Wellness – Page 5

March 29, 2018March 29, 2018 Will Gourley Classroom Management, General, Mental Health, Outdoor Learning, Wellness

Distraction

It’s Spring. At least that’s what the calender and the weather are telling us. Dust has replaced the snow on the playground. Tell that to our playground grass fields still resisting the urge to grow too soon. Judging by the pale straw colour a field of green is still 6 weeks out. Somehow nature has equipped itself for a chilling frost or Spring blizzard that could be only a Colorado Low or Polar Vortex away.

Hopefully, March exits like a lamb and not like a lamb being chased by a lion. At this time of year, hope, like the temperature rises and with it the rain to wash away the remnants of Winter. Hope is the promise of Spring. Warm temps, more sunshine, daylight savings, chirping birds, sap running, and buds bursting on trees cannot be missed. There are great things waiting outside the doors of our classrooms. Teachers need to enjoy them. Our students need Spring and all of its promises even more.

To no one’s surprise since the Vernal Equinox, the classroom has become a livelier place each time the warm breezes blow. Students are absorbing the Vitamin D and converting it into boundless energy. It’s like an alarm goes off the moment the snow melts and the clocks move forward. March Break has come and gone and the realization that nearly 70 percent of the school year is in and out of the books. It’s as if that once the weight of snow suits and winter boots is shed, our students have been given permission to chirp, run, and burst with energy. It should not be missed.

With all of this vivacious vim and vigour I am planning ways to take advantage of outdoor learning, walkabouts, and a little more time in the fresh air. Along with this re-invigoration comes opportunity for distraction too. How we make use of our time outdoors can be a balancing act of classroom management amidst chaos. How we harness that natural energy with our students can lead to effective outdoor fun, positive mental health activities, and memorable learning opportunities.

What this looks like can depend on a number of factors: location, mobility, and volition. In my class we are taking advantage of the good weather by shifting some of our time outside. This is not limited to Physical Education either. Sure it’s fun to do, but there is also room for book talks, journal writing, guided reading/Math groups, and Science.

What I have enjoyed sharing with students on our walk and talkabouts are the changes going on all around us. It has been fun to ask them to comment on something they’ve noticed and to create a broader awareness of the habitats and spaces they occupy at school.

As we venture out, the eyes, ears, and lungs of learners are filled. It may appear that they’ve become distracted by it all, but it is not a distraction. It is more of an awakening of the senses instead and students are excited to discover it again for another year.

In my class, we are playing social games where everyone is involved. This includes our version of Manhunt; now known as Person hunt, SPUD, Chain Tag, Kickball, and Grounders. If possible I try to play in every game rather than watch because it engages students even more to see their teacher(as able) running, laughing, getting caught, and playing alongside.

You’ve read enough. Time to go outside and get distracted with your class. Happy Spring.

Please share how your class enjoys its outdoor time in the comments section below. Thank you for reading.

January 28, 2018 Deb Weston agency, Health & Safety, wellness, wellness, Wellness

Precarious Absences – The impact of teacher intervention truancy systems

I write this blog in response to watching a highly capable and talented, long-term occasional teacher worrying about taking time off to go to a medical appointment. She actually considered cancelling her appointment as she worried about taking too much time off school because she thought it would impact her chance for a full-time teacher contract. Supply teachers and long term occasional teachers are feeling the pressure of not taking time off to meet their self care and medical needs. And this is the place where all teachers are at.

In the past few years, school boards have started using teacher intervention truancy systems. These systems track how many days teachers take off for reasons such as being sick, attending medical/dental appointments, or taking time off to care for family.

When I started teaching 18 years ago, I had 20 sick days which could be “banked” and then “cashed out” at the end of my career. As a teacher, I did not want to take time off if I did not have to … as it is a lot of work to make day plans to be off. But, as a single parent at the time, if my children were ill, I had to take time off. Also note that I got sick too. As a teacher, I am on average exposed to many children … up to 100 a day (I counted).

Then, I few years ago, teachers’ 20 sick days were reduced to 11 sick days, plus family responsibility days. This meant that teachers could no longer “bank” sick days and received a reduced salary after the 11^th sick day.

Children (i.e. viral conduits) are very good at transferring their illnesses to their parents and teachers. Over my 18 years of teaching I’ve contracted a plethora of infections including many bacterial and viral infections, skin infections, eye infections, Whopping Cough (twice), Norwalk virus (twice), many weeks of bronchitis, several bouts of flu including H1N1, and lots of colds. With my doctor’s insistence, in the spring of 2017, I ended up taking 12 days off from school due to my ongoing bronchitis.

Once my health was marginal enough for me to return to work, I did coughing away, sucking on cough drops, drinking tea with honey, and carrying a tissue box around to blow my nose. Hey, it was report card time – I needed to get back!

Recently, some Ontario school boards started tracking teachers’ absences. The “teacher intervention truancy systems” notes when teachers take more than 3 sick days off in a 3 month period. At this point, the teachers are sent letters documenting that they were being put on a program to track their absences … like they were not really sick and just needed to take a day off. Let me say again that it is a lot of work to planning for being away from the classroom.

In the “teacher intervention truancy systems”, teachers have to document their absences with notes to prove they were either really sick or really attending medical/dental appointments. Note that I have had to pay $20 out of my own pocket to document my sick days, for each appointment!. In addition, to make things more interesting, teachers in some schools were told not to take half days off as schools were finding it difficult to find supply teachers who would work only half days. This tells me boards have to hire more supply teachers!

Based on my observation, I believe that this “teacher intervention truancy system” is casting a wide net to catch some people who may be abusing sick days. But based on my own experience and that of my colleagues, I believe that, since teachers are subjected to so many children’s illnesses, the relative number of sick days are too few. Teachers need more sick days!

Based on my own health experience, I believe the “teacher intervention truancy systems” have impeded by ability to meet my own self care and medical needs – it has resulted in me having to choose between being sick or going to medical appointments. I believe that if I had taken the time I needed to rest, I would not have been off sick for so long, away from my students.

I wonder how new teachers are doing with the management of their self care, given their own family responsibilities and the care of their own health.

I find it ironic that school boards talk a lot about supporting employee health but their walk is not supporting employee health.

Collaboratively Yours,

Deb Weston

Downloadable Adaptable Emergency Lesson Plans

If you are even too sick to go to school and you have no day plans yet, I have attached a 5-day Emergency Lesson Plan that can be adapted to your classroom/grade level. Download it, change it, make it your own!

Generic Emergency Teacher Lesson Plans (1)

5 Day Plan Schedule Emerngency Lesson Plan.xls (1)

Any Read Aloud Book Graphic Organize

1 Rounding100s Game

Note: The term “teacher intervention truancy systems” is my own acronym.

December 28, 2017 Michelle Fenn Challenging Topics, Classroom Management, Constant Learning, Equity, General, Inspiring Teachers, Mindfulness, Occasional Teachers, Occasional Teaching, Planning, Professional Judgement, self reflection, solidarity, Wellness

Occasional Teachers; Unsung Heroes

Unfortunately, I have had many health challenges this year that have necessitated having to take a significant amount of time off of work to recuperate. These absences have provided me time to reflect on my practice as a classroom teacher and about how important occasional teachers are in our practice. I had the pleasure of working in our local ETFO office as a released officer for 3 years alongside the incredible Marsha Jones, Occasional Teacher President extraordinaire. She taught me a lot about Occasional Teachers, the obstacles they face and the little things that I could do to make their days go easier. I thought I would share a few of my insights.

Occasional Teachers that come to our school like to return because of the friendly atmosphere. In the staff room, they are included in our “tea days”, people engage them in conversation and always ask how they can be of help. It sounds like a simple thing, but many of the Occasional Teachers that come to our school comment on our friendly staff. So the next time you see an Occasional Teacher in your school, smile and say hello and ask them how their day is going.

Do NOT ask an Occasional Teacher “who” they are for the day. What an insult! You can ask who they are in for, who they are helping out, who they are rescuing or replacing, but they are themselves each and every day they come to work. We should appreciate the fact that we have access to qualified teachers to replace us for the day so that we can take sick days when we need them or go to conferences for professional learning.

Speaking of insults, please try not to call Occasional Teachers “substitute” or “supply” teachers. We rely on these colleagues. “Occasional Teacher” is their job title. Be respectful of it; we rely on them.

Remember to have a few days of “emergency” plans in advance of your absence. It takes the edge of having to type up plans in between trips to the washroom when you have the flu. Leave them in a place that is easy for the Occasional Teacher to find. This makes your life easier too.

If you generally have an active classroom that engages in centres, activities etc., then TRUST your Occasional Teacher and leave plans that include those lessons. Chances are your students know how this stuff runs and will let the Teacher know. It may mean giving up a bit of control; deal with it. If you leave all day seat work that you’ve photocopied or a movie that isn’t connected to anything that they are doing in the classroom, it will not be enjoyable for the students and likely your Occasional Teacher will have more behaviour issues. Consequently, you will not get the quality of work that you normally see from your students. Don’t have huge expectations. No matter how wonderful the Occasional Teacher may be, they are not you and the students know that. We also need to remember to trust the judgment of an Occasional Teacher. I’ve heard it and I’ve said it; “The ‘supply’ didn’t follow my day plan. I worked for hours on that detailed plan.” We don’t know what kind of a day that teacher had with our students. They may have experienced a lockdown, fire drill, class evacuation, pizza money, scholastic money, a student injury or even a skating field trip. (My sincere thanks to Occasional Teacher Rachel Johnston on that one!) We need to remember that they are qualified teachers and they have the right to exercise their professional judgment in order to keep the class calm and engaged. Let them do their job and thank them for it.

I write my day plans on my computer for myself each week. This makes writing a day plan for the Occasional Teacher much easier. I have all of my emergency information, how to deal with specific students, who to count on and the general rules and routines in a separate document to attach to daily plans. I always attach a class list. Try to keep your plans as close to the regular routine as possible. If I am going to be away for a meeting I will try to find out who will be replacing me for the day and I email them the plans in advance and ask if they have any questions. I include my cell phone number in case they can’t find a password or an item and few of them ever use it but if they do then I know that they care about my students and the plans that I have left for them.

Finally, show your gratitude. Some Occasional Teachers drive an hour to get to our school and in bad weather. Some are called at the very last minute, through traffic, to an unfamiliar school using GPS. Their mornings are often stressful before they even arrive on site. So when an Occasional Teacher has done a great job and your classroom is still standing when you go in the next day, write a quick email and say thank you. Occasional Teaching is often a thankless job but we can’t be sick without these wonderful people.

November 23, 2017 Kelly.McLaughlin Celebrating Success, Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Diverse Learning Needs, Inspiring Teachers, Learning About Your Students, Making a Difference Through Education, Mental Health, Mentorship, Mindfulness, Professional Learning and Growth, Questioning, Resources, Wellness, wellness

Book group

A colleague of mine started a book club for educators in our school. We read the book “The boy who was raised as a dog” which takes you on the journey of various stories from the child psychiatrist, Bruce D. Perry. The book group involved seven to eight educators discussing the assigned chapters we had read for the week. I highly recommend this read for any teachers who have ever struggled with a “challenging” student. The book details the accounts of many children Perry encountered whose traumatic past altered their future. The book teaches all teachers to have a compassion that is so necessary for these traumatized children.

We discussed many things during our meetings each week. We started discussing the chapters but the conversations always had a way of covering anything and everything. The meetings helped me go into each day with an open mind and a compassion for a child’s situation that I did not have before. You rarely think of the reason someone behaves “badly” or defiantly. We may just assume that that is the way that child is. Many of us may have not stopped to think of the reason for that action. Realistically, we all have a lot on our plates that day and we may be thinking of a quick way to discipline the child. The book helped our book group members to think of ways to help these children in class so that they may have a successful future outside of it.

Today was our last meeting and we took the last twenty minutes to reflect on our love for teaching. How amazing of a feeling it is when you have that moment in the classroom (or outside) when you just get that feeling of “this is the most incredible job on earth!” We all discussed moments we have felt like that and how incredibly lucky we are to be teachers. The book group was a great way to celebrate and to continue our love for learning. If anyone would like more information about this book, please let me know. The book could change your entire outlook on those “tough” situations, reminding us never to give up on a child or to jump to negative conclusions especially when we do not know their entire situation.

October 29, 2017October 29, 2017 Michelle Fenn Constant Learning, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Mental Health, Mindfulness, self reflection, Wellness, wellness, wellness

Mindfulness Tips for Stress Reduction

I’ve recently spent some time with fellow educators and health care practitioners in order to find solutions to an all too prevalent issue. Burn out, stress, compassion fatigue or empathy fatigue; whatever you call it, it is a reality for those in caring professions like teaching and health care. The room was filled with women from all over the province. Although our stories were different, we were all exhausted, overwhelmed, and consumed by feelings of guilt and inadequacy. We had a common purpose for coming together; to find ways to put mindfulness and stress reduction into our daily living.
The most common excuse that people use with regards to self-care is that they don’t have enough time. I used to say the same thing. Then I realized that if I have had enough time to watch two episodes of something on Netflix, I had enough time to go to the gym or cook a healthy meal. As I have learned more about mindfulness and meditation I have realized that it doesn’t have take a huge amount of time and it really doesn’t take a whole lot of effort. You just have to start.
I’m an “all or nothing” kind of person and a perfectionist. I used to set lofty exercise, meditation and healthy eating goals for myself and then quit when I haven’t met these unrealistic expectations. Now, I start one thing and do it, slowly and simply. I try to adopt Nike’s “Just Do It” advertising campaign as my mindset towards mindfulness. I have to remind myself to be patient, kind and compassionate around my mindfulness practice. I forget, I get distracted and I feel disappointed in myself sometimes. The most important thing that I try to remember is I can always begin again. I can begin again every moment. The judgment that I have about missing days at the gym or on my meditation cushion is my own. There is no one that works at the gym that will berate me when I come through the door. They will welcome me and I have never left the gym or my meditation cushion wishing that I had done something else with my time. I thought it might be helpful to share some simple and quick ideas that can easily become habits in order to become more mindful and practice self care.

1. Begin each morning by spending three or four minutes lying in bed awake before getting out of bed. Pay attention to your breath and set your intention for the morning rather than shutting the alarm off and immediately swinging your legs to the floor. It seems like such a simple thing, but it can make a positive impact on how you face the day.

2. While doing any mundane task such as washing your hands you can simply pay more attention to the task. Don’t try to multitask and don’t be on “auto-pilot”. Be aware of what you are doing and do it slowly. Actually enjoy the simple task of hand washing. It may take you a few seconds longer but it gives your brain and body time to become more grounded. Pay attention to your breath. Are you holding your breath? Are your shoulders tense? Let the warm water flow over your hands and be grateful for the water we have. Lather the soap and feel it squish through your fingers. Dry your hands completely, taking the time to appreciate the act. We know in the teaching profession how important the act of hand washing for our health and we do this many times a day but how often do we wash our hands mindfully? Take these few extra seconds, breathe, be aware and be grateful.

3. Each morning before exiting your car at work take a few minutes to check your breathing. Be grateful for the day, be aware of your intention for the day at work. Try to do a quick body scan to see if you are holding any tension and let it go. If you aren’t really looking forward to the day, force a smile. The silly act of putting a smile on your face on purpose while alone in your car will often produce a genuine smile!

4. Be mindful about your cup of tea or coffee. Over the years we have become accustomed to having our tea or coffee “to go” that we are no longer mindful about drinking it. In fact, we have adult sippy cups to ensure that we don’t spill it and companies that put warnings on the side of cups to remind us that the contents might be hot. As a society, we have become pretty mindless about drinking hot beverages. Our coffee and tea have become caffeine that is fuel to be consumed rather than a comforting and tasty beverage to savoured and enjoyed. So take the time when drinking your hot drink. Take the time to smell it, feel the warmth in your hands, to really look at it and to enjoy and be grateful for it.

For more information about “Tea” Meditation and mindfulness visit Tea Meditation – Plum Village

5. In order to incorporate mindfulness practice into your work life, practice it with your students. Each day I have a morning meeting with my class. I use a singing bowl to draw attention to our practice and we sit in a comfortable position. We only do this for a few minutes each day but we pay attention to our breathing, we close our eyes or choose a spot to land a soft gaze. The students have said that they can feel the energy in the room become more calm and peaceful. I do the practice along with them. I have grade 4 and 5 so we also talk about mindfulness and what it means. It works hand in hand with self regulation. If students are mindful about their behaviour then it becomes easier for them to practice self regulation strategies.

I do not claim to be any kind of mindfulness or meditation guru. I have not painstakingly researched the positive effects of mindfulness from a scientific perspective. I’m just an elementary teacher and mom trying to bring balance to my life, one moment at a time.

September 3, 2017 Michelle Fenn Classroom Management, Resilience, Wellness

“Portable” Teaching

So…you found out your classroom is in a portable.

In my fourth year of teaching I was assigned planning time coverage to primary classes and had a portable to deliver the physical education program, which was an interesting challenge, particularly in the winter. Getting kindergarten students dressed, out to a portable with winter gear, out of winter gear and into indoor shoes before even beginning a class was not the best use of instructional time, but it was the task I was given. On the upside, I didn’t have to spend a whole lot of time planning to fill our gym periods.

This year for the first time in 20 years of teaching, my classroom is in a portable. I am choosing to embrace the life of the portable classroom and focus on the positive aspects. Before I even see the inside of the building, I decided that it would become our “cabin/cottage” retreat space. My classroom is next to the parking lot, which is great for lugging my teaching items in and out and it will be handy when I forget my morning tea in my car. We will not hear students as they travel between classrooms. We will be able to engage in inquiry and play our musical instruments without worrying about disrupting the learning in other classrooms. We will be close to our playground for quick entry after the bell and quick exit at the end of the day.

Of course, there are serious logistic challenges of working in a portable classroom that I cannot ignore. I talked to some of my colleagues who are veteran “portable” classroom teachers to find out some tricks of the trade. Here is the advice that I have been given in order to keep our “cabin” in good working order.

Keep only the basics that you need in your classroom. (Good tip! My portable came outfitted with one bookshelf only deep enough for paperback books. My closets at home are now filled with labelled boxes of teaching resources.)
Endeavour to keep clutter from your classroom. (No issue. No storage=minimalist teaching.)
Have a sweater and a fan in your classroom at all times to combat the change in temperature. (In my experience this is good in any classroom.)
Have a job available for a student (perhaps one that needs to move a lot) to be a messenger to the office or other classrooms.
Have a class set of clipboards to take work outside on a hot or beautiful day.
No sink in your classroom to paint with your students? Bring three buckets to your classroom. One filled with water, one for dirty water to be dumped and one for things that need to be cleaned later.

June 7, 2017 Mike Beetham Celebrating Success, General, Inspiring Teachers, Making a Difference Through Education, self reflection, wellness, Wellness

THANK YOU!

It has been a long, arduous journey from September to the end of June and we are just weeks away from closing the chapter on another academic year. I am going to relive the last ten months of a fictional elementary school teacher.

A group of twenty plus disconnected, diverse individuals arrived in your classroom with a variety of needs beyond their academic status. Through careful planning, creative thinking, endless commitment and tremendous flexibility you were able to to:

make each child feel welcomed and loved
create a learning community
develop the confidence and self-esteem of your students
help them move forward in all academic areas
taught them the power of being a team
provided off campus, intramural, choir, club and athletic opportunities for them
offered them a high five to celebrate and emotional support when needed
in some cases provided food to meet their basic needs
laughed and cried with them
believed in them enough to provide tough love
wrote reports, called parents, attended meetings
organized assemblies and spirit days
created Individual Educational Programs
purchased necessary materials for your class and students
spent endless hours beyond your school day
gave up personal and family time for your students
helped develop future global citizens
attended a variety of professional learning opportunities to help in your journey toward best practice
you have sacrificed personal health for your class and school
please continue this list with anything I have missed

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! On behalf of students and parents everywhere, you continue to be a part of one of the most rewarding and important roles there is. You are a teacher!

I would also like to take this time to thank ETFO for the opportunity they have given me to be a part of the Heart & Art blog for the last 5 years. In that time I have had the wonderful opportunity to learn from many talented people. I have had comments shared with me that reminded me how proud I am to be a part of this profession. Finally, I have become a better teacher as my blogging has helped me reflect on the day-to-day work in my classroom. I am making this my last blog and challenge the many talented and inspiring teachers in ETFO to join in and share the expertise that lies within you and your teaching. THANK YOU!

April 28, 2017April 28, 2017 Laura Bottrell General, Mental Health, Wellness

Daily Physical Activity: When, How and Why?

I’ve been thinking a lot about DPA lately. We are required to provide our students with 20 minutes of physical activity on days when they don’t have physical education. Many times, this time is used as an extra 20 minutes outside before recess or time playing movement games on the smart board inside. It’s become a part of our daily routine as teachers and something that our students know and expect – trust me, they never let me forget!

At a recent staff meeting focusing on positive school culture and wellbeing, my principal posed us with some questions. When do we do DPA? How do we do it? And most importantly, why?

Often times, our instructional schedule dictates when DPA happens in our classroom, but I’ve been thinking – is that really best for our students? Having that 20 minutes of activity at a guaranteed time every day is great for our routines and planning our day, but is that best for the needs of our kids? Is DPA the most effective and meaningful when it happens when we can see that our students need it? I think it comes down to the teacher and most importantly, the group of students. Some students probably benefit more from knowing when DPA will happen in their day. Some students, such as my active bunch of grade twos and threes, need it at very different times in our day. The activity and attention level of my classroom fluctuates greatly throughout the day based on the kind of learning they are engaged in. DPA benefits my students the most when I can notice their changing behaviour and ability to self-regulate, and respond with a break for physical activity.

Another thing I’ve been thinking a lot about is the “how” of DPA. How are kids spending these 20 minutes of time? What is the best way for them to spend it, and is there even a best way? Aside from a good old soccer or basketball game, there are a ton of resources that provide ideas for active large group games or video programs such as Go Noodle, Kids Zumba or Cosmic Yoga to follow along to on the smart board. The options are endless.

I tend to do something a little bit different. Inside of my grade two and three students who are intelligent, critical thinkers and wonderful young adults, I see kids – young kids who are meant to be playing. The play I refer to isn’t guided or adult-directed, either. My students are in their happiest, most natural state when they are given the freedom to be outside and to direct their own play. So when my class has DPA time we head outside and I tell them that as long as their bodies are actively moving, they can play whatever they want to and I love to watch what happens. In a previous post I talked about how students, even in older grades, still engage in dramatic play and how valuable this experience is for them. When we are outside, just my class on the playground, my students have the freedom to create meaningful play in a calm and relaxed outdoor environment. Most of the time, they are all engaged in a few different things – dramatic play (right now, they are right into role-playing Harry Potter characters which has me in stitches every time), super hero play or they are engaged in a game they created on their own (think of the skills involved in this – problem solving, leadership and logical planning). We are very lucky at our school to have a small forested area on our grounds and we will often take our DPA time there, where the students build their play into the forest setting, often using branches and natural features to build forts. To me, this is the most valuable DPA time because my students are getting their much needed physical activity but they are also getting time to de-stress, be autonomous, and just be kids. When we come back inside from this, they are ready to learn.

This brings me to the “why“. It’s obvious why our students need DPA. Our students’ attention spans are a limited resource, like a gas tank. After a certain period of time their gas tanks run out and they no longer have the ability to attend to learning. Engaging them in physical activity increases their heart rate and gets oxygen flowing to all areas of their body, but most importantly their brain. This increased oxygen to the brain not only acts as a preventative measure to anxiety and depression, but it “refills” their attention span gas tanks and is scientifically proven to increase their academic performance.

DPA isn’t only about promoting physical fitness. It promotes mental health by reducing anxiety and puts our students into a calm, mindful state that sets them up for success when its time to learn. This happens especially when we, as teachers, are purposeful with how, when and why we initiate it.

March 29, 2017March 29, 2017 Will Gourley Constant Learning, General, Modern Learning, self reflection, Wellness

The Groove

This is my follow up post to Am I Teaching in a Rut

By Shane Gavin [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Without offending your musical sensibilities, I want those who might have been singing Madonna’s Get into the Groove, to turn it off of their mental playlist for a few minutes, and spin Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground instead.

It’s OK, if you have both battling it out in your brain. I did. Stevie prevailed in case you wondered.

Although it’s catchy, the Madonna track gets me into a small groove, but it can’t keep me there. Music is like that. I count on it, always, to get me in a steady groove and to keep me there. Shouldn’t education be like that too?

So, what’s a groove? Is it a track or channel that you fit yourself? Is it a vibe or a feeling? Is a groove smooth? How do you distinguish when you’re in a groove versus a rut? And how does it relate to my practice and pedagogy when you’re in one?

A groove is something that fits you perfectly. A groove feels good. When you’re in a groove, it never feels like what you’re doing is work. Being in the groove is contagious. It helps others around you find theirs too.* Imagine a whole school where everyone is in their teaching and learning groove? Students are witness to enthusiastic educators who are fearless learners and relentless encouragers.

What an incredible opportunity to learn, grow, and share everything that is awesome in education?

The groove is good

So whenever it feels like work then you’re in a rut. A rut travels from A to B or deeper. A rut wears down the traveler and the trail. Teaching in a rut is like being on auto-pilot because you’ve been down the same worn path over and over. A rut leaves its travelers dulled before, during, and after the journey.

The foundation for this post was set by wondering whether I am teaching in a rut or rocking/rolling along in a groove? And whether one was different from the other? My original post can be summed up in 3 key points to help stay out of a rut;

Being a flexible learner in front of students and colleagues
Being open and adaptable to what and where I teach(kind of like #1).
Seeing the challenge as something to accomplish rather than feeling punished for it.
Being unafraid of change even when it is something unknown

Thinking about this might be scary for some. Many of us have been raised in a corporate culture that requires keeping a nose to the grindstone, focused on the job, and safe from risk. That is precisely why we have to lift our heads and stretch our outlook. This comes from taking chances in the classrooms, hallways, staff-rooms. We have to encourage one another to share ideas, passions, successes, and failures. Teachers need to celebrate “the hard times and the good” with our students and with each other. That’s how we will find our groove(s)?

For me the groove is what gets me out of bed before the sun rises. It makes me excited to share learning with my students and with a world of educators. A groove does not have time for pettiness, negativity or self indulgence. A groove is designed for the positive, potential, and process in education.

Now the hard part…

What’s your groove? If you could do anything in education knowing you’d succeed, what would it be?
Thank you for reading. Please share and keep the conversation going in the comments section.

Will

* Oh, oh! I just thought of a B52’s song to go with this post.

I love music in most of it’s forms. It pervades my day, accompanies me as I work/relax, and provides me insight into people as an inter-generational time machine and lens. For a deeper understanding about the soundtrack to my life, click on this link to I(n) Tune.

January 11, 2017 Mike Beetham Celebrating Success, General, Inspiring Teachers, Making a Difference Through Education, Mental Health, self reflection, Wellness

Memories

I remember my first day of teaching as if it had happened yesterday and not 32 years ago. As my journey of teaching continues, there have been countless scenarios that have occurred that brought a smile to my face, made me cry, challenged me, taught me and humbled me. Those are the moments that inspire me each and every day I enter my classroom. About 13 years ago a very passionate and visionary principal I worked with started our year off by giving each teacher an empty box. She then went on to describe how it is up to use to fill that box with memories, moments in time that are like treasures not to be lost or forgotten. Ever since that time I have kept a memory box.

This box is filled with magical moments that I have been a part of in my teaching experiences with colleagues, students and/or their families. There are letters, cards, toys, photographs, trinkets, phone call summaries, thank you cards, trip mementoes, amazing accomplishments of individual students as well as class accomplishments. What goes into that box is anything that reminds me just how precious and important my efforts are and that no effort is wasted. I take the time to go and revisit my box in moments of self-doubt, challenging times or just when it seems that nothing is going right. After just a few moments of revisiting these wonderful experiences I can raise my head and once again forge on filled with confidence and positive energy. I look forward to the day (not too far in the future) when I can stop, reflect back on a career as I take the time to go through each item in my memory box, piece by piece, story by story.

I hope you take the time to stop and smell the roses in your everyday teaching and life. Make a pledge to start your memory box in 2017. Happy New Year!