Hi Community,
Happy October. Happy Latinx Heritage Month. Happy FilAm History Month! I hope you all have been honoring your work boundaries, resting, and intentionally making space for joy in your learning spaces. I am beyond grateful that I had this past week off. I’m feeling rested and ready to tackle Quarter 2.
TEACHING NON-NEGOTIABLES //
Here are some simple yet important teacher moves I prioritize daily:
Greet every student. Say “hi” and “good morning,” give fist bumps, elbow bumps, and/or hug them! (Obviously use discretion)
Start each learning period by asking students how they are and give them multiple ways to respond. Ex: journaling, sharing with a classmate and/or whole-class, etc. I typically play music while students do their Do Now, go over our charter, announcements, and reminders, then we do a group share.
Circulate and check in with students throughout a learning period. Celebrate, acknowledge, and see your students. Go up to them and say “what’s up” and “how’s it going?” Check-ins should not just be corrective.
Include multiple opportunities during a period for students to interact with one another and practice speaking and listening. This should include a combination of content-specific conversations/academic discourse as well as informal SEL talk and chatting. Interrupt worship of the written word!
Allot time for brain breaks and movement breaks. Interrupt sense of urgency!
CULTURE MATERIALS //
Early September, I posted: “Building a community and tending to it are two different things. The latter must be intentional, sustained, and done in partnership with students of the learning community. Partnership is asking for student feedback, engaging in dialogue, seeking clarity, making time, communicating, and involving students in the decisions that impact them. White supremacy culture and capitalist culture will have you second-guessing the need, purpose, and power of building and tending the community. Interrupt this thinking.” I firmly believe this and push teachers to engage in this type of work regardless of their content. We must make the time. Here are some materials that my students have engaged in. I included a survey students took before going on October Break. Feel free to make copies.
Q&A //
Q: How do you welcome students back who have been out for quarantine?
A: One of the hardest things about teaching this year is managing student absences. I can’t say that my students have necessarily been out because of quarantining; however, with any type of absence it is important to welcome kids back, intentionally check in, and see what learning they may have missed. Welcoming students back should never be about making everything up. Instead, it should be about reconnecting, clarifying or re-teaching expectations, and easing students back in.Q: Have you thought about taking a break from teaching?
A: This is my ninth year in the classroom and it’s been incredibly challenging. I’ve cried more and have had more mental breakdowns this year than I have in previous years. I share that because I know I’m not alone and want to normalize talking about the stress, grief, and tensions we hold as educators. With all that said, I haven’t thought about leaving. I will say that I’ve been more intentional than ever with my boundaries and self-care (therapy, acupuncture, and movement). I’ve taken PTO and sick days and have days scheduled for PTO. We have to pour into ourselves to be able to pour into our learning communities.Q: Do you have any tips for new teachers on how to manage time?
A: Use alarms/timers on your phone to remind you of different tasks (ex: lunch, recess duty, or being at a designated post at a specific time), calendar events on Outlook or Gmail (ex: protected time for lesson planning or unit planning), use your prep periods to prep (!), set hard cut offs for when you will stop working including texting back, responding to emails, taking calls, planning, and giving feedback, create a weekly schedule, and use post-its (for your laptop).
Planning to send out another newsletter before the end of the month. Take care.
In community,
Ms. Kawi
PS: Excuse the typos ;)