Whoa... just finished day 16 in third grade and I feel like I have aged 16 years! I am finally forcing myself to come up for air and reflect. I have been wavering on whether to write or not. But as always, I decided to go for it, to be real, because my hope is that it can help someone else...so here goes... I wrote a personal positive message on each desk to start the day. Then we had a talk. As my principal walked in, I was saying these words "Alright guys, I owe you an apology. Remember how we talked about #failforward moments? Well I had a big one." To which they were all perplexed. I told them that I expected too much from them at the beginning of the school year. That I didn't do my job in teaching them the routines and reminders of how we we act in the classroom. I told them that we were starting "Day 1" over and we were going to focus on the positive in class. Here is where I want to pause for a second- We started over. And it was needed. In Brene' Brown's book Rising Strong she says "You can't skip day 2". In that she means that you can't just brush over the hard stuff, the messy stuff- you have to put in the work. I tried to skip our "Day 2", so to speak. I tried to go from "Hi, we don't know each other" to "Let's get busy and work as a family." Without support for them. #failforward! So rather than keep snowballing into a mess, we stopped and we restarted...and I don't feel guilty. Others may think I'm crazy, because we have "so much curriculum to "cover". but I have to stay true to my belief. #cultureovercurriculum "We need to reach the students,to teach the students." What these kids (and my principal saw) was humility, humanity and realness. I showed them that there is no "perfect", that we are going to fail and how to use that "failure as feedback" as Dave Burgess, says. How to admit mistake and move forward. Great convos about grit, perseverance and resilience- and they REALLY dug it. I was a bit taken aback, when they asked what the word "positive" meant, but so glad they asked. We had a really great discussion on the difference between positive statements and behaviors vs. negative ones and how each one makes us feel. We role played saying positive things to each other. We wrote them around the room. We watched a "Kid President" video and they pulled out the "Awesome Quotes" and charted them. And the positive "vibe" has just taken off from there. I don't believe that they still fully trust me on this... I still hear them say things about themselves being "bad"- or that they "can't do..." to which we have a talk. Sometimes their faces look like I am speaking a foreign language, but I have vowed to be consistent and I can't even wrap my head around on the pay offs, thus far. We still have many struggles, and we will continue- such is life. But every day when they leave- I find those bright spots- and they are usually the "heart spots". I see changes in them. I see empathy, kindness, understanding, beginning of confidence, helpfulness. But I also see them testing it and me. They want to know if I am going to break and go negative on them? The answer is and always will be "NO". My call to action is this: Be kind to yourself - this is HARD work and we are going to struggle. But it is through that struggle - we learn and grow and so do our students. Take time to reflect and and if you need to do a "restart" of some things... do it. It matters.
3 Comments
Ann
9/8/2018 10:05:00 am
Yes! To all of this! Lessons hidden throughout... thank you for being REAL.
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Melissa
9/8/2018 11:05:04 am
YES! I am so proud of you. Teaching is such HARD work. As Glennon says, “Brutiful.” Teaching is one of the most brutal and beautiful passions one can follow. I think you are slaying it! You might not ever feel that way, but I can see it from your posts and pictures. Keep taking those baby steps forward and building rapport with your students, families, and peers.
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Steve
9/8/2018 07:30:45 pm
I absolutely love this. All of it.
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Mother, Teacher, Presenter, GCE Level 1 & 2, Encourager of others.
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