest in all things Disney, I am inspired by Walt's vision for EPCOT (an experimental city, that, after his death, was repurposed as a theme park - my favourite as a child!). It breaks my heart that his vision never saw the light of day, but, learning from his passion and purpose, I thought about what I think a classroom should be.
I think a classroom should be a place where everyone can try new things, share successes with others and embrace change. Teachers should be futurists as we are preparing our students for a future we can't possibly predict. With that in mind, I've called my new class blog and twitter account EPCOTclass. In this case, EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype CLASSROOM of Tomorrow. The name and vision will help to keep me on track with all of the ideas, values and dreams listed above.
Goals for my BEd Students
Bringing Language to Life for Life
I'm thrilled (and nervous!) to be teaching my first BEd class (Language Instruction in the Primary and Junior Years) this term. I have outlined goals for my students and I as "Big Ideas" in our week 1 slideshow. What I am really aiming to do is ignite (or kindle!) a passion for teaching (Language in particular) in the pre-service teachers who I will have the pleasure of working with.
I've subtitled my course "Bringing Language to Life for Life" and look forward to working with the students in class, on Twitter and through blogs to do exactly that, bring Language to life.
I want my students to leave my class better prepared for and more confident to teach Language to students of all ages. Because of that goal, I have worked very hard to create a comprehensive course and ensure that all assignments are authentic and applicable to the classroom.
Professional Goals
Balance and Wellness
This year, our admin is committed to helping staff find balance in our lives and ensure our wellness. I'm excited to see what this looks like.
Over the summer, I've tried to work on balance, something that has always been a challenge for me. In order to really understand what it looks like, I've created a list of my roles and set goals for the amount of time to spend on each during a day. Since late July, I've been tracking those. It's been enlightening for me to see how my goals align with what I actually do. Also, I see that I only have 24 hours in a day and have to set priorities, one of which is myself as a worthwhile human being. I'm going to work hard to remember that during the year. I will make it a priority to do happy-making things. I'll even work hard to make sure that some of those have nothing to do with my job!
Ongoing Feedback Communicated to Students and Families
In the survey I shared with Room 209 families last year, parents told me to learn to say no (they recognized that I tried to do too much!) and that they'd like to get more ongoing feedback about their children.
Tiiu and I created an Annual Learning Plan for students, which will be a working document that is shared with students and families (an individual one for each student) and developed throughout the year. The link I shared is absolutely a work in progress and I am planning to meet with each family early in the year to set goals and make plans.
Developing my PLN
People call it different things, but I think of my PLN as my Professional Learning Network and I am lucky to include lots of people I know in real life and online in it. I love to collaborate with other educators to bring interesting experiences into my classroom. I will continue to do this through twitter chats, planning and collaborating via Skype and the Google Drive.
An element I am adding this year is to work with inspirational, passionate educators in formal and informal settings. I have started an Educational Think Tank (with Amy Bowker) and the Comment Consortium. Because of getting to work regularly with amazing people, I know will continue to be challenged and pushed me.
Sharing My Learning
I'll be presenting at some upcoming conferences this fall and love to share what I have learned and what I am passionate about with other educators.
By committing to the Comment Consortium and this 30-day blogging challenge, I will regularly share my process with others. More importantly though, I will actually be creating instead of just consuming and I will really take the time to reflect on my practice.
Alternative Education
I teach at an alternative public school and we operate based on a series of tenets that make us different from other sites. A group of us met regularly last year and discussed our school philosophy to celebrate our successes and build upon them for the future.
The idea for Tree Families was born from this collaboration. Each staff member and student in the school will be placed in a "Family" represented by an Ontario tree for their entire time at our school. Families will meet regularly to work together on character education, anti-bullying initiatives and develop skills. We are starting Tree Families next week and I look forward to seeing how they help to build a real sense of ownership and community in our school.
Overall Goal
You Matter
After listening to and reading Angela Maiers this summer, i am thinking in terms of her movement, "You Matter". All of my other goals can be boiled down into this one. Each of us is a genius and it is our duty to share that genius with the world.
By reframing my thinking and remembering that I am significant, I can meet my professional (and personal goals) and let go of issues in a non-judgemental way, using them to move forward and make life better for myself and others. To remind all my students that they matter and help them find their passions and "follow their heartbreaks", I can help them achieve their goals.
It's a good thing this prompt encouraged me to be as specific as I like! As always, I had a lot to say!
Thanks to those of you who got all the way to the end of the post.
What are your goals for this school year? How are you committed to meeting them? What small and large actions are you taking to achieve them?
Reflective Teaching: A 30-Day Blogging Challenge for Teachers
Day 1:
Write your goals for the school year. Be as specific or abstract as you'd like to be.
I'm going to have to be specific. I have a LOT of goals and have spent a lot of time this summer reflecting on what they are. For ease of organizing my thoughts, I've split them into sections: Values in my Grade 3/4 Classroom (goals for my students and I); Professional Goals (things I'm going to work on as a teacher)
Values in my Grade 3/4 Classroom - EPCOT
Be Brave
Overall, my goal for the school year (for myself and my students) is "Be Brave". Day 1 in the classroom (tomorrow!), that will be our only expectation. As we form as a team, my students and I will work together to co-create roles, responsibilities and expectations.
I ADD EGGS
Last year, my grade 5/6 Rainbow Eggheads and I lived by the recipe for success: ADD EGGS. Initially, I created this recipe, but my students completely bought into it and owned it. They could reflect effectively on their choices, the choices of others and how to improve by using the language in ADD EGGS.
Last summer, I wrote a list of qualities I want to help develop in my students, qualities I'd like them to leave my classroom understanding and practicing every day. I came up with ADD EGGS - accountability, dynamism, drive, engagement, grateful, generous and supportive.
The Rainbow Eggheads lived these values last year. They could rhyme of the acronym easily and came up with "The Rainbow Rule" ("Be an ADD EGG, not a BAD EGG" - they even decided what BAD stood for)! In their end of year Ignite presentations, most of them referred to ADD EGGS and what a difference it made to their learning.
After lots of reflection (and discussion with my trusted colleague, Tiiu), I've decided to KISS (Keep It Simple, Silly) and share ADD EGGS with my incoming class. However, there is one quality that is missing from ADD EGGS, so this year, the acronym is changed to "I ADD EGGS" (I've added innovation to fit with another big class goal this year).
Imagineering and Blue Sky Thinking
Throughout my life, I've been inspired by Walt Disney, and lately, I've been reading a lot about his life, his innovations and his legacy. I can't help but think about how well his philosophies and his message tie into my dream classroom and teaching methods.
This year, my students and I will use Walt Disney (the person, not the brand) as a model. The way he, among other things: listened to all ideas while seeking the best way to do things; looked towards the future; learned from and embraced the past; told stories; thought about creating memorable and educational experiences; questioned everything and was open to change, will be essential to the way I think about teaching this year.
I will encourage my students to embrace Blue Sky Thinking by thinking big, following their dreams and believing in themselves.
We will think of ourselves as Imagineers as we use imagination to engineer our learning.
EPCOT
Because of my interest in all things Disney, I am inspired by Walt's vision for EPCOT (an experimental city, that, after his death, was repurposed as a theme park - my favourite as a child!). It breaks my heart that his vision never saw the light of day, but, learning from his passion and purpose, I thought about what I think a classroom should be.
I think a classroom should be a place where everyone can try new things, share successes with others and embrace change. Teachers should be futurists as we are preparing our students for a future we can't possibly predict. With that in mind, I've called my new class blog and twitter account EPCOTclass. In this case, EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype CLASSROOM of Tomorrow. The name and vision will help to keep me on track with all of the ideas, values and dreams listed above.
Goals for my BEd Students
Bringing Language to Life for Life
I'm thrilled (and nervous!) to be teaching my first BEd class (Language Instruction in the Primary and Junior Years) this term. I have outlined goals for my students and I as "Big Ideas" in our week 1 slideshow. What I am really aiming to do is ignite (or kindle!) a passion for teaching (Language in particular) in the pre-service teachers who I will have the pleasure of working with.
I've subtitled my course "Bringing Language to Life for Life" and look forward to working with the students in class, on Twitter and through blogs to do exactly that, bring Language to life.
I want my students to leave my class better prepared for and more confident to teach Language to students of all ages. Because of that goal, I have worked very hard to create a comprehensive course and ensure that all assignments are authentic and applicable to the classroom.
Professional Goals
Balance and Wellness
This year, our admin is committed to helping staff find balance in our lives and ensure our wellness. I'm excited to see what this looks like.
Over the summer, I've tried to work on balance, something that has always been a challenge for me. In order to really understand what it looks like, I've created a list of my roles and set goals for the amount of time to spend on each during a day. Since late July, I've been tracking those. It's been enlightening for me to see how my goals align with what I actually do. Also, I see that I only have 24 hours in a day and have to set priorities, one of which is myself as a worthwhile human being. I'm going to work hard to remember that during the year. I will make it a priority to do happy-making things. I'll even work hard to make sure that some of those have nothing to do with my job!
Ongoing Feedback Communicated to Students and Families
In the survey I shared with Room 209 families last year, parents told me to learn to say no (they recognized that I tried to do too much!) and that they'd like to get more ongoing feedback about their children.
Tiiu and I created an Annual Learning Plan for students, which will be a working document that is shared with students and families (an individual one for each student) and developed throughout the year. The link I shared is absolutely a work in progress and I am planning to meet with each family early in the year to set goals and make plans.
Developing my PLN
People call it different things, but I think of my PLN as my Professional Learning Network and I am lucky to include lots of people I know in real life and online in it. I love to collaborate with other educators to bring interesting experiences into my classroom. I will continue to do this through twitter chats, planning and collaborating via Skype and the Google Drive.
An element I am adding this year is to work with inspirational, passionate educators in formal and informal settings. I have started an Educational Think Tank (with Amy Bowker) and the Comment Consortium. Because of getting to work regularly with amazing people, I know will continue to be challenged and pushed me.
Sharing My Learning
I'll be presenting at some upcoming conferences this fall and love to share what I have learned and what I am passionate about with other educators.
By committing to the Comment Consortium and this 30-day blogging challenge, I will regularly share my process with others. More importantly though, I will actually be creating instead of just consuming and I will really take the time to reflect on my practice.
Alternative Education
I teach at an alternative public school and we operate based on a series of tenets that make us different from other sites. A group of us met regularly last year and discussed our school philosophy to celebrate our successes and build upon them for the future.
The idea for Tree Families was born from this collaboration. Each staff member and student in the school will be placed in a "Family" represented by an Ontario tree for their entire time at our school. Families will meet regularly to work together on character education, anti-bullying initiatives and develop skills. We are starting Tree Families next week and I look forward to seeing how they help to build a real sense of ownership and community in our school.
Overall Goal
You Matter
After listening to and reading Angela Maiers this summer, i am thinking in terms of her movement, "You Matter". All of my other goals can be boiled down into this one. Each of us is a genius and it is our duty to share that genius with the world.
By reframing my thinking and remembering that I am significant, I can meet my professional (and personal goals) and let go of issues in a non-judgemental way, using them to move forward and make life better for myself and others. To remind all my students that they matter and help them find their passions and "follow their heartbreaks", I can help them achieve their goals.
It's a good thing this prompt encouraged me to be as specific as I like! As always, I had a lot to say!
Thanks to those of you who got all the way to the end of the post.
What are your goals for this school year? How are you committed to meeting them? What small and large actions are you taking to achieve them?
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