And that’s a wrap…..
While most teachers in my district are celebrating having been able to teach in-person this entire year, my amazing colleagues and I are celebrating the end of our year of remote teaching! It’s not about what our students WEREN’T able to do this year, but what we WERE ABLE to do this year! We were able to see each other’s beautiful faces and smiles each morning as we eagerly logged into Zoom, ready to share how our evening went. We were able to share laughter as we competed to be the first to say, “Some Smug Slug” throughout each day. We were able to make progress on all of our personal and academic skills and share how we were learning even as we made mistakes. We were able to share our love of cats, fishing and baseball, Pokemon, dinosaurs, Legos, Pepsi, and chocolate. We were able to develop heartfelt relationships with each other and our families. We shared what we missed about “regular school” yet what was so wonderful about OUR remote school. We were able to do so much more than we thought when we started the year!

As I reflect on this unprecedented year, I’m so very thankful for my students and their families. I’m grateful for their continuous support and encouragement. I’m appreciative of their unwavering belief in me as I tried my best to create a fun-filled digital learning experience that supported their academic progress and their emotional well-being. At this time, I’m still unable to express my feelings or communicate how much these kids, and their families, mean to me. They have made my heart so happy this year, and I will miss all of them so much!

Well, I’ll let the tears fall for a bit as I feel the expected sadness that comes with the end-of-the-year, but I will also smile, knowing I will never forget these kids and their families, and they will hold a once-in-a-lifetime space in my heart! So, that’s a wrap! Some Smug Slug!

First-semester recap of Remote Teaching:

Ten days before school started in August I received a call that would change my trajectory for the entire school year—instead of teaching Title Reading, I was going to be one of the elementary remote learning teachers! My students would be those that were medically exempt from attending in-person classes due to Covid-19. I have served in a multitude of positions over the past 26 years of my teaching career, yet this was WAY out of my comfort zone! My fantastically awesome colleague and I spent the next eight days brainstorming how we “thought” our days would be scheduled, how we could integrate technology into all lessons in order to turn everything digital, and I began learning 1st and 2nd-grade curriculum.  

I write my thoughts down now as a way to reflect on how far I have come–from what I/we thought it would be like to teach remotely, to how it actually is. We thought teaching two grades at once was doable. Not! Not effectively and not efficiently anyway. We thought we would teach all day, yet knowing we would definitely need a few extra breaks throughout the day. Yeah, NO! The students and I did not have the stamina for being online this long. Additionally, 1st and 2nd-graders are not adept at independent work yet. The reality became that I taught one grade level and then while they worked offline independently on very short tasks and took a break, I would teach the other grade level. This became our routine throughout each day. Daily headaches were real! Eye strain is real! Emotional stress and physical tiredness is still an everyday occurrence! Lesson planning for two grade levels took the entire weekend, and then I’d still need to tweak and rewrite activities each night. I can honestly say that I hated my job! Quite quickly I came to love my students, but the job? Yuck! There wasn’t a learning curve, the line went straight up!  I was barely keeping my head above water! The tears and tissues, the chocolate, and the Pepsi that I went through this first semester have been unbelievable. How I made it through each day, I don’t exactly know.

However, it’s been a full semester and I can say that Thanksgiving break was the turning point for me. I reset my attitude and mindset over the break and instead of hoping that I wouldn’t HAVE to continue to teach remotely (Covid-19 would magically disappear, right?), I started to celebrate the very tiny victories each day! Instead of starting the day dreading having to fumble through each lesson, I started laughing at the mistakes I made. I made it a game with the students to look and listen for how many times I didn’t share my screen, or how I fumbled through switching from my document camera to my screen or muting myself or the students accidentally. The students would politely tell me they couldn’t see my screen, remind me in a sing-song voice that I was muted, and asked me to slow down continuously. They were encouraging, they were excited to be in class, and we all laughed together as we continued to create our own new “school”. Throughout the semester I made each day and lesson as fun as possible. I got to know my “little chickadees”, their sweet personalities, their quirks, and their academic strengths and weaknesses. We all definitely miss our “normal school” and tears have been shed by many, but I also have heard, “Mrs. K., I love you! Can I just talk to you during your break? Will I see you on Friday when I pick up more materials? I got your letter in the mail and I love it!  Mrs. K, can I just stay in the waiting room so I don’t have trouble logging back on? I don’t want to miss storytime! Can my little brother sit with me during math? He loves your jokes! I wish we had school all day on Friday.”  How heart-warming and motivating!

Those little successes have helped me get through each hour and consequently each day.  It doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?  Remote teaching is so much better than at the beginning of the year and I will continue to remind myself constantly to focus on the positives and the little victories. As my principal tells me, “All of this is temporary, Kris.  All of this is temporary.”  So, here’s to 2021!!  May it be a much more positive year!

Source: teacher_memes_by_ben

Seriously?  What?  I can’t do that!  No way!!  Not only no, but….NO!

Those are the thoughts and probably some of the words that came out of my mouth when I was told the district wanted me to be one of the Remote Learning Teachers for the year.  Are you kidding me?  Me?  Yep, me. There were only a few short weeks before school was to start and I had been preparing all summer to be a Reading teacher and now was expected to completely change course and become a Remote Learning teacher!?!?  Really?  Uh….OK.

The only saving grace in this situation was the person they chose to be my partner.  If I could have picked my own partner in this “adventure,” it would have been her!  She’s an amazing person, colleague, and friend!  We had worked together for several years at my school and also on numerous district committees. I could always count on her to “be real.”  When she transferred to a different school I missed watching her teach and really missed our “school talks.”

Well, now we are paired together and tasked with creating a remote learning program for our elementary students who are unable to attend school in person.  We’ve spent a lot of time discussing and hashing out pros and cons of how we could make this work and I have to say we’ve ROCKED IT so far!  We’ll see how it goes next week, but for now, my motto is, “I Can Virtually Teach Anything!”

It was just over two years ago that I was notified that they were terminating my position as Learning Coach for the district.  This past week I was notified that they are now terminating my position as Title Math teacher also!  Crazy, right?  Again, not my choice and definitely not what I want, but the choices are for me to become a Title Reading teacher or…

Since the decision has been made I can either be an Awesomizer or Awfulizer—and I choose to be an Awesomizer!  I will deeply miss teaching math and utilizing all that I have learned about math instruction, but I’m viewing this as a new journey.  A time to learn to be a great reading teacher, something I admit I wasn’t the best at when I taught before.

When I finished my degree last December I told everyone I knew that if I took another class anytime soon, they had my permission to smack me upside the head and remind me of what I had said.  Well, please don’t smack me, but soon I will be taking classes or at least workshops to help me prepare to be an effective Reading teacher.  I’ve already looked into a few classes for the summer and I’ll have a great teaching partner who says she will do all she can to help guide and support me on this new journey. (Shhhh….I’m not sure she knows what she’s signed up for).

So…here’s to another new adventure!

Kris

-Former Learning Coach, former Title Math Teacher, soon-to-be Title Reading Teacher

Talking with colleagues about their educational passions, projects they are working on, struggles they’re having, etc. it all excites me. I’m not sure the correct term for this is edugeeking, but that’s what I call it. I spend each day teaching kiddos, helping them move their thinking and learning forward. I use conversations with colleagues as a conduit to move MY thinking and learning forward.

My family asks me to go into another room when I’m talking on the phone in the evenings with specific colleagues (you know who you are). At first, I was hurt and even a little angry about this, but it comes down to the fact that I DO raise my voice and laugh out loud continually when talking with them– celebrating our successes or commiserating on troubles, etc. Even as I’m writing this, I’m smiling because I just finished speaking with a friend about the successes she experienced today. I’m excited for her and her accomplishments and can’t wait to see what the future holds. That’s what I call edugeeking!

Do you feel this way after talking with your colleagues? Do you edugeek after discussing educational topics? Do you ride a “high” after conversations about your successful moments and those of others? Do you look forward to reading educational books and discussing them with others? Yeah, me too!  And if you don’t– give me a call, drop me a line, or even Tweet me.  I think edugeeking can be contagious and I’d like to spread it around!

Here’s to continuing to seek opportunities to edugeek with others. Here’s to finding my own space at home to carry on educational conversations without disturbing my family. Here’s to my bank account for allowing me to purchase the “occasional” educational book so I can continue to move my thinking forward!  And finally, here’s to connecting with others so we can edugeek together!

Let’s not look at the date since I last blogged. I’m really not sure how time goes by so quickly, and goals/tasks just slip away into oblivion, but mine certainly has a way of doing that consistently.

I’ve been busy. Just as you are. I’m busy with life and things and other “stuff” I can’t even remember. So, it’s time for me to get back to writing my weekly/monthly goals down, sharing them with others (to hold myself more accountable), and actually accomplishing them. Our school has been in session for around six weeks, I’m in a routine at school, and I feel as if my head is above water– at least most of the time! 

I am really enjoying teaching this year! Last year my learning curve felt overwhelming, yet this year I feel as if I have a solid understanding of my expectations for each grade level. I’ve built a small yet mighty stockpile of activities, and most importantly, I feel much more confident. The people I work with are amazing! I can walk down the hallways and smile, wave, sigh, or just nod at them and know, without saying a word, that we are all in this together. We are all supportive of one another. We are all here for the right reasons. So, cheers to a new year! And if you’re reading this, please hold me accountable for blogging—send me a text, email, letter, or chocolate as a reminder to keep my goal of monthly blogging. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll get better at keeping my other goals also.  

Have a great year!!!

I believe it is true that January lasted 789 days and February lasted 780 days! How many snow days have you had?  How many consecutive days of indoor recess due to the negative temperatures? How many more times will we have to dig our cars out of the snow, or clear our driveways? The cold wind takes my breath away and slip sliding to my car every day is not so fun. This cold weather, snow, and ice have sure taken a toll on everyone.

However, one of my friends is ALWAYS positive.  ALWAYS looking on the bright side.  I asked her how she could be so chipper when it was another day of indoor recess and she said, “Just think of how awesome it will be when we finally have outdoor recess!  We will be so thankful!”  She’s right!  As we receive another 4 inches of snow, have more days of -30 degree wind chill and another day/week of indoor recess, just remember to dig deep, for positivity friends! Winter is not over and you just might need to dig a little deeper to keep your motivation high.  Dig deeper to keep the motivation of your students high.  Dig deep!  If you need a friend or a shovel, come see me!

Do you ever find yourself making excuses for why you haven’t completed something?  Why you didn’t reach a goal? Why you didn’t even set a goal? I have, and DO this continuously!  I can rationalize with the best of ‘em!  I can make excuses and rationalize why I don’t meet certain goals, or accomplish certain tasks. I can focus on the smallest improvement and tell myself, “at least that’s some progress”.  However, after this rationalization, comes the disappointment in myself and the renewed urgency to put forth more effort to be more intentional in meeting a goal, not just make “some” progress toward meeting the goal.

My goal for years now has been to be more reflective (in writing) as a way to develop my thinking as a leader.  I’ve reflected via these blogs posts and in my personal journal to a certain extent, but this past year (yes, it’s been a year since I’ve posted)  my “in-my-head” reflections only revolved around the degree of success of my lessons for my students and how I need to adjust my instruction. I tell myself that these reflections have benefitted my students, which is wonderful, but what about benefitting me professionally as a leader?  In the past when I’ve been very intentional about reflecting on a regular basis I could always look back and see how I was able to influence others, how I enhanced my instruction, how I progressed professionally, and how I was evolving as a leader in my district. Again, I can rationalize all the changes which prevented me from reflecting: a new job, finishing two more master’s endorsements, keeping up with my family responsibilities, etc.  But, let’s be honest! I could have taken 15-30 minutes a week to put my thoughts, ideas, questions, and concerns in writing. However, I didn’t! Now’s the time to change that….again!

While writing this post I have formulated a plan to meet my goal….  I will place reminders to reflect in my electronic calendar, in my lesson plan book, and on my bulletin board!  These visual reminders will be a catalyst to intentionally reflect on a more regular basis. And my overall goal is for these reflections to benefit me as I continue to strive to grow as a professional leader.  I may not write a regular post for this blog, however between my personal journal and this blog, I WILL reflect on a more continuous basis!

In my last post, I wrote that I planned to choose to be an Awesomizer.  I was going to be intentional about being a positive person, one who didn’t complain and someone who chose to find the good in any and all situations. That has been challenging in the past three weeks—ok, to be exact, the past 25 days.

Twenty-five days ago I was notified that my position as an instructional coach was being RIF’d! Reduction in Force is a phrase that put fear in my heart and made my stomach drop to the floor. My position as an instructional coach was being discussed at the next school board meeting as a position that could/would be eliminated for the following year. Seriously? I knew that we were facing a budget crisis, but MY position? Me? What did this mean? What would happen to me? Where would I be next year? So many questions rolled through my mind and just as many emotions washed over me on a continuous basis.

The primary focus of my job is to work with new teachers —those that are new to the profession and those that have previous experience, yet are new to our district. I LOVE my job! I love going to work every day! I enjoy watching my new teachers teach. It’s amazing to watch them improve their craft significantly in such a short time. I feel like a proud parent! I am inspired when meeting with them to discuss the progress they are making, co-planning instructional strategies they plan to implement, or deciding which curricular area(s) they want as their focus. It also makes my day when they share the highlights and frustrations of their week and can reflect on what they did (or didn’t do) to influence those highs and lows. I won’t have the opportunity to do this next year, and that makes me sad. I won’t be able to support them as they struggle, nor celebrate with them when they experience successes, and that makes me sad. I’m grieving the loss of my position, yet I NEED to choose to be an Awesomizer. It will only bring me (and others I’m around) down if I’m an Awfulizer and it doesn’t change the situation—it only makes me feel worse!

However, the emotional highs and lows have lessened, and my questions have been answered since the decision was reached to place me in the position of an elementary Title 1 Math teacher for next year. Whew, what a relief! I have intentionally chosen to reinforce my Awesomizer attitude. I still have four months of awesome meetings and classroom visits. I still have four months of opportunities to have a positive influence on these teachers! I intend to remember every day that I am an instructional leader, and although I won’t be an instructional coach next year, I WILL find ways to continue to be a positive influence on colleagues and students.