Aspirational school day mornings:
1. wake up by 5am
2. the tv remote is in logical location, and I do some yoga (20 min)
3. morning writing. the writing is for me for now. maybe one day i will get rich and famous writing books. not the point.
4. shower, dress, war paint
5. breakfast for kids is being lovingly prepared by doting husband, balancing out the fact that i have evening duty solo every night he is in school.
6. coffee, lunch box preparation.
7. walk out the door by 6:45
This morning I woke up and decided to start with yoga, but I couldn't find the remote. First instinct was two shades to the left of blow up the house and everyone in it. Reading the book something confrontation, Buddhist based teachings on how not to lose your ever-loving mind when annoying shit or people happen to you. Now I am writing it out instead of taking it out on my family. Today is going to be phenomenal. So much to say and write about!
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Monday, August 13, 2018
Routines
The thing I am most excited for this year is the daily routine outlined in 180 Days that ensures I read and write with kids every day. I realize I may need to experiment a bit with the order that I do some things, but essentially I am committed to daily sacred reading and writing time. And this leads me to think about how I can increase my efficiency in other areas of my life. If I get up at 4:30 every day of the week, I could do some writing of my own every morning and fit in some light yoga/stretching/meditation time. The daily writing would help me fulfill my need to journal and work out my personal and professional angst and the daily yoga would be amazing for my mood, health, and over-all well being.
Someone (a teacher person) said something to me that I had said to myself last year, almost like a mantra, and that was: I just have to accept that I can't get everything done. Just accept it. What a shitty mantra for the year. What resignation of at least partial failure. Rather than repeat that defeatist sentiment every day, I would rather think about what is in my control and how I can structure my time most effectively and efficiently. And so much of this work has already been done for me, thanks to Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher.
4am Wake Up: Write for 30 minutes. Yoga and meditation for 30 min. Shower, coffee, make breakfast and lunch.
Every day I need to leave the house by 6:44. (Not 45, dammit) That will get me to work by 7:15-20. I will have time to write down the daily objective/agenda, tidy up and make sure my classroom looks good, and put my lunch and other items away.
7:30- Daily PLC meeting. I am a little apprehensive about this time, but that is only because I worry about teachers complaining. Actually, this time forces teachers to be ready for the day ahead before 7:30...as we should be! I am guilty of this for sure, but if I am coming to work with that much of my planning in the balance, I am not going to be most effective. Naturally, I want to be responsive to what kids need, but my skeleton plan needs to be in place: ie. copies of mentor texts/class-selected texts sent to the printshop, Lead4ward blueprint activities, etc. Short mini-lessons shouldn't include making copies really.
1st-period conference: Sending out parent emails. Find out how to email all my parents in a blast. Introduce myself and email as our best form of communication, but also give my phone number. Send monthly emails/biweekly emails to inform parents of important dates, tutoring times, and ongoing expectations re: reading and homework. (10 min)
Meet with Samantha to plan/type in lesson plans, send materials to print shop, create manipulatives, etc. Take time to reflect on the things that worked and didn't work in the previous day's lessons. Track our data for the action research project.
What could make my life easier:
-Bento lunch boxes to pre-pack lunches for the week for Maggie.
-Instapot will help me make easy one-pot meals during the week so I can come home and watch the news and give the brain a rest
-do one load of laundry every night
-write every morning and reflect on what is and what is not working, so I can refine my routines and respond in a rational and measured way. Instead of reacting, freaking out, making excuses, etc.
Eddie has been struggling with anxiety lately. At bedtime, when it's time to say goodnight, he is trembling and crying, begging me to sleep with him. The good thing about this is, I have reinstituted novel reading with him at night. The...not bad thing, but trying thing is the work it takes to calm him down. But of course, I am also benefitting from these talks. I decided to be honest about what happened to Lindsey because I used it as a teachable moment. She struggled with anxiety as a youth. And the course of action taken by her dad was to medicate. Without therapy. Without the coping skills to deal with her feelings or understand what she was experiencing. It's just the family curse. Here's a pill.
It would be great if medication and alcohol could solve the problem of unpleasant feelings, but they don't. My daily Lexapro doesn't solve the problem, just smooths the frazzled fibers of my brain and allows me to use my other strategies. So I told Eddie last night, here are all of the things I am doing to help you: reading to you at night, listening to you, loving you, feeding you healthy food, arranging for you to go with Jaxon tomorrow. But I can't do it for you. If I slept with you every night, I would be conceding that there is, in fact, something to fear, but there isn't. I believe that you are strong enough to overcome this anxiety. You have done it before. You will do it again. You are not alone, so don't stop telling me what you are going through and expressing yourself. But you will be ok. You are loved. You are stronger than you know.
And he slept through the night and did not wake us up. Maggie may have peed on the side of my bed in the middle of the night, but that's another issue.
Basically, I can do a tremendous amount every day. There is freedom in routine and responsibility. Avoiding these things- like the less attractive parts of our jobs and relationship/personal responsibilities- distracts from our greater purpose and wears down our ability to be effective. Rather than thinking about "doing it all" which sounds Herculean and sort of martyr-ish, I want to think of it as experimenting with routine. The belief that I can do it is firm, and failure is not personal. I can apply logic to solve my problems. I can do it. I can do incredible things. If I try.
Someone (a teacher person) said something to me that I had said to myself last year, almost like a mantra, and that was: I just have to accept that I can't get everything done. Just accept it. What a shitty mantra for the year. What resignation of at least partial failure. Rather than repeat that defeatist sentiment every day, I would rather think about what is in my control and how I can structure my time most effectively and efficiently. And so much of this work has already been done for me, thanks to Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher.
4am Wake Up: Write for 30 minutes. Yoga and meditation for 30 min. Shower, coffee, make breakfast and lunch.
Every day I need to leave the house by 6:44. (Not 45, dammit) That will get me to work by 7:15-20. I will have time to write down the daily objective/agenda, tidy up and make sure my classroom looks good, and put my lunch and other items away.
7:30- Daily PLC meeting. I am a little apprehensive about this time, but that is only because I worry about teachers complaining. Actually, this time forces teachers to be ready for the day ahead before 7:30...as we should be! I am guilty of this for sure, but if I am coming to work with that much of my planning in the balance, I am not going to be most effective. Naturally, I want to be responsive to what kids need, but my skeleton plan needs to be in place: ie. copies of mentor texts/class-selected texts sent to the printshop, Lead4ward blueprint activities, etc. Short mini-lessons shouldn't include making copies really.
1st-period conference: Sending out parent emails. Find out how to email all my parents in a blast. Introduce myself and email as our best form of communication, but also give my phone number. Send monthly emails/biweekly emails to inform parents of important dates, tutoring times, and ongoing expectations re: reading and homework. (10 min)
Meet with Samantha to plan/type in lesson plans, send materials to print shop, create manipulatives, etc. Take time to reflect on the things that worked and didn't work in the previous day's lessons. Track our data for the action research project.
What could make my life easier:
-Bento lunch boxes to pre-pack lunches for the week for Maggie.
-Instapot will help me make easy one-pot meals during the week so I can come home and watch the news and give the brain a rest
-do one load of laundry every night
-write every morning and reflect on what is and what is not working, so I can refine my routines and respond in a rational and measured way. Instead of reacting, freaking out, making excuses, etc.
Eddie has been struggling with anxiety lately. At bedtime, when it's time to say goodnight, he is trembling and crying, begging me to sleep with him. The good thing about this is, I have reinstituted novel reading with him at night. The...not bad thing, but trying thing is the work it takes to calm him down. But of course, I am also benefitting from these talks. I decided to be honest about what happened to Lindsey because I used it as a teachable moment. She struggled with anxiety as a youth. And the course of action taken by her dad was to medicate. Without therapy. Without the coping skills to deal with her feelings or understand what she was experiencing. It's just the family curse. Here's a pill.
It would be great if medication and alcohol could solve the problem of unpleasant feelings, but they don't. My daily Lexapro doesn't solve the problem, just smooths the frazzled fibers of my brain and allows me to use my other strategies. So I told Eddie last night, here are all of the things I am doing to help you: reading to you at night, listening to you, loving you, feeding you healthy food, arranging for you to go with Jaxon tomorrow. But I can't do it for you. If I slept with you every night, I would be conceding that there is, in fact, something to fear, but there isn't. I believe that you are strong enough to overcome this anxiety. You have done it before. You will do it again. You are not alone, so don't stop telling me what you are going through and expressing yourself. But you will be ok. You are loved. You are stronger than you know.
And he slept through the night and did not wake us up. Maggie may have peed on the side of my bed in the middle of the night, but that's another issue.
Basically, I can do a tremendous amount every day. There is freedom in routine and responsibility. Avoiding these things- like the less attractive parts of our jobs and relationship/personal responsibilities- distracts from our greater purpose and wears down our ability to be effective. Rather than thinking about "doing it all" which sounds Herculean and sort of martyr-ish, I want to think of it as experimenting with routine. The belief that I can do it is firm, and failure is not personal. I can apply logic to solve my problems. I can do it. I can do incredible things. If I try.
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