The Start of the Year

The start of the year is always a blur. I plan, organize, prepare, and still am left in awe. Twenty years in to this career, sixteen in my district, six in this grade level, and I am still learning. Maybe when I retire I will finally figure out how on earth to get everything done I need to get done, but for now I am simply along for the ride.

The first few weeks of school also coincide with football games and practices for my two boys. It is crazy. I think I am constantly driving someone somewhere, all the while thinking of what I need to do. It is the time of year where I come home from work, plop down in a chair in my kitchen, grab my laptop, and begin working again. Two hours later someone will wonder in and ask what's for dinner and I will be shocked to see that the time has passed. It is the time to remember that I will never be caught up and trying to get caught up will drive me to madness. 

Judging by the amount of emails, Facebook messages, Twitter messages, and Tweets I've had about the start of the year just this week, I think I am not alone in this struggle. I've had so many wonderful teachers reach out with questions, that I thought I'd address a lot of similar concerns here. Remember, we're all in this together. It gets easier. 

Things to remember...

1. Start Slow

I think this is especially important for those of us that taught the same grade last year. You remember those kids that just left. How they knew to bring a notebook to the carpet for mini-lessons. How transitions and the schedule flowed. You didn't need to tell them to put their homework in the third tray for their class. For me, those kids were almost ready for sixth grade. This new group? They just left fourth. They are light years from the children that just inhabited this classroom. I have to slow down, remember. These kids will get there soon, but you have to go back. Teach the routines. It takes time. 

2. Technology

I use a lot of technology in my language arts class. The main struggle I have at the start of the year is tech. My students that just left seamlessly transitioned from notebook to iPad to laptop, depending on what they were doing. They new the programs we used and how to be responsible online. A new group coming in has to be taught all of that. I struggle with the feeling of not "really" teaching until everything is up and running. I want to rush through, give a brief overview, and get the workshop started. That doesn't work. Over the past week and a half, I have taught my students:

• Padlet
• Twitter
• Reminders on Google Drive
• iPad overview
• Booksource Classroom Organizer
• How to do a Google search 
• Audioboom
• How to make a QR code

We've been in school for eight days. I think I could teach in more depth on many of these topics as our year goes on, but the students seem to have an overall grasp so far. Some were just brief lessons in passing, some were the mini-lesson for that day. We're getting there. 

3. The decorations don't make the room, the kids do

I've had this conversation with so many educator friends of late. I think I blame it all on Pinterest. It is there to make us feel inadequate if our rooms are not adorned in chevron stripes with beautiful colors all over our room. Nope. Not going there.

Years ago I had a professor at Roosevelt University named Barb Dress. She told us that if our rooms looked "finished" before school started, we were doing something wrong. She said a true classroom would have blank walls - they were waiting for student work. There would be a lack of "teacher made items" because that was pointless. There would be little to no anchor charts up because the purpose of an anchor chart was to be made with the students. I took that to heart. 

I'm eight days into the school year. Most of my bulletin boards are still blank. We're building our classroom together. The kids are there. Their photos are up. The room is filled with books and ugly old furniture from my house. It's a great place to be. 

4. Mistakes will happen

In the past eight days I have over planned - the first week's lessons alone could take me to September. I forgot kids names. Technology has failed. Students said mean things to each other. Someone tweeted the poop emoji. I gave many Mrs. S Life Lessons speeches. 

I've cried in front of the kids because I was moved by their actions. I've laughed. We've had great moments and some that could have been better. Each mistake and each success go together to tell our story of our year together. But that's the good stuff. 

I sat in the room on the side on Friday while another teacher was in the room giving a presentation. I realized that as crazy as everything is, as much as I still need to do, I felt at peace. One of my boys glanced up from his spot on the couch and grinned at me and gave me a half wave. I think we are on the right track. 

The start of the year might be crazy. It might give me more gray hair than I want, but it is the building time. The relationships are being formed, the backbone of our workshop is being created, and the year has begun. I think it will be my best one yet. 

Starting off the school year - Relationships

What do you remember about your teachers? It has been over twenty years since I graduated high school, but I remember many classrooms like I was there yesterday. And when I look back, I am not bowled over with the lessons, misty-eyed over the concepts taught. I do not think I’m a better person because I dissected a frog – or a sentence, but I am a better person for those teachers who cared enough to reach out to me.

Today I was pointed in the direction of this article by Linda Urban and Teri Lesesne. If you have a minute, it is well worth your time to read it. (Click HERE.) To say I agree would be an understatement. I would even go farther. If you have two teachers who know their subject matter cold, but one builds relationships and the other ignores the importance of them, I believe with all my heart that the kids in the first classroom will out perform the second. Even if that second teacher knows the curriculum better – or is more rigorous, without relationships I do not believe those kids will do as well. 

I think I’m a decent teacher of reading skills. I think I go above in some people’s estimation because I am passionate about what I do and about the students. I do not think they look back and think, Wow, Mrs. S. did a great job teaching me inference. Is my curriculum rigorous, at times.  Can I make them better readers and writers, yes. Will they grow in my classroom academically, yes. Socially, absolutely.

When kids contact me after being in my classroom, I’m always interested to hear what they remember. Sometimes, it is a small thing. Other times, bigger. I smile a lot. My eyes light up. (Loved that one.) I hugged them when they were feeling sad. I did not give up. I ignored their prior reputation and believed in them. I helped them find books. I inspired them to write, to read, to be kind. Most of the time what they tell me has very little to do with what is written in our standards.

There are many nights that I lie awake in my bed thinking of my students. I consider fifth grade to be a pivotal year. They are approaching middle school and leaving elementary behind. They are deciding what type of people they want to become. They are laying the groundwork for the way they will act for the rest of their lives. The burden that lies on my heart is finding a way to reach them all. I want to make sure I help them. The only way I know to do this is to know my students and to love them.

It is September. I have been with my class for fourteen days. In that fourteen days we’ve read and shared books, worked on a piece of writing, and gotten to know each other in our classroom community. I’ve wiped tears, hugged many, and laughed out loud. We are not at all where I want to be yet, but we are on the path. Relationships. They are the core of my classroom.  

Seeds

Many years ago I felt lost when thinking of how to teach writing. I was not a writer myself and grew hopeless when wondering where to start. I found Lucy Calkins Units of Study and fell in love with the metaphor of the seed vs. watermelon stories.

Today I found myself frazzled at the end of the day. It amazes me how little time I feel that I have at the beginning of the school year. I feel that I’m constantly racing to get things done only to stop at the end of the day and see everything I didn’t do. This year I’m making a conscious effort to look for the seeds that show what is going well and marvel over them.

Seeds of our tenth day together:

·      Sharing Colby Sharp’s video (Can view it HERE) and having students rush to check-out Babymouse, say they wish he was their teacher, and comment on his passion for life.

·      Sharing book trailers for Dragon’s Tooth (HERE), Babymouse for President (HERE), and The One and Only Ivan (HERE). Crying as I watched that one and telling my students the story of IVAN.

·      Listening to Delaney tell me that Because of Winn-Dixie is one of the best books EVER MADE and agreeing with her.

·      Having Lexie share her thoughts of Marianne Malone’s The Sixty-Eight Rooms. She said that she thought it was amazing and couldn’t stop telling me her thoughts of Jack and Ruthie. I’d agree.

·      Having students begin collaborating on Google Drive.

·      Reading the point in Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library where Kyle is headed to the lock-in. Having them beg me not to stop.

I looked around my room at 3:45, trying to gather everything to go home. In my earlier years I would always stay until at least five. Now I have children to get home, homework to help finish, and dinner to cook. I grabbed items that I could work on after they were bed and sighed, knowing how much there was to do. But then I thought of the seeds – the bright spots. We’ll get there soon. Until then, I’ll hold on to those moments each day. 

Finding the Positives

Today I sat on the floor. There were a variety of reasons for my position. I was tired, the room was warm, the floor seemed cooler. The main reason was that I was sitting with a student. Most teachers know this position – hip to hip, side to side. I sat with him, he read about a train at the top of the world. (Hello, Fountas and Pinnell tests.) As he read to me, I felt myself relax.

The first weeks of school are just crazy. I’ve learned over the years to hold on, take a few breaths, and wait it out. Soon enough everything will begin running like clockwork. For now, I wait.

Today I went to school with a specific purpose. I already like these kids, a lot. And I knew I was feeling a bit frazzled. I wasn’t getting through enough of my plans. One group is extremely chatty during writing workshop. I hadn’t had a conference with each of my students yet. Adding this to heat indexes of 98-102 this week in a non air-conditioned room and you might have a sense of where I was coming from. With that in mind, today I chose to focus on what was working with this new group of students. Here’s what I noticed.

They love learning. These kids are excited when we talk about lessons – on any topic. What is reading stamina? They have tons of ideas. Why would students choose to “fake read”? They fall over themselves to share. Favorite authors or books? Forget about it, we’d be here for hours listening.

They are creative. Whether it is drawings, stories, singing, or dancing, they amaze me. Many love video games. I love to talk to them about their favorites. These might be the next designers of those games. Their ideas are incredible!

My homeroom LOVES to write. Last year I was so sad that so many students still weren’t embracing writing and one goal I had this year was to change that. This group doesn’t need that goal. They LOVE writing. My main “chatty” class is my homeroom, especially in writing workshop. Why are they so chatty? Many of them want to collaborate. They are writing stories together. The dialogue is non-stop. I can’t fault them for their amazing ideas, just trying to bring the level down a bit. They beg to write everyday. With the heat we’ve been getting out early, which shortens some writing blocks. I have several that were not happy about that.

They love reading. This makes my heart sing. Kids are flying through books, sharing titles, and sharing favorites. We’ve started our first read aloud, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. I love this time together as we root for Kyle and cheered when he secured a spot at the library lock-in.

So the fact that we haven’t really started blogging, Twitter, conferences, etc. will have to be ok for now. In the past eight days we have began a community. I’ve received enough hugs and pictures to brighten my days for some time to come. And today? Sitting there, listening to a child read about a train that runs on permafrost, I looked up and saw this. Yep, we’re back into the school year and it feels great.