I left being a classroom teacher four years ago to join the brave souls in the world of administration. Since then, I have continuously feared for the day that I will lose touch with the reality of being a classroom teacher. I never want to be the kind of leader who you hear teachers say "she has no idea what we're doing every day" or "she doesn't get it, she hasn't been a teacher in ___ years" or even worse, "she only taught for 8 years, what does she even know about teaching anyways."
These words haunt my daily thoughts, and perhaps that is one of the reasons I try to ask my teacher friends about what's really going on in the life of a teacher. I have tried my best to listen intently to what they're saying so that I can apply my work to theirs. I have also made it a point to advocate for the real life work of teachers; understanding that sometimes what's conceived at the district level, isn't always realistic in teacher world.
When I was teaching I would always keep a running list near my desk of "Things To Change Next Year." This list would often include things like:
-at supply drop off, have a brown paper bag already labeled with each child's name to put their supplies in
-move the word wall to the right side wall under the clock
-take more pictures and videos of students engaged in classroom work
-use the bulletin board at the front to hang anchor charts to be utilized by students
-put the kidney shaped table under the window
-spend less time on letter names, and more time on sílabas
-teach rhyming in English later in the year
-send home their writing journals at the end of each month for parents to look through
-etc
-etc
While this list was helpful for planning for the following year, the items listed were not ones that required a lot of thought or reflection, nor did they challenge me to change my beliefs. These minuscule items we tend to list are important to our overall day to day teaching, but they are not the types of items that push us out of our comfort zones and into deep and meaningful conversations about instructional practices.
Now that my line of work has shifted away from a direct leadership position to a provider of professional development and technical assistance, I am finding myself thinking about the real life work of teachers even more, and how I can engage them in thought provoking conversations about instruction. What strategies can I share that will enhance their instructional practices? What topics are at the forefront right now and need attention from a bilingual perspective? What trends have I seen/heard about that need some tweaking and improvement? How I can help teachers make a greater impact in their students' lives? How can I make a greater impact in teachers' lives?
In trying to answer these questions I have developed a list of things I would do differently if I were a classroom teacher right now. By reflecting on my own practices as a teacher, I hope to inspire others to think about some of the practices that they are doing, or have done for years, that maybe need an adjustment. So... read my list below and start to think about what your list will look like for next year.
1. Stop spending all my energy (and money) at the beginning of the school year to make my classroom look "cute".
I used to spend days, not hours, but days, during the week before school started hanging up every coordinating decoration for whatever cheesy theme I was doing that year, arranging the furniture, and making sure the book bins were all labeled, and so on and so forth. But what I didn't do enough of was get to know my students thoroughly. I was so concerned about making my room as cute as the one next door, that I began to lose sight of the real reason why I was there. Instead of spending a whole day hanging up the word wall, I could have spent that time calling each child's family and asking them questions about their student. I could have double checked how to pronounce their child's name, asked about any concerns they had, and just spent a few minutes making a connection with the people who I needed in my corner as the year went on: the families. The rest of the stuff will come together eventually.
2. Get rid of that darn behavior clip chart!
Like many elementary teachers, I had the typical clip chart of many colors and students would move up and down the chart throughout the day as their behavior fluctuated. Instead of the clip chart, I would now spend more time talking to students about their actions and helping them grow as individuals. I would stop singling them out in front of their peers when they did something wrong. They're kids! They're going to make mistakes just like we do. Let's think more about what the traditional school behavior systems are doing to our kids. Let's talk about the culture of school and whether what we're asking of students is appropriate or even necessary. Let's think about our adult jobs for a minute. How would you feel being called out during a faculty meeting for all the stuff you're doing wrong? What if you had to get up and move your clip down? How would that impact your day to day performance at work?
3. Start making positive pre-suppositions about every student.
How many times have you started the school year already knowing bits and pieces about particular students? The previous years teacher told you who's behavior to watch out for, or who's low and had already been getting invention, or who's parents aren't involved and won't come to anything. It's usually negative information we're fed about the students who will be walking into our classrooms. Rarely, if ever, do we stop the person giving us this information and say, "I appreciate your advice, but I would rather start the year with a fresh perspective on every student. I will come talk to you if I need more information later on. Right now, I'm choosing to start with a positive pre-supposition about every student." If we said those words, and really meant them, I bet our students would surprise us. I bet we would see that a positive outlook on each student, will yield more positive results.
4. Develop strong learner profiles for my students.
I have been doing a lot of digging into personalized learning and one of the main components of every personalized learning framework is a strong learner profile. The more we know about our students, the better we will be able to provide instruction. I don't mean just learning more about their reading levels and how many math facts they know. I mean, getting deep into knowing who are students are as people and as learners. What is it like for them outside of school? What languages are spoken at home, with whom, and in what capacity? What is the student interested in? What motivates them? What are their goals? Gathering this information, in a more culturally and linguistically appropriate manner of course, will lead us to be more capable of providing personalized instruction for each student. If I had the opportunity, I would spend more time learning about my students and less time spoon feeding them information I assumed they needed.
5. Dedicate time to have one on one conferences with each student, minimally twice a month.
Another critical attribute to personalized learning that I have found is one on one conferences with students. Time to discuss progress, set goals, and talk about next steps in their learning. I think an important feature of conferencing with students is the ability to get to know them more in depth. I know said in #4 I would develop comprehensive learner profiles, and this is one of the means to doing so. It is also a means to developing connections with students, listening to their concerns and just being a loving and caring adult in their lives. We take for granted that many of our students do not always get the opportunity to share how they're feeling and what's going on in their lives. Not only would one on one conferences help me understand my students more, but I believe it would also aid in classroom management procedures. Since I won't have a clip chart, I'll need some way to talk to students.
6. Make positive phone calls home, no really, I mean it.
This has been on my "Next Year To Do" list many times. I start the year with the greatest intentions, but never actually get around to making those phone calls. I might start with a positive note here and there, but it quickly fades. I think part of the reason I steered away from parent phone calls unless absolutely necessary was my language confidence. A lot of my families were Spanish speakers, and while I was confident in my Spanish abilities teaching the kiddos, I was far from confident when I had to engage in phone calls and I couldn't read facial cues. However, in my more recent role as an administrator I had to make a lot of parent phone calls, and I no longer care as much about whether or not my Spanish is "perfect." Maybe that has come with experience, or age, or maybe I just care less about what other people think of me. Either way, I know how excited parents get when they hear positive words about their child. More communication with families is never a bad thing. I would also try to avoid the negative behavior phone calls home as well.
7. Engage my colleagues in deeper conversations about learning during our PLC time.
Ahh PLC team... a time when we are supposed to collaboratively learn together as professionals. A sanctioned time that had previously been for grade levels to get together after school and discuss what lesson we were all on, what field trip was coming up, and who was bringing in snacks for the school social next week. This coveted teacher collaboration time has made some evolution towards talking about student data and how to structure interventions and enrichment. Teachers are also beginning to share strategies for teaching specific standards and skills. But what is still missing from the PLC is the deep meaningful conversation. When do we talk about the reasons why "The New Math" is actually more beneficial to learning problem solving skills? When do we talk about the fact that we are constantly talking about managing student behavior, but doing nothing to foster the creativity students bring to school? When do we professionally argue about whether or not grouping kids by guiding reading level is even effective for increasing students' reading abilities? These are the types of conversations I wish I'd engaged my colleagues in. Talking about harder hitting topics is what's going to help us grow as educators.
8. Get involved more in the community.
Finally, if given the chance to return to the classroom, I want to get more involved in the community. I use the excuse that I don't have kids so I don't go to those events, or I live in the town over so I don't know what's going on. They're excuses for me to be lazy. But the reality of it is, our students LOVE seeing us out in public (OK most of them do). How nice would it be to connect with students personally through shared experiences. This means taking a step out of my comfort zone and participating in activities that are not necessarily part of my cultural background. But really, who cares if I'm the sole güerita at an event. My students will love it and so will I. Additionally, how can we expect families of students in dual language programs to participate in cross-cultural activities if we're not willing to do so ourselves. I would also stop whining about having to stay late at school for various night events. These events are for the families. These are the people we need with us through the education process. If the only time they come to school is during the book fair, great! Let's use that as an opportunity to connect.
So there you have it. My list of 8 things I would do differently if I were a classroom teacher right now. I might start doing more of #8 anyways, because well, it's just good citizenship.
I would love to hear what your lists would include. If there are any topics you want to discuss further, don't hesitate to hit me up!
Gracias por leer :)