Monday Motivator #36 2018-19

HOW TO FINISH THE SCHOOL YEAR STRONG

https://teach4theheart.com/how-to-finish-the-school-year-strong/

Dear Teacher,

I know you’re tired. You’re stressed. You’re about to stab a pencil in your eye if you have to grade one more paper.

Your to-do list is a mile long. And summer is so close you can taste it.

But in the midst of all the chaos and anticipation, I want to encourage you to do one thing:

Remember why you’re here.

You want to make a difference.

You want to help kids.

So pause a moment, look around, and really see your students.

Peek over your monstrous stack of papers to see the girl who’s lower lip is trembling in fear over the upcoming test.

Let go of your frustration long enough to notice the panic in the eye of the teen who just got busted for cheating – even though he’s desperately trying to hide it with his shrugged shoulders and bravado.

In a few short weeks when you’re lying by the pool soaking up the sun with a good book, what will you remember?

Will you have simply survived – finished your to-do list and washed your hands of the place?

Or will you have taken every opportunity to impact the lives of your students?

Because here’s the truth. This time, right now at the end of the year. This time can be the most valuable.

You know these kids. You’ve invested in their lives. You’ve built relationships.

And while they may be driving you up a wall, you are likely more able to speak into their lives now than you ever were before.

I promise the summer will be here soon. But until then, don’t phone it in. Don’t coast. Don’t go through the motions.

You only have a few more days to impact your students. Don’t waste that time. Don’t give up yet. These last few days can make all the difference!

HOW TO FINISH THE SCHOOL YEAR STRONG

1. Don’t coast; instead, be more intentional. Don’t allow yourself to go on autopilot. Instead, choose to be intentional about making these last days count. Set one or two end-of-the-year goals and make it a priority to do all you can to influence your students during these last few days. 
     
2. Keep first things first. When you’re overwhelmed and there are a million things to do, remember to keep first things first. Focus on what really matters and realize that the rest will get done eventually. (You might also want to try the intentional procrastinating to-do list system.) 
     
3. Draw on relationships you’ve built. You’ve spent a whole year building relationships with your students and their parents, and as a result, you likely have more influence now than you ever did before. You may never get another chance to inspire them, believe in them, guide them, or counsel them. So take advantage of every opportunity you get to speak the truth and impact their lives. 
     
4. Strategically prioritize what to teach. If you’ve got way more material to cover than you have time to teach, don’t just keep plodding along. Instead, sit down and decide what is most important for them to learn. Then focus on that. 
     
5. Don’t plan to finish teaching too early. For those of you who are right on track and are about to finish your curriculum, I have a word of caution for you – don’t finish too early. One of my first years I finished my math curriculum a week early, planning review games for the last week. The problem was that once I told the kids we were done with the book, they turned into crazy people. Well, not really, but it was definitely much harder to keep them focused. Since then, I’ve scheduled the final test closer to the last day of school. 
     
6. Communicate with parents. Don’t just turn in your final grades and walk out the door. Take the time to have one last communication with the parents of kids who have struggled in your class. Give them suggestions of things they can do over the summer to help prepare their student for the next year. Even if you don’t think they’ll heed your advice, taking a few moments to send them a final email shows them how much you care about their student. 
     
7. Try to leave things as organized as possible. Notice I said try. Yes, there’s a bazillion things to do, but the more organized you can leave things now, the smoother things will go next fall. So take a few moments to jot down notes for yourself of what worked and what didn’t. And maybe even to tackle those disastrous desk drawers. (Do I dare even mention the closet?) 
     
8. Decide to enjoy these last days. Simple but profound. Instead of counting every moment till you’re done, choose to enjoy these last days you have with this group of students. Soon school will be over and you’ll be relaxing. But this opportunity – your time with these students – will be done. So choose to enjoy these days while you have them and to view them as a gift. This one mental decision will impact everything else you do.

So teacher, this is your chance. This is your moment.

Take a breath, pray for strength, and make each day count.

Monday Motivator #35 2018-19

Newsletter Big Fresh Archives

May 10, 2019 Moments That Matter

AUTHOR

Brenda Power

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We’re all looking for someone who knows who we are and will break it to us gently.

                                                                    Robert Brault https://choiceliteracy.com/article/may-10-2019-moments-that-matter/

This month I helped my friend Sandy brainstorm ideas for a commencement address. She was trying to come up with something brilliant to say in five minutes or less in front of 10,000 people who would have little interest in listening to her.

So, you know, no presh.

We sat at dinner for a couple of hours with our notepads and talked, thinking of all the cliches people say in graduation speeches. Finally, I asked her to tell me a story of a time when she connected with a student that touched her heart.

Sandy immediately went back over 30 years to her earliest days as a professor. Gary, a freshman at the time, showed up during her office hours and came out to her. Gary had not told anyone else he was gay. This was no small thing in the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis.

Gary explained that a few weeks before, Sandy had been eating dinner with a bunch of students (including Gary) in a residence hall where she was the faculty mentor. Someone told a homophobic joke, and everyone laughed. Sandy said she didn’t find the joke funny at all, the laughter died immediately, and the conversation moved to another topic. It was in that moment Gary realized that Sandy was an advocate for gay students, and it gave him the courage to share his secret with her (and eventually others).

Here’s the thing. Sandy had no recollection of that dinner conversation and joke when Gary shared it in her office. She was just living her life, doing the mundane things we all do day after day—working, eating, chatting, and speaking out when she disagreed with something.

Her story made me think back to when I was a graduate student. The day I received my first writing rejection I cried, if only because the critique was so vicious. The anonymous reviewer said my writing was smarmy (I had to look up the word before I could understand how insulting it was). That night I went to a seminar with the professor who was my writing mentor, Donald Murray. He was talking about publication and I muttered something about how hard it was to get writing published. He chuckled and said, “Brenda, you’ll write a book someday. You can take that to the bank.” He continued on with the point he was making about working with editors. I sat up straighter and put that awful review behind me.

I’m sure Don forgot that remark as soon as he made it. His words changed my life anyway, just like Sandy’s offhand and instantly forgotten condemnation of homophobia changed Gary’s life. The days we live blur together, most seeming insignificant. It’s easy to forget what power we have to change the lives of others, and the influence those we admire have over us. What those mentors say to us one-on-one, how we observe them live their lives, can make all the difference in whether someone nurtures their talents and passions. Or has the courage to tell others who they are.

In May the flowers appear and the end of the school year rushes up like the ground when a plane is landing. The fears and doubts niggle at you. Have I done enough? Have I reached who I needed to reach? The beauty and curse of it is that you have, and you will also never know. The moments that mattered most to others are rarely the ones we remember. The encouragement and guidance teachers give moment to moment is as unconscious as breathing. And students will go on just living their lives, holding on to a moment or two of encouragement from you that you’ve missed in the midst.

Sandy ended up with a lovely little speech about those moments that matter that we know nothing about. She got over her nerves when she realized that the things we think are the most important markers of our lives, like giving a commencement address, really don’t matter much at all.

This week we look at ways to help students tell the stories they care most about. Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Founder, Choice Literacy

Monday Motivator #34 2018-19

April 5, 2019 Black Diamond

AUTHOR

Brenda Power

Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.
                                                                                                                                                                                       Dave Barry

I have a pretty hefty fear of skiing down steep slopes. I know to avoid anything marked “black diamond.”  One unwritten rule in our family is, Don’t take Mom down anything scary. If you do, she will take hours figuring out how to butt-slide down the mountain. This incident will be embarrassing for you and everyone involved.

Last weekend, a friend tried to help me conquer my fears. Like a good teacher, she watched me ski and immediately realized how much I needed to learn. For the most part, she kept this very long list of learning goals to herself. She mentioned I didn’t how to use poles. This is correct. I have NO IDEA how to use them. She pointed out that my turns are very sharp. Right again. I make quick turns, so my skis point down the mountain for the shortest amount of time.

As she talked about what I could learn, she paused and then said, “Why don’t we work on your stance and your balance? Once your balance is better, you will feel more comfortable on the slopes.”

I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded good, so I agreed. She explained, “Instead of looking at your skis and the snow right in front of you, keep your head and shoulders facing down the mountain. Pick a focal spot in the distance and keep your eyes fixed on that. The rest will come.”

Sounds pretty easy, right? Not so much. I practiced this single skill for hours. As I skied down the slope, I said to myself, Okay. Keep looking at that tree, and don’t look at your skis. Keep your shoulders and head facing down the mountain. Don’t worry. You know how to turn.

My friend chose a learning goal that would improve my skills and build my confidence, and then she let the rest go. She knew she couldn’t fix everything, and she didn’t try. She also kept the big picture in mind—this learner needs confidence, and this is supposed to be fun.

As I confer with students and review their work, I will remember the ski slope. Which learning goal will motivate this student to persevere? Which strategy will have the biggest effect at this point? What will practice look like if this student focuses on this one goal?

A learner can absorb only so much at a time, and it’s our job to choose wisely, give lots of opportunities for practice, and celebrate the learner’s approximations. We step back, watch, and celebrate the growth, despite the messiness that surrounds it.

I skied down a black diamond for the first time in my life.  I still don’t know how to use my poles, and my turns are still too sharp, but I made it. Instead of fear, I felt joy. A moment to remember as a skier and as a teacher.

Tammy Mulligan

Contributor, Choice Literacy