Wow! It has been a while since I wrote. It isn't for the lack of subject matter, rather...I have had the most interesting ride over the past few months.
Admittedly, I am a person who travels one track at a time. That statement is not meant to imply that I don't get things done, or slack off other responsibilities while concentrating on getting a single thing completed...it is just...until one thing is finished, I cannot begin on another? I can get many things done the way that I do it, and (At the risk of tooting my horn) I get it done...all of it done...efficiently, effectively, and most of the time faster than anyone. Once I make sure all of the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed...I am good and can easily move on to other tasks or obligations.
From what I understand, and from what I have read on various plaquards and postings on Facebook, and the various anthologies of idioms and limericks...men are one-track minded while woman can multi-task. I take no offence at this, as most of the idioms and postings I mentioned are usually at the expense of men. I absolutely agree with all of them! I have tried to multi-task...when I was younger, and naive...and the results were disastrous! I believe that multi-tasking cannot be learned! Regarding the nature vs nurture philosophies, multi-tasking is about the xx, and NOT the xy!
Back to my interesting ride. The last few months have been very involved. I won't bore you with a blow-by-blow, suffice to say I haven't had a solid hour to myself for a while. Tonight...sitting here at my computer (A week and a half before the new school year begins) is the first time I feel like I am on vacation. For now...at this moment...all is done. Problems solved, all things in there place, I can't think of a thing that must be finalized (This is scary!). This chilled-out feeling is short lived, I know BUT I'LL TAKE IT!
This post is for others like me (Hope that doesn't offend anyone, Haha!). The others who cannot multi-task and know it. This post is also, and most especially for those that don't yet realize they are like me. You know who you are... those of you who try in earnest to get so much done all at once, many pokers in the fire, only to succeed in finishing half of what was started. How many times have you been late arriving somewhere, or late turning something in when there is a deadline? See...you know who you are!
My dearest and most esteemed male novice educators, this posting is for you! My esteemed and fellow veteran educators who are a hot mess when it comes to getting things done on time, or at all...this posting is for you also! To all other educators (the able multi-taskers)...read on and enjoy. I have to give credit to those very few able men out there who actually CAN multi-task...you are my heroes!
First...let us consider how a school year begins in the here and now. I am curious if your first week back to school is the same as all mine have been...and will continue to be!
FIRST WEEK (No kids...just teachers)
* Faculty meetings.
* 5 minutes for classroom prep here and there.
* Inservice programs.
* 5 minute classroom prep here and there.
* More inservice programs!
* 5 minutes classroom prep here and there!
* New curriculum guidelines meeting.
* New federally mandated policies and procedures meeting.
* 5 minutes of classroom prep time here and there!
* MORE FREAKIN INSERVICE PROGRAMS!
* Changes to everything that was Started last year!
* Changes to the changes made for everything started last year!
* Being spanked for doing well on state testing, but NOT yet reaching the ever expanding expectations of DOE!
* Time after hours for getting your classroom ready because the FREAKIN KIDS WILL BE THERE IN 3 DAYS!
....You get the gist. The beginning of any school year (And all the year long) is not a timid, quiet and docile animal. It is a gyrating, ever-moving, shape-shifting beast that will peel you like a grape if you let it! Keep in mind, I am NOT including the kids here! The kids do not factor in! Your kids are a separate entity that should never know that the BEAST exists! They are your light at the end. They...each one of them...make taming or fighting the beast worth it!
With this in mind, read on and remember this...just because you are fast does not always mean you are efficient! Running a race is awesome when you win, but to do it every day will make you crazy and give you the chronic trots. There is a way to be fast and efficient by taking your time AND by making time a friend instead of an enemy!
I MUST state the following! There is NOTHING wrong with finishing one thing before starting another. There are many teachers out there...I have seen them...who are so overwhelmed with the multitudes of everything we teachers have to do, say, emulate, educate, and demonstrate that before long...they burn out! Some complain it is lack of organization these quitters suffered from! Yeah...you able multi-tasking buggers can say that, however...organization has nothing to do with it! I am organized, one subject at a time.
Below is a list of things I do...I hope this helps my Peeps!
1. No matter what happens during the course of a day don't forget to BREATHE! Move away from the Beast for a moment and breathe deeply in through your nose, and out through your mouth. Takes about 17 seconds. Don't breathe like this while you are walking to another meeting...stand quietly somewhere and breathe!
2. Don't be a clock watcher, but always watch the clock. In your classroom the difference between life and death can be a single minute...less than a minute! The greatest elation can also be within a single minute. Every minute counts while you are with your kids...never leave a moment unattended. Minutes must also count before the kids arrive, and after they leave. If something needs doing, or HAS TO BE DONE...set a goal time, a reasonable goal time to get it done! Procrastinators hate time, clocks, watches, deadlines, calendars, etc. If something is due or needed on a Tuesday get it completed Monday!
Also, reserve time for yourself during your planning...this is essential.. Smoke a cigar, eat a donut, do your nails, take a walk, or open-mouth kiss a giraffe if you are a mind to! Do something that is NOT school related for part of your planning. OR...make one or two planning periods a week time for just you!
3. I am the KING of sticky notes! PA announcements, phone call conversations, meeting times...no matter what it is, write it down and stick it in a place you will always see it. I also believe that there are many noted intellectuals who kept journals and diaries so that they could write their findings, hypothesis, ideas, or schedules down so that they would not have to remember them. Your mind was made for the doing part of your vocation...not the remembering of it! MOST IMPORTANT...once you have completed something a sticky-note reminded you of, rip it down and throw it away!
4. You will be told what to teach, and when to teach it (Pacing). HOW you teach it is entirely up to you! I have heard so many educators state that there isn't enough time in a day to teach everything that is expected. While I do agree with them, there is a helpful way around it. Recruit! By the end of the first week of school (With the kids) you will know who excels in Reading, or Math, or Spelling, or Grammar, or Science. You will have a sense of who, out of your students, can be trusted and who must be watched like a hawk! Use this to your advantage. Collaborative pairs help...peer grouping helps. Have kids educate kids, while you monitor and facilitate! Let your talkers initiate a book-talk, or your mathematicians explain the intricacies of long division to a peer who's concept attainment is seemingly unreachable. Nine times out of ten, when a kid helps a kid...the kid who needed help benefits! (Say that 3 times fast!)
5. Don't forget to BREATHE!
6. The Writing Audit is coming up! Your IEP meeting is around the corner. Your principal needs your observation form turned in, or some RTTT documentation has to be completed and presented to the powers that be. Sticky-note it and do NOT put it off! Set a goal time for each task to be completed and do NOT deviate from it. Set aside enough time to spread the workload out. Set a reasonable time-goal after school to get one of the things done to completion. Budgeting time here is very important...set a seperate time for each task, and once that one task is done...you are done for that day! This works only when you do not procrastinate...be a friend to the calendar and the clock. Will you have to grade papers too? YUP! Will you have to prepare for lessons the next day? YUP! This adds to your very busy day, but...it is what a teacher does, like monitoring your students, or educating them. The business...the new curriculum worries, etc. these are the things that will eat at you. Wouldn't it be nice to just educate our kids, grade there tests and classwork and go home? This will never happen, but if you get the business done and out of the way it can almost feel like it's happening.
7. New curriculum programs, new laws, new regulations, new policies. These things change or build upon themselves every year. It can also make any teacher feel completely overwhelmed. Every year I feel overwhelmed, then I remember my own advice...seek out a mentor, or a soundboard...even a good shoulder to cry on. You do NOT have to rely on the mentor you were appointed when you first started (Unless they are awesome!). Seek out a colleague that will help you through it, or go through it with you! Swallow your pride, and seek help! Some of the newer curriculums are confusing for many reasons (Pacing, application, content). Alone, this can be daunting. There is strength in numbers! Surround yourself with the like minded, you will help each other!
8. Don't forget to BREATHE!
9. If you ever have a concern (Any concern) relating to a problem that may be far bigger than your touchstone and you can solve...talk with your principal. Hopefully you will have an awesome principal. I have been very lucky in this regard. In my career I have had three different principals. All three vastly different from the other, but...all awesome! One of them will always be my favorite forever infinitum! Be aware newbies...there are different types of principals.
a) The Political Principal - This captain at the helm is most interested in how his/her school looks, and is represented. This captain has little regard for the mates on his/her ship or the kids that people it! Always suited up and ready to welcome the town Mayor. This principal also like the sound of his/her voice.
b) The By the Book Principal - This desk executive CEO follows the policies and procedures to the letter and allows no room for individual interpretation. This principal likes meetings, and will have you in the office to explain yourself at every turn, even though you have stated the same explanation over and over, year after year.
c) The Care-Bear Principal - This Ringling Brothers entertainer gives slaps on the wrist, and has a desk full of candy for little Johnnie who accidentally punched another kid in the face.
d) The Benedict Arnold Principal - This Principal is vastly different as he/she has two faces. One you see, and one the parents see. This both-sides-of-the-mouth-talker will support you one-on-one at 1:00, while talking dirt about you with the parents at 1:30.
e) The Teacher Principal - This is the best kind of leader. This principal has been in the trenches for many years. This principal loves the kids, and adores her/his teachers. This teacher will go to bat for his/her teachers, and can speak upon their style in the classroom without an initial meeting with you because this principal actually pays a attention to who you are as a person, and as an educator!
f) The I do Everything...No, Not Really Principal - This principal looks good, and has been commended for running an amazing school, with TOP DSTP scores. This Principal spouts on at Admin meetings about the various programs he/she has instituted to further help improve his/her school. In reality this Principal doesn't do DICK! The Vice Principal does all the work, handles all the meetings and disciplines the kids while the Richard who doesn't do DICK gets all the credit!
10. Don't be something or someone you are not! The worst thing anyone can do is to try another teacher's way, only to find that the way only works for the aforementioned teacher! Read the Aesop Fable the Monkey and the Camel...great lesson there! Whether it is paperwork, grading, classroom management, or time management...find your own way! Your style will shine through...do what is in your gut, what you know is right for your kids with each new year! Otherwise...you will make yourself a nervous wreck, and the business of school...the stuff that keeps piling ontop of itself...will never get done! Being something you're not wastes valuable time...far too many do-overs!
11. I don't use journals, or diaries, or pocket planners...I DO use my desk blotter. You know the kind...the big 20" x 22" calendar type? I love those things, almost as much as I love sticky notes! Monthly events, class jobs, band schedules...whatever can be seen at glance! Helps keep me on-track!
12. Never allow yourself to feel that it IS all too overwhelming...that there is just too much to do, and not enough time to do it! This is self deprecating! Of course you can do it...you can do anything you put your mind to! Just breathe, allow your kids to always be the light at the end...and set reasonable goals! I remember teaching decimal conversions. After 45 minutes of teaching, collaborative pairing, and much modeling this one kid just couldn't get it. While the others worked on classwork practice, this kid and I sat for 5 minutes one on one. By the end of the five minutes the kid got it! You will find that most of your kids will reach concept attainment in a reasonable amount of time, while a few will struggle regarding any given subject. A few minutes one on one helps by leaps and bounds! the same philosophy will work for you too! Sit with your soundboard, or just with yourself for 5 minutes and make it one-on-one! Everything stays the same if you look at it the same way forever! Take five minutes and look at it from different angles...no matter what it is, approach it from all sides!
13. "I teach only for the summers off" said NO TEACHER ever who retired an educator! Most educators with that mindset don't last 2 years. If you are in it, and you love it...don't allow the business or any bureaucracy sour your love for teaching. Is it busy? DAMN RIGHT IT IS! Is it hectic, and nerve wracking? SURE ENOUGH! Will it make you want to kick the authors of the latest curriculum investment in the throat? OH, YES IT WILL! It will also feed your soul, and has the capacity to raise you so high you will have to look down to see heaven! We enter the lives of children, and make a difference!
Be pissed if you have too...God knows I get there quick in real life anyway! Don't hold it in...breathe...sit and vent with your most trusted colleague/friend...talk with your principal...punch the shit out of Resusci Annie in the nurses office! Nothing wrong with being pissed...just get it out somehow, otherwise it WILL fester!
14. Moving quickly rarely gets things done as fast as you think it does. Most of the time, by moving quickly mistakes will be made, or blunders, or oversights. Small steps, take your time, do it right or do it over! I always opt for doing it right! One thing at a time...do it, employ all of your skills, complete it, and move on! If you have momentum...keep it going. Remember, after about 30 minutes our brains start to stop! Always have a stash of chocolate, or some cannoli on hand. Take a break, have a nibble, and keep on keeping on!
Well, I am stopping at an even number. Newbies, and Oldies-but-Goodies...you gotta stop and smell the roses? In life you really do! As cliche as this simple saying is, it is funny how many people don't realize its importance until it is too late (Not just teachers...everybody!). Breathe, count your blessings. If I were a religious man I would tell you that for every child you teach that reaches concept attainment, an angel gets his wings...but I am NOT a religious man. I have a strong faith, however!
You are the captain of your vessel...you must bring your kids through troubled seas to the shores of promise. It is YOU that will do this...not a book...not a test...not a lesson plan...not anyone else, just you! Powerful stuff there! When you really think about it...can the mandates, the PLC's, the meetings, the paperwork...is any of it worth the "Ah-ha" look on the face of one of your kids? Just Freakin breathe...take your time, one thing at a time...to hell with the other captains, YOU are the king/Queen of the seas!
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