I like the pieces of the school day to fit nicely together. I look forward to children working with engagement on meaningful tasks. I work towards empowering my students with the knowledge, concept, and skill that not only will help them to be successful in school, but to be successful in life too. Yet, sometimes this quest for the perfect puzzle where all the pieces fit nicely together gets in my way of a good day since the reality is that school days are rarely shiny, bright, and perfect. Instead, days at school are filled with some wins, some losses, and some simply regular times. School days mimic real life which is rarely perfect.
So yesterday when one plan after another was toppled by unexpected events, I became frustrated. To start the day there was a student conflict that resulted in a long, but meaningful and successful, class conversation. Then there was a schedule change with regard to music that I forgot to share with others who work in my class which resulted in a child's unhappiness since he missed his music lessons. After that, the Valentine Box activity which I've done year after year was not met with the same enthusiasm as in other years, thus some students were disgruntled which led to a few bad choices. There was confusion about tech choice protocols, and it was indoor recess too which restricts students from their beloved time to run and play on our wonderful playground which resulted in a few more student conflicts that got in the way of a positive end of the day.
As I always do with a less than wonderful day, I replay the day to see where I could have done differently.
First, I need to find a better way to communicate changes and guidelines with teachers who work in my classroom. I learned of the music change the day before and should have added it to the children's schedule so they knew and any teachers in my classroom knew--the schedule is important to all of us so everyone knows what is going on in our busy school and classroom.
Then, I need to be more clear about protocols as there was confusion about tech choice protocols which led to greater frustration. I was frustrated because I just assumed people knew the tech protocols, but in hindsight, that was a bad assumption and I have to be more clear about those protocols. Students were frustrated because they had earned that choice, and then I had to shut down the choice due to the confusion over the protocols.
And, I recognized that the open art activity of decorating Valentine's boxes resulted in awesome creativity for some, but for others, the lack of structure was difficult leading to conflicts and poor behavior which, as you can imagine, was frustrating. So with the creative projects that are coming up ahead, I have to scaffold the structure more providing that open ended creative studio for some while providing greater guidance and structure for others.
How does an experienced teacher like me still have challenging days like this?
First, no matter how long you teach, you are met with new challenges and unexpected events. So the first lesson here is that it is never perfect, and we have to expect new challenges. Similar to parenting, these challenges are an opportunity to think differently about the best program and supports for the students.
Next, we have to continually look for the holes in the program and fill those holes. Sometimes a hole may be a skill we have to strengthen or needed time to communicate with people who work in your program. For example, a therapist that works with children in my class was seeking my help with paperwork, but there is little to no time to convey those messages and do that work efficiently. With greater lead time and communication, that will be easier to do. And when you work with new teaching assistants, you cannot assume they know the protocols you're used to when it comes to running the classroom--you have to make time to effectively communicate that information, yet there is little to no time on the schedule for that kind of communication and it is difficult to do with a class full of children.
And, of course, organization matters. At elementary school, teachers wear many hats and engage in lots of various study with students. That means that our classrooms are filled with lots and lots of materials. The more you can well organize those materials, the better the classroom runs. When the class gets a bit out of sorts, it often means that it's time for some re-organization and clean-up since a disorganized space tends to upset children with self regulation challenges.
On Monday, I'll continue the quest to fit the many pieces of this school year together as well as I can beginning with the following steps:
So yesterday when one plan after another was toppled by unexpected events, I became frustrated. To start the day there was a student conflict that resulted in a long, but meaningful and successful, class conversation. Then there was a schedule change with regard to music that I forgot to share with others who work in my class which resulted in a child's unhappiness since he missed his music lessons. After that, the Valentine Box activity which I've done year after year was not met with the same enthusiasm as in other years, thus some students were disgruntled which led to a few bad choices. There was confusion about tech choice protocols, and it was indoor recess too which restricts students from their beloved time to run and play on our wonderful playground which resulted in a few more student conflicts that got in the way of a positive end of the day.
As I always do with a less than wonderful day, I replay the day to see where I could have done differently.
First, I need to find a better way to communicate changes and guidelines with teachers who work in my classroom. I learned of the music change the day before and should have added it to the children's schedule so they knew and any teachers in my classroom knew--the schedule is important to all of us so everyone knows what is going on in our busy school and classroom.
Then, I need to be more clear about protocols as there was confusion about tech choice protocols which led to greater frustration. I was frustrated because I just assumed people knew the tech protocols, but in hindsight, that was a bad assumption and I have to be more clear about those protocols. Students were frustrated because they had earned that choice, and then I had to shut down the choice due to the confusion over the protocols.
And, I recognized that the open art activity of decorating Valentine's boxes resulted in awesome creativity for some, but for others, the lack of structure was difficult leading to conflicts and poor behavior which, as you can imagine, was frustrating. So with the creative projects that are coming up ahead, I have to scaffold the structure more providing that open ended creative studio for some while providing greater guidance and structure for others.
How does an experienced teacher like me still have challenging days like this?
First, no matter how long you teach, you are met with new challenges and unexpected events. So the first lesson here is that it is never perfect, and we have to expect new challenges. Similar to parenting, these challenges are an opportunity to think differently about the best program and supports for the students.
Next, we have to continually look for the holes in the program and fill those holes. Sometimes a hole may be a skill we have to strengthen or needed time to communicate with people who work in your program. For example, a therapist that works with children in my class was seeking my help with paperwork, but there is little to no time to convey those messages and do that work efficiently. With greater lead time and communication, that will be easier to do. And when you work with new teaching assistants, you cannot assume they know the protocols you're used to when it comes to running the classroom--you have to make time to effectively communicate that information, yet there is little to no time on the schedule for that kind of communication and it is difficult to do with a class full of children.
And, of course, organization matters. At elementary school, teachers wear many hats and engage in lots of various study with students. That means that our classrooms are filled with lots and lots of materials. The more you can well organize those materials, the better the classroom runs. When the class gets a bit out of sorts, it often means that it's time for some re-organization and clean-up since a disorganized space tends to upset children with self regulation challenges.
On Monday, I'll continue the quest to fit the many pieces of this school year together as well as I can beginning with the following steps:
- Attention to the schedule--I share the schedule with students and teachers each day, but now I'll add more specific details about schedule changes.
- Morning checklist--we've begun using a morning checklist for children who have difficulty getting all their morning supplies and completing daily morning tasks. We'll continue to use this and perhaps even better it to help everyone know what's expected each day.
- Classroom organization. I'll spend some time cleaning up the classroom too to make more space and make sure that needed supplies are readily available and working.
- In planning, I'll think more about how we deploy staffing or who does what--it has been difficult to make decisions related to this since we are trying to build teamwork skills and independence for so many students so we are watching carefully to see when and where students need help. This changes regularly dependent on students' needs, experiences, and development, but with the knowledge that we have to scaffold open ended projects more, we will schedule staffing sensitively with regard to that matter.
- I'll work to communicate better especially to those who are new to our grade level or school, people who may not know the expected policies, protocols, or routines we generally employ at fifth grade for student safety, happiness, and success.
Not unlike my students who tend to be perfectionists, I have to be mindful of not letting great get in the way of good, and rather than get frustrated when the pieces don't fit tightly and nicely together, I have to expect the conflict and unexpected events that are part of every school day and typically positive opportunities for good teaching and betterment for me and my students. Monday is a new day.