Making Things Beautiful (7 Lines/7 Days #67)

 #108Weeks

August 22-28, 2021

 

Ted Lasso, my inspiration for all things positive

Observe the obvious.

I will use the ingredients I have to make things beautiful.

Books are window, mirrors, and sliding glass doors.

To improve things, I ask WWTLD? (What would Ted Lasso do?)

Serving the whole I feel myself to be a cherished part.

I started randomly choosing students for "Appreciations" a the beginning of class, complete with a handwritten note from me. Connections!

This year is about effort, focus, and perseverance.

 

 

 

 

 

4. My Heart Knows Its True Name

 #66Challenge

Today in my journal I wrote a long letter to myself.

It seemed like a perfect entry to include as part of my #66Challenge

 

Dear Helen,

It's dawning on you more and more that this school year is about love and safety and kindness. But you can see we can't get there directly. It has to be done from several directions.

One is the overall focus school-wide, which is community. Good start. 

Second, the classroom FLOW which includes how we listen, speak, and conduct ourselves. This has been the current focus and it will probably go on for a while. 

Next up -- empathy and power through reading. Getting a book in the hand of every student. One they want to read, above or below their "level."

Essentially, Helen, you've been given a gift -- these kids you've taught before, those who have been affected by the pandemic for the entire time you've known them, need you more than ever. You have a chance to make an impression on them in roundabout ways. The Read 180 program is what we DO. The WHY of what we do will need to be addressed, and not just once, but over and over again.

You joked about coming into the school year a hot mess and finding a beautiful direction. But look -- it's working. Over the summer you would have never gone this direction, taken this path.

This is the crux of it all:

BEING PRESENT.

Thursday was a turning point -- when you broke through the reliance on the program. It isn't the curriculum.

Kindness is the curriculum. And caring. And believing.

You're being reminded of your first year at Lehigh, how it was a few weeks in when you got the grip of what to do with those seniors to provide what they needed. That year, too, you didn't come in with preconceived notions because you truly did not know how you were going to reach and teach them.

But you sat down Labor Day weekend and made a plan to help them comprehend text and by October some were passing the FCAT on the fourth try, leading to the promise of graduation. And more followed.

You put their interests first. You made it accessible. You took the difficulties of studying British Literature and lightened it up. Made it about being a hero of your own story. Doing right. Not shying away from poetry.

And you believed in them, and they knew it.

This is still the message we need over and over and over again.

They were far from easy.

The kids in front me you now...far from easy.

See the rainbow path.

It is always there for you.

It is real.

It is accessible.

Do not resist.

BELIEVE.

Signed...Your True Heart

 

Do the Next Right Thing (7 Lines/ 7 Days #66)

 #108Weeks

August 15-21, 2021

 

 Things feel lackluster and unsettled.

Stayed in my pajamas all day Sunday. It was awesome.

Don't care for the classroom set up, but with COVID I have no choice.

Going to start rolling into the curriculum and perhaps that means I can stop bending my brain.

It became clear on Thursday my students need a LOT of emotional and social support. More than ever before.

I'm no longer waiting for anything. I'm putting my students first.

With one small change, I already have more information to work with to reach them beyond the standard curriculum.

The Unfolding World (7 Lines/7 Days #65)

 #108Weeks

August 8-14, 2021

"The safe place is an untroubled heart and mind."

Keep practicing presence. It's working.

The thing I want to remember most is to be with people. Notice them. Listen.

"My dreams are important to the unfolding of the world."

An 8th grade student in my Global Perspectives class arrived with fond memories of our class novel The Bridge Home from 6th grade. Did my heart good.

We still don't have access to our required reading curriculum, so the team keeps having to scramble to find things to do.

I'm surprisingly well-rested. Don't feel tired at all. It was a good week.

3. Real Teaching

 #66Challenge

This was the third day of the school year, and the first one that made me feel like a real teacher again. Not a pandemic teacher. Not a Zoom teacher. A real teacher whose kids are engaged, involved, talking, laughing, and being creative. With my advanced students we were able to visit the library so everyone could get a book in their hand, and I taught the goal-setting bookmark for the first time in 2 years to help them set their reading targets.

Despite the masks again and some other protocols, I am so grateful for a return to the classroom I love.

Real reading. Real involvement.  Real community.

2. Getting Started

 #66Challenge

Walked the beach this Sunday morning as a way to get a grounded start to the new week. Things have gotten started, and I'm feeling great.

The return on Monday seemed weird somehow. I found myself feeling near tears at times, for absolutely no reason I could discern. Thankfully, it subsided and I've been fine ever since.

My mind has been quiet for the most part, and all the hours of training have just been washing over me. It wasn't until around 3 a.m. on Wednesday that I found myself getting up to make a list of things to do.

I live and die with lists, and hadn't made one at all until that moment!

I'm teaching a course called Global Perspectives and intensive reading course with a program called Read 180. The reading course concerned me, as the independent reading portion relies on learners answering questions for the books they read. That irritates me to no end, since that is NOT the way real readers read!  I don't take quizzes on the books I read. Why should they?

But, even though I know they have to do that, I also have started to figure out ways to include some real world reading. Funny thing is, when I talk to others on my team about it, they are thinking the same thing. I think that is what I like best so far -- a lot of us on the same page.

I have awesome teammates in these courses, one in particular who is a whiz at technology and has already set a lot of things up for us. There were concerns about how to grade within these courses, but we will figure that out. It seems that when someone starts getting freaked out about how something will happen, or when, I get calmer, and in turn calm them down. I came into this school year wanting to be more peaceful, more kind, more aware of the moment. And so far, so good. Seriously. It's been working so far.

Open House was fun. I got to see and hug so many returning students and talk highly about them to their parents. I felt like I was truly being myself, and even with returnees who may have been less than ideal last year, we were able to talk openly about it and set a new course. Incredibly cool!

The other thing to note is that there is a lot of emphasis on building a loving, kind, and empathetic community at our school, and I couldn't be happier. I already wanted to do that, and so I'm glad to know I won't be alone. There will be some school-wide lessons coming, and I have some productive ideas up my sleeve to implement. I hope to write about some of these in the coming days.

I know I'm in the glow of the new school year, and that's fine. I'm going to enjoy this feeling while it lasts!

 

Practicing Presence (7 Lines/ 7 Days #64)

 #108Weeks

August 1-7, 2021

 

 Be present. Pay attention.

Sunday brunch was a surprise -- really felt the love from my dear friends.

Lots of ups and downs the first day. Why was I so emotional?

The student numbers in my intensive reading classes are higher than I'd like them to be.

Open House was great. So. Many. Hugs.

I'm so grateful I have an experienced team around me. I have more support than ever.

I continue to be chill and let what I need come to me. This is the result of practicing presence.