Reality continues to interfere with my ideal.
Kids saying "no." Kids not following directions. Kids being mean to each other. Kids pushing my buttons.
BREATHE.
This week I had a mantra for myself on a small whiteboard in the classroom: BE GENTLE.
It has worked pretty well. Except when the boys in second period get obsessed with batting crumpled up pieces of paper around, inevitably to be left behind for me to look at all day.
This is when "our classroom" becomes "MY classroom."
BREATHE.
This week I saw a little story come across Facebook about "TTT" -- things take time.
This morning I remembered that when I read Parker Palmer's short essay "Begin Again." He quotes Wendell Berry who says, "We are either beginning or we are dead."
Begin again. Things take time.
I need to remember this when I realize I didn't teach my 6th advanced students exactly how to do an activity. Begin again.
I need to remember this as I see teams not really working together in speech and debate. I need to help them begin again, because these things take time.
I need to remember this when new kids are added to my intensive reading classes, one in particular busting at the seams now, and I see the neediness and I'm only one person. Things take time.
Begin again. Things take time.
Today I read about drawing a circle and putting in all the things you want to hold close to you, like a shield. I drew this circle in my journal. This is my "shield" of what I want to keep within my boundaries:
Doing this little activity calmed me down quite a bit. It was a reminder that I often have more control than I think I have. Other times, maybe not. Either way, I need to hold my shield close.
Begin again. Things take time.
And as I finish this, I'm listening to this song by Dire Straits which seems appropriate for this post: Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. Was he writing about being a teacher?
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