Teaching Post-Covid

I recently received an email from a university student who was asking if I had any additional advice for teachers in 2022, especially with COVID and just the general state of teaching in America.

I think the most important problem that teachers have some control over is burnout.

• Teachers need to eat and exercise regularly. This means not working through your lunch hour. Teachers need the time to re-energize.
• Another thing teachers need is some kind of hobby outside of education whether it is some craft or sport or something that will give them joy outside of the classroom. This will go a long way to helping teachers from getting burned out.
• Staying prepared and organized. Gather necessary materials needed for a lesson a few days in advance and don’t wait until the last minute. This helps you focus on the lesson that day rather than on preparation.
• Last, teachers need to stay away from those who only have negative thoughts to share. Negativity is unhealthy and contagious. This is different from an occasional rant or venting. This person has only negative things to share and finds nothing joyous about being a teacher.

As for teaching post-covid, teachers need to look at students from a different perspective.

• During the pandemic, students picked up many bad learning habits. Teachers need to identify these bad habits and try to teach the students better habits. This can’t be done all at one time and teachers may need to conquer one bad habit at a time. Teachers will need twice as much patience because it is easier to learn a bad habit than to unlearn it.
• Many students may suffer from anxiety. During the pandemic, the student’s world was packed with fear and uncertainty. It may take a long time for them to feel safe and secure again. They need to learn that the world is always changing and that nothing can stay the same forever. Students need to learn a different perspective where they see change as an opportunity and not something to fear. Modeling this behavior and discussing it with students will take time but is very effective to show students how to deal with change.
• Keeping a class routine will give students stability that they haven’t had during the pandemic. By having a routine, they will know what to expect and can focus more on learning new skills.

What other suggestions would you give? Please share.

Proper Planning

In The last minute from Seth Godin's Blog, Seth Godin emphasizes,

“If you do anything at the last minute that takes more than a minute, you’re not organizing your project properly.”

Nothing drives me crazy than working with people who wait until the last minute to do something.

I’m a “get it done now” kind of person.

If I know something needs to be done by a deadline, I must get it done early. I want it done ahead of time in case something happens that keeps me from getting it done later.

What if I get sick or get in an accident? At least if I have it done, I don’t have to worry about it. If someone needs it by a certain date, I won’t be holding them up.

By having something done early, I can free my mind up to do other things I enjoy.

I might have learned this from my parents who had a rigorous work ethic. If something needed to be done, do it now and play later. They instilled this in me also and I can hear them in the back of my mind when I want to delay doing something.

Procrastinating always causes me stress so it is better to get something done than to put it off.

Ignoring it until later doesn’t accomplish anything.

By waiting until the last minute, I might not have all the information or materials I need and then I’m scrambling to get what is needed. This means my finished project might not be as good as it could be.

I want to instill this same work ethic in my student’s minds. I want them to learn that it is important to do what needs to be done rather than waiting until the last minute. Organizing their work makes this possible and will help them be successful in the things they do.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

What Bugs Me?

In the book 2 Second Lean by Paul A. Akers (a free book), he talks about look around and seeing what bugs you. Once you identify what bugs you (the problem), then you can begin to look at solutions.

I recently tried to apply this to my life and began with my office/craft room. What was bugging me about it? The main thing was that I couldn’t find the books I wanted to look at and I could find the yarn that I wanted when I wanted to make something.

My problem was figuring out where to begin.

I started from my goal and worked backwards to my starting point.

To find my yarn, I needed to organize my yarn by color and wieight.
To organize my yarn, I needed to get the books and other things off of my yarn shelves.
To get the things off of my yarn shelves, I needed to add more bookshelves.
To add more bookshelves, I needed to go to Lowes and get the shelves.

So, the first thing I did was get the bookshelves.
To add the shelves, I had to take down the books that were stacked up on the shelves that were already there.
Once I started taking the books off, I realized that I didn’t want to keep all of the books that I’d taken down.
After sorting through the books and adding the shelves, I had a lot more room for the things that were on my yarn shelves.
I organized the books and loaded them onto the bookshelves.
Once I did that, I had plenty of empty cubicles on my yarn shelves.
I sorted my yarn by color and weight. I found yarn that I didn’t remember that I had.

Now I’m motivated to make some many new things and read some of the books that I had rediscovered.

Working backwards in my mind helped me figure out a starting point.

I tend to figure out my lessons in the same way. I think about my goal – the ending point. Where do I want my students to end up? Then I work backwards from there and try to figure out the skills they need to get to the ending point.

What bugs you? How can you work to fix the problem? Please share.

Photo by Gabriel Manlake on Unsplash

Teaching Online: Organizational Prep work

I am currently teaching a practicum class online and we run a virtual school program. I am learning a lot of things and want to share some tips along the way.

Usually, when everyone joins the class, there is a general time for everyone to share things and for teachers to welcome everyone. I think this is a good time to check that everyone has all the materials they will need for class. You could even come up with a daily checklist.

For example:

·      Pencil

·      Lined paper

·      Reading worksheet printed (was emailed yesterday)

·      Reading book

·      Item to share – my favorite toy

·      Small items to use for counting

·      Math worksheet printed (was emailed yesterday)

By checking with everyone before you start teaching, it will give students time to get anything they are missing. It will also help from interrupting the lesson while you are teaching it. Plus, it is a good practice to get into, whether they are attending class online or in person.

What other things would you suggest? Please share.

Photo by STIL on Unsplash

Time to Refresh My Classroom Materials

I have a wonderful friend, Patte, who has truly inspired me to look more closely at all the things that I have and whether I really need them. I tend to be a hoarder and sometimes the clutter can really bog me down. It can overwhelm me and keep me from being as productive as I want to be. She has done a lot of purging of things she really doesn’t need, and it has motivated me to try to do the same with my personal and professional belongings.

Now that summer is coming to an end, it is time to revisit materials and supplies that I have for the classroom. I need to sort everything so I can get a better idea of what to do with things. Sometimes at the end of a school year, I’m so tired that I toss everything in boxes with the plan on dealing with it later. That time has now arrived.

Things that I will throw away:

·      Things that no longer work.

·      Things that have broken parts.

·      Things that are out of date and are no longer relevant.

Things that I will give away:

·      Things that still have value, but I won’t need to use anymore.

·      Things that someone else may like but I don’t anymore.

Sort things into separate boxes:

·      Things I plan to use right away.

·      Things I will use this year but not right away.

·      Things I might use at a later time but maybe not this year.

Decisions:

Things that have sentimental value: Do I save it or just take a photo and keep the memory.

Look at the things I’ve saved and asked myself if I really need it? If so, what am I going to use it for? If I can’t answer that question, I may need to get rid of it.

I have used this process to get rid of a lot of clothing months ago and I’m very happy with my actions. I love how easy it is to find the clothes I want to wear. I have kept up my system of arranging clothes because now it is so easy.

Now I need to apply this system to other areas of my life.

What system do you use? Please share.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Cleaning House

In Why we should all be required to move now and then from Blue Skunk Blog. Doug Johnson shares,

“My hope is that all employees, teachers especially, will undertake a similar process - looking at old materials asking...

• When was the last time I used this? Did it work then?
• Does this align to the current curriculum?
• Does this reflect the values of cultural proficiency?
• Can I do this activity or present this resource digitally?

We all of us grow comfortable in our habits, routines, and familiar lessons.”

As it nears the end of the year, I think it is time to clean house. It is time to go through stuff and get rid of the things I no longer use. I am going to make 4 piles: Don’t fit, out of date, broken, sentimental.

Personal: I will go through my multitudes of clothing and if I haven’t worn it in the past year, I’m donating it to Goodwill. I have so many items that no longer fit me and will probably never will.

Professional: If my books are outdated, I’m going to pull them from the shelves. Travel books that are out of date need to go in order to make room for current books. Old lessons that are no longer relevant need to go also. Why in the world am I keeping this old stuff?

Broken: Anything broken that will not be repaired this year needs to be trashed or recycled. It needs to stop taking up room and making me feel guilty. I know that “someday” I might fix it but odds are, I won’t.

Sentimental: If it is sentimental but of no use, I will take a photo of it and upload it to my computer so I can keep a memory of it. (I still have things from students from 30 years ago!)

It is too easy to keep things because I’m comfortable where they are and I don’t want to change.

Do you need to clean house? What plan will you make to help you get organized? Please share.