Did you notice the back-to-school sales in the stores actually begin in early August? Yes, it's amazing how big these sales are...I heard on the radio that it's actually the third largest retail season of the year. Part of it is that stores want to get shoppers back into the stores to start buying for the holidays after a long summer of buying lots of food for parties. However, the other part is that parents have to keep up with their kids who have grown so much because of the sunshine and the time for play over the summer! Just last week, I overheard a young girl talking to her mother about style when trying on new clothes at a department store, "That shirt's no good, Mom! That's something I might have worn last year in 3rd Grade, but not now."
Kids' bodies outgrow their clothes, but so do their personalities. So each year, they make the annual pilgrimage to clothing stores and reinvent themselves. Sometimes, we teachers talk about how great it is that each September affords us new opportunities to reinvent who we are professionally. It's for this exact reason that I want to offer you these five ways to make over your practice this September.
Kids' bodies outgrow their clothes, but so do their personalities. So each year, they make the annual pilgrimage to clothing stores and reinvent themselves. Sometimes, we teachers talk about how great it is that each September affords us new opportunities to reinvent who we are professionally. It's for this exact reason that I want to offer you these five ways to make over your practice this September.
1. Set up your classroom differently. One of the reasons kids get new clothes each fall is to reflect that they're different...a little more grown up than before. Our physical appearance projects who we are on the inside. As you set up your classroom, imagine 1-2 things you can do differently. It's not because the old way was wrong, but because it's an easy way to sort of splurge on yourself. You might want to set up your meeting area in a different corner of your room, arrange your desks and tables in a new way, or change up that September bulletin board you've used for years, just to make things a bit fresher. You might find that moving things around changes the chemistry of your classroom. Think about the proximity of you to your students. Think of what is at the center of your room, as that takes importance like an altar. Think of where students' materials are and where only teacher-accessed materials are. Set things up to make the room as child-centered as possible.
2. Choose a colleague you'd like to study something with. This can be a coach, someone on your grade level, or someone on a different grade level. Choose something in your teaching you'd like to explore together. It doesn't have to be a topic that you feel is a weakness. It can be something that transcends a discipline like conversation, partnerships, assessments, writing as a means for developing thought, independence, differentiation, or concrete and abstract relationships. It can take many forms...in-class coaching, a book study, a PLC where you look at student work together, or anything else. You might choose this to be a mutual partnership where you both are relatively equal in your expertise, or more of a mentorship, where one of you is more of an expert. The what and the who and the how are secondary to the why: you're doing this to bring new meaning to your teaching...and that's less lonely and more invigorating, less scary and more exciting when you have a learning friend along for the ride!
3. Take something you're comfortable with, and blow the roof off of it. Carefully examine some aspect of your teaching with which you are already comfortable and redefine it. For example, you might feel comfortable with conferring. If that's the case, decide that this is going to be the year where you go from being a good conferrer to the master conferrer. Name three things about conferring that are still not polished and dive right in. Read up on the areas within conferring (or whatever) that can still feel new, even if they're old. Decide to tackle this area of your teaching as if it were brand new, and your teaching will feel more alive than ever! What's better is that you'll be able to renew and improve something that was already a strength of yours. You might be thinking, "Why bother? Why should I work on something I'm already good at?" That's exactly why! The best changes are built on foundations of strength. Hang on to those and you'll see the rippling impact they have on other aspects of your teaching...and maybe even on the teaching of your colleagues.
4. Keep a professional writer's notebook. Some of the teachers at Stony Lane are doing this as their PIP this year. Teachers pull off smaller miracles all the time. Think of a child in your career who helped define your work...who reaffirmed to you the reason that you became a teacher in the first place...the one who you really taught the heck out of, and it stuck. Think of a child whose attitude you changed about reading and writing, about school, about himself and imagine how much easier your path would have been with a road map (that's what old people used to call a GPS). Just like we tell our students, keeping a notebook gives us the opportunity to possibly publish and share our stories with others, but in professional writing that can be a simple memoir, an article, a blog, or possibly something more (I'm talking about the "B" word!) When we write about the things we do, when we document the success stories we are living, we do some very important things. One is that we share the story so that others can learn from it and possibly help other kids as well. Another is that when we write about our processes, we solidify our own understandings of them as well. That is the truest form of professional development out there!!
5. Finally, go public with whatever you're doing. Sometimes, people share with friends and family that they're going on a diet, because it keeps them more accountable. The same is true with learning. Share with colleagues some of the plans you have for your own growth this year. Tell them how you plan on being a different teacher this year. Sit your class down and talk to them about your own learning. It will make you more human and make everything you tell them about learning all year seem more authentic, because you are walking the walk. I often find that stating these goals in the form of a promise to your students makes it more real. It will give you the courage to keep going on with your goals this year!
So, as I sit here after 10pm on the night before we officially report back for a new school year, thinking about all of you and the magic that's about to happen in the next 10 months, excited for you, worried for all of us a bit, that's my wish for you. Make this September the best one yet. Put yourself in the role of learner. You and your students deserve no less!! Happy New Year!!
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