My post this week was ready to be typed and sent out. I will send it out next week. It focuses on Restorative Practices. I was all set to do that on Tuesday morning. When I awakened to alerts and buzzers from my Tennessee numbers, I assumed it was a “snow day” alert and sent happy thoughts to my colleagues back up north. Then in my sleepy state, I saw a text message from a friend in northern Ohio that said “Are you ok?” Confused, I opened my Newschannel5.com page to learn of the tornado that struck Nashville in the wee hours of the night.

My first thoughts were of my mom and my daughter. I knew that if my Mom was ok, then she could look outside to make sure my daughter’s car was in the drive (they live in the same building). My mother had been sleeping and my daughter had actually checked in with her Grandmother during the night. Daughter had come home after work instead of venturing out with friends.

First sigh of relief. I then turned on the live coverage. The devastation as the sun came up was heartbreaking. The buildings that were destroyed and the stunned looks of citizens standing outside of piles of rubble are scenes that will stick with me for a long time.

I regularly watch the news and see when natural disasters strike other communities and make comments like, “That’s horrible” or “How sad!” Or even “Those poor people!” I might even make a donation or send items to a friend that lives in the area, like with the floods in Houston. This was different though. This was home.

These are the streets I traveled. The homes where my students live. The businesses I watched grow and change. The people I worked with, grew up with, and stayed in touch with. This time it was my community.

Tennesseans are a unique group. While there are “Three Grand Divisions” that separate us, and the culture of each division differs a bit, the nickname “Volunteer” runs deeply through all of us and we take it seriously. As the sun rose, my Facebook feed immediately began to fill with “organizers.” The people who are angels in our midst who can mobilize and immediately get responses. They know how to get people organized and get help to those who need it immediately. Many homes of students in North Nashville were hit or without power. Those were the homes of “our” students. The ones who travel across town and most of their families are struggling with poverty. Our Community Achieves liaison (and resident Angel) Maggie Dicks had a post up organizing food and supplies to our families. There were teachers calling families and assessing needs, and ways for people to begin donating and dropping supplies at the school’s door. By late morning, they knew our students who were affected, what their immediate needs were, and planned to serve a hot lunch and deliver supplies. They gave hugs and reassurances to a neighborhood that often gets forgotten about and is the last served by the city. Another of our Angels, Jennifer Ruben, also had an immediate post for donations. She was already recognizing that the organization she has helped for years, Unicycle, would be called upon for clothing, shoes, and jackets. She was not only posting immediate needs by 8am, but the other needs of the community. She offered to pick them up, deliver them, sort them, and gave direction to other community members as well.

My social media feed was full of this. Friends and strangers with trucks, winches, and chainsaws. Citizens with bottles of water and blankets. Donations for food and toiletries rolling in. Maggie said she had received $2500 in donations in just that morning. Two days later, it’s still full of places people can volunteer items, time, food, and money. This community of people is like no other. There are four schools having to move classrooms to other buildings and be ready to receive children who return to classes on Monday. That’s happening now as I write this. While this is daunting and scary, I know that there are people who turned out today, and will continue to turn out all weekend. They will be prepared for Monday. There will be glitches in transportation, but it won’t be because there weren’t enough volunteers. You can’t outsource logistics! What I do know is that people will be understanding and patient..and KIND! It’s amazing at a time when we see so much anger and hatred, that KINDNESS is still what we value most!

It’s hard for me to write all of this from my home in Florida. I’ve sent money. I’ve shared post after post. I’ve contacted people and made calls. It’s difficult to watch as your friends and community suffers.

Whenever disaster strikes, people of Nashville step up. Nashville flooded in 2010. It came back stronger than ever. I’ve seen numerous posts of how strangers turned out to help someone then, and they feel the need to make sure to “pass it on.” It’s the culture of this city. No matter how many “tall skinnies” are built or how many condos and cranes dot our skyline. This city bounced back from the floods of 2010, from the tornado of 1998, and from the ice storm of 1994.

Nashville 2020 will do the same.

To offer help or support schools and teachers, contact MNEA @615-726-1499 or go to MNEA.com To offer support locally, contact Gideon’s Army, Samaritan’s Purse, Lee Chapel Church, or The Nashville Food Project. All of these organizations are helping families locally from ALL neighborhoods.

I think we can all agree that classrooms today look very different than the classrooms of 30 years ago full of Gen X students. My core classes, for the most part, consisted of our teacher standing in the front of the room, explaining a lesson, and then I would work at my desk to demonstrate my learning by writing a paragraph or working a math problem. It wasn’t until high school chemistry class where I actually got to do something with my hands. Even then, the steps to follow were outlined for our labs. “School” consisted of a teacher who gave us the info, and as a student it was my job to demonstrate that I understood. I was a good student. I did my work. I paid attention in class. I was a traditional student in a traditional classroom setting. However, it didn’t occur to me until many years later when I was teaching that not everyone was the same type of student. What happened to the learners in my classes that were struggling readers? What happened when students struggled with math? Our Science and Social Studies consisted of reading from a textbook answering questions at the end of a chapter, and taking a test. Basically, it was just another reading class and for a struggling reader, it probably wasn’t very enjoyable.

Not enjoyable…until we went to “specials.” Related arts, related studies….whatever your school calls them. In college, they are electives, but really they are classes where ANYONE can excel! In fact, I don’t know that I was ever as proud of myself as when I accomplished something in one of my related arts classes. Creating a piece of art, designing a house, building a lamp, following a recipe and baking a delicious cookie, or speaking a sentence in a foreign language were some of the best times in school. Even PE. I was not the fastest and I was never chosen first. I loathed PE until high school. I loved dance fitness and gymnastics and so our PE teacher would let me lead the warm ups. I doubt she realized it. As I think back, it was probably because I was in the front row and ALWAYS participated, but that small act encouraged me to try all of the sports thrown at me that year. Football, tennis, badminton, volleyball, basketball….all the sports that year I felt like I could try because a teacher encouraged me in a different way. I began moving more at home and exercising on my own. The following year I chose a weight-lifting class instead of standard PE. Throughout my adult life I have always come back to exercise. Part of it is because of the endorphins, but could it also because a teacher believed in me and gave me a push and encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone? I think so. I think that when we are challenged in a different way, sometimes we realize our true potential. I’m not a world-class athlete. I’m not a competitive athlete, but I’m most confident in an exercise class! Disclaimer: That doesn’t mean I’m the best dancer though!

Several years ago, Project-based Learning became all-the-rage in districts around the country. I am always fascinated to know the lingo of the “next big thing” in education. It’s usually something good teachers have done for years, repackaged and branded! Project-Based Learning, or PBL, is a style of teaching and learning that has been researched and developed further by the Buck Institute for Education. This non-profit is now called PBL Works, but its mission involves supporting teachers to design and implement learning that meets the needs and motivates a diverse group of learners. While this isn’t the first time projects were used to guide learning. This is the first organization to research methods and materials to use projects in a more meaningful way and present it to districts. Teachers of various subjects work together to plan a project where students create their own learning opportunities. The teacher is just the guide. This is VERY different from the way my reading and math teacher taught, but it isn’t very different from my related arts classes! PBL was EXACTLY what my 7th grade related arts classes were doing. In fact, I am going to reach out to some of my peers from that year and ask what they remember about 7th grade and I’ll bet you’ll see some of the same responses about related arts! I’ll do this on my Teaching and Beaching Facebook page!

In 7th grade our related arts classes were on a 9-week rotation, which made it a pain for the teachers since our year was broken into 6-week reporting periods! I had to take a class called Industrial Arts. It was taught by Mr. Centimole (haven’t seen him since then, but I remember his name!). He introduced us to architecture and the tools that architects use when creating a design for a home. It was so fascinating and I was turned on to a whole new world of creativity. He gave us the background, but then our project was to use what we had learned to create and design a home. He gave us the parameters, but we had to rely on ourselves to complete the project. I loved going to his class and feeling like I was working towards something, like I was creating a masterpiece. I had to include my math skills, I had to be able to read charts and graphs, I had to be able to communicate what was in my head onto paper, and to seek out the answers when I had questions. It was probably the most challenging thing I’d done in school at that time, but I finished it and I received a decent grade on it if memory serves me correctly! Am I currently an architect? No, I’m nowhere near an architect. However, can I read a schematic and understand a design? You bet! Did I feel good and accomplished after that 9-week class? Absolutely! I also remember the amazing drawings I did in Art, the baking I did in Home Economics, and the Latin roots and artists I learned in a class called Foreign Language Survey (I have never seen this class reproduced anywhere!). These classes were hands-on, creative, and appealed to ALL types of learners.

Not too many years later, those classes were cut due to “budget constraints.” I’m still wondering how we continue to think public schools are for EVERYONE when we don’t teach for ALL types of learners! It makes me so angry that classes that sparked passion and interest, even after 35 years, aren’t important enough to include for children that NEED these types of classes. Schools have to scrape for art classes, music classes, and band. PE also comes out of this budget. As for supplies…well, that’s why so many fundraisers are needed and why so many organizations, like Donors Choose and LP Pencil Box (MNPS), are important.

.

Unfortunately, these types of classes aren’t a priority for districts. If research shows that we all learn in different ways, why then are we only using one or two programs to teach reading and math? Why are we only testing using standardized tests? This has never made sense to me. We tell teachers to be creative, but you can only use this program. We know that people learn in many different ways, but we only measure learning “officially” in one way. Then to top it all off, part of a teacher’s evaluation (and in some places their income) is based on that test. Meanwhile, students are becoming more and more frustrated with school. Districts should really think about how our students learn best and realize that we already have everything we need before they go and spend millions of dollars on the next boxed program.

We also have lawmakers who continue to figure out ways to siphon money away from public education in the name of “failing schools.” How about we put all of these funds back into the public schools and support the structures we already have! This exercise in “backscratching” by public officials and trying to pass it off as “what’s best for kids” turns my stomach and is destroying what little creativity and autonomy is left in our schools. It’s part of the reason these types of Related Arts classes are cut and the ones that are left have huge class sizes. You can’t be as creative in an art class of 32. If you’ve never taught, there’s a bigger difference between 20 and 30. It’s obvious which lawmakers have never stepped foot in a classroom when they say that having 36 students is as easy to prepare for as 20! Even with a second adult in the room, it’s a nightmare! Don’t believe me? Go try it!

PBL isn’t a new concept, but it does change the game in the classroom for your students. It isn’t a boxed program, and you don’t have to pay a fee to access the website. A simple internet search will turn up lots of articles, projects, and ideas to get you started. Not everything you teach can be part of a PBL and I know there’s no bubble sheet that it can be measured on. However, the idea is to give kids confidence in their learning, to know how to apply their learning, and to help them view learning in a different way. One of my favorite projects that I did with students in my classroom involved creating their own arcade game! I had seen a video on YouTube about a kid that turned his father’s auto parts store into an arcade with games made from cardboard boxes. The story went viral from this documentary and a flash mob showed up one day setting in motion not only a movement and foundation, but changing the trajectory of a 9-year-old’s life. Watch Caine’s Arcade. I used the video as a jumping-off point. How could we create a fun environment for learning without adding to the environmental problems? The students researched different types of games and how they worked and designed their own games, built totally out of recycled materials. The students had to teach a concept we had learned about in Science, and they had to share it with an audience. It was the BEST project I had ever created. The students worked in small groups of their choosing. They designed their game. They brought in materials from home. They integrated knowledge and they created prizes. On the day of the presentation, we invited other classes to our arcade and the students had to work out a plan so that everyone had a shift, because they wanted to see what everyone else had created! Also worth mentioning is the lack of discipline issues I had all during this project. When students are engaged, their focus is on their task, not what they’re missing out on!

Finding new ways to engage learners is part of teaching. I’ve heard the argument of how students should just do it the same way everyone else is, but everyone else might just be going through the motions of the classroom and not really learning. If you are a teacher and expecting all of your students to learn in the same way, you need to rethink your profession. I want my students to become learners, lifelong learners and finding ways to keep them engaged, and not just try to entertain them, is a shift that I hope you’ve made or are beginning to make. Remember back to the greatest moments you had in school. Was it sitting and listening and memorizing? Or was it thinking, doing, and creating?

As always, I love to read your responses and thoughts. If you have questions or are wanting more guidance on this topic or any other classroom topic, I would love to help! Please email me at pamarnold2001@gmail.com

Did you ever see Jay Leno’s segment “Jay-Walking”? Jay-walking asked seemingly logical questions to people in various cities walking down the street. One of his favorite topics was to ask people citizenship questions or questions that focused on United States history. I remember sitting with my mouth open at how little some people knew about our government and history!

JayWalking Citizenship Test

While this is funny to watch, and I’m sure there are people who knew the answers that were edited out, how much of this is truly reflective of what is taught? JayWalking was at least 10 years ago, before smart phones were attached to every hand and Alexa arrived in our homes. Are Americans really lacking in some of the basics of history and government? Does it really matter if it’s taught in a classroom? In this age of social media and entertainment news, has knowledge gotten better or worse? With Google, Alexa, and Wikipedia at our fingertips, shouldn’t we know more than ever before? The facts are literally with us all of the time!

Let’s take a moment and think about our last two Commanders-in-Chief, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. In a speech in 2008, then Sen. Obama stated that he had visited 57 states while on the campaign trail. What??? He then followed up later, admitting his gaffe, blaming his exhaustion on the campaign trail and laughed it off by saying it felt like 57 states, what he had meant to say was that he had visited 47. Recently, President Trump tweeted congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs for their Super Bowl win, and how the great state of Kansas was well-represented. Oops…he really needed to take a moment and consult Google. He removed that tweet once someone pointed out that the Chiefs are from Missouri. This is not a political argument, but shouldn’t the leaders of our country be a little more versed in the history and geography of the country they represent? Or at least better fact-checkers before they speak or tweet!

The teaching of Social Studies (government, history, geography, economics, sociology) is slowly becoming eradicated from school curriculums across the country in favor of more reading and math instruction. As more high-stakes testing is taking place, and more $$$ are thrown at bringing up lagging test scores, knowledge is getting lost. In fact, one could argue that the more intervention that is taking place in a school, the less prepared students are for life outside of the classroom. While reading and math are vital skills to have, an educated populace is much more than deciphering words and figuring out what’s being asked in a word problem (reading disguised as math). It’s an understanding of how communities and governments came to be; it’s how jobs and economics determine the success or demise of a region, and how past choices have affected the growth of a nation. Yes, you have to read and you need a good foundation of math, but by not giving students the knowledge to use these basic tools to interpret history, culture, and economics, we are doing a disservice to them and to the future of our nation.

Here is an excerpt from the position statement of the National Council of the Social Studies:

According to a report by the Center on Education Policy, since the enactment of the “No Child Left Behind” federal education policy (NCLB), 44 percent of districts surveyed have reduced time for social studies. That percentage rose to 51 percent in districts with “failing schools.” 3Denying students opportunities to build social studies vocabulary and background knowledge by engaging in social studies activities can lead to lower literacy levels and, ironically, increase the achievement gap. 4 As a result of educational practices steeped in the “teach to test” phenomenon, teaching and learning are reduced to that which is necessary for students to do well on state tests rather than providing a well-rounded program to ready students for life as active citizens in the context of a global society.

History is so much more than facts that can be generated by Google or dates listed on a website. When I taught my 5th graders any topic in history, we read and examined the topic from various points of view (historical thinking). They looked at maps, graphs, and charts to compare and contrast the impact of an event. They used primary sources to get a feel and a better understanding of a particular time period. They created their own interpretation and discussed the effects of the events on how we live now. They listened to each other respectfully, and could disagree without calling names at each other. It was a great way to teach kids to enjoy Social Studies and even if it wasn’t their favorite subject, I felt as if the students had more respect for it at the end of the school year. I wish I had been able to get to every topic on my list of 70+ standards. Yes, I had over 70 standards to teach 5th grade, a span of 1860-2019. That’s a lot of history! Add to it that while my class period was 80 minutes, I also taught Science. I alternated the days for these, but it equaled a half year to teach all of the standards for each subject. I worked with other teachers to integrate my topics into their subjects, but prescriptiveness of those subjects made that difficult and the lack of planning time didn’t allow much depth. Tennessee changed some of those standards beginning in the current year (2019-2020), but it still isn’t being given the time in classrooms or the autonomy for teachers to teach it well. It also hasn’t been tested in any meaningful way in at least 4 years. However, in my subbing experiences in Florida, I am quickly understanding that classrooms in Tennessee are given more time for Social Studies than those in the Sunshine State. In my experiences, Social Studies is being taught in middle (6-8) and high (9-12) schools as their own subject as part of a 7 period day. In elementary schools (K-5) it isn’t happening at all. None. I’ve only been in one school where they began the day reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. I’ve attempted to understand this lack of Social Studies, but no one I’ve spoken with has actually been concerned because they are so reading and math focused. In my search, I realized that the standards exist, but since they aren’t tested until HIGH SCHOOL end-of-course exams, no one is teaching it! The only tested subjects are reading and math. Again, those subjects are needed, but we aren’t teaching students how to apply them and enjoy them, only how to show mastery on a test.

When I was in school, it was important to memorize facts, because unless you had a set of encyclopedias at home, you were limited in where to locate this information. Why else should Social Studies be taught? In 6th grade (Nashville in the 1980s), I remember learning some incredible stories and lessons about ancient civilizations! Our teacher, Mr. Deising, brought those stories to life for us in the classroom. The year ended with The Olympic Games played on the field at the only full-size replica of the Parthenon in Nashville’s Centennial Park! In 7th grade, Mr. Parrish gave us a world view of history by bringing in other cultures into the classroom. We learned songs that were familiar tunes, but in different languages! The man would stand on his desk and lead the class in song, and I can still see it in my mind 35 years later. Teachers such as this engaged us with the content and made it relevant to our lives. Even Mrs. Hudson in U.S. History in the 11th grade, shared with us note-taking techniques and ways of reviewing and studying that I still apply. Yes, she gave us lots of facts, but the skills learned along with those facts have served me well-beyond her classroom. Even more, I developed an interest and a passion for history that has crossed into my classroom and led me to places and friendships that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

So WHY aren’t we teaching Social Studies? I could go very “conspiracy theorist” here and say that we are deliberately dumbing down American schools so that they can be privatized. I am currently in the “Jeb Bush land of vouchers”, but that will be for a different day. What is happening here is a huge disservice and a lack of respect for our country, our veterans, our forefathers, historical figures, explorers, and innovators who dedicated their lives to something bigger than themselves. How will our future leaders (the kids sitting today in classrooms everywhere) avoid the mistakes of the past if they’ve never learned from them? How will students learn to love their country and respect other cultures if they don’t understand the stories behind it?

For the future of our country, our students, and our world we NEED Social Studies, perhaps now more than ever. Isn’t that funny to hear? A world where knowledge is literally at our fingertips, doesn’t know how to use it. Google is great for facts and fact-checking, but it is horrible for independent thinking. Let’s encourage our school leaders and legislative bodies to return Social Studies to the same levels as Reading, Math, and Science. Let’s return passion, interest, and pride back into our teaching and to our students.

I had a crazy dream last night. I had subbed at my old school and the new teacher in my classroom mistook it as I was coming back…like she was out of a job! She said , ”Well my husband is wanting to go to Alaska!” Internally, my brain was screaming, “but that’s the trip I went on!” She cleaned her stuff out and I was left…in a room of kids I didn’t know.

I woke up more than a little confused!

That’s the stuff of crazy right there! One, you can’t go back again. Two, being left in a room full of kids with no plan is a nightmare in and of itself!

As a classroom teacher for 20 years, I had plenty of “guest teachers.” When my daughter was young and would get sick, I would rush out some sub plans, sneak into school in the wee hours, and then return home and spend the day being “mommy.” Then there were the professional development and conferences, not to mention the “mental health” day you might need in February or April (depending on if there had been snow days that winter!). Needless to say, we all need to be out of our classroom once-in-a-while, so substitute teachers are important in keeping learning on track.

I spent a year as a sub before taking a full-time classroom position. I enjoyed being in different schools and comparing the environments. I quickly learned which schools would set me on a path to success, and which ones to steer clear from. In my previous post, I shared my current training experience in the school system that I am moving to in Florida. I still haven’t decided if I’ll return to work full-time, but I’m enjoying getting to know the school system. I am enjoying the flexibility that comes with substituting. Plus, I get to hang out and have fun with kids, without the grading or meetings! Read about that training here.

Truth is, I’ve been in several different schools and had several different experiences, just like every other school system. I realized though, traveling to different schools with varying schedules can be confusing to anyone, even a seasoned teacher. In this day and age of rising classroom vacancies and never enough subs, teachers and schools should be doing everything possible to hold on to their teachers, and especially their substitutes. I had forgotten how difficult it can be to walk into a building of strangers and ask the simplest questions. While some schools do this better than others, all schools and teachers should take a second look at how they create an inviting and sub-friendly environment.

In my own classroom, after a year of subbing, it gave me great insight into what I needed to have prepared for my own subs. In fact, I used to spend so much time preparing for a sub that it was easier to be at school than to be out! (I’ll bet many teachers reading this know exactly how that feels!) However, even the best planners cannot foresee what will happen when they aren’t there. Fortunately, good teachers can prepare their classrooms and their lessons in a way that will keep good subs wanting to come back to your classroom each time your child has a sniffle, you have a Math training, or when you need to block out a day for doctors appointments! I’ve gathered some ideas and suggestions to help your sub, and in turn, help your students have an almost flawless day!

While you may not expect to be out any day, at the very least, you should have a Substitute Binder labeled and near your desk at all times. This binder should include any pertinent information about your class that someone should need to know if they stepped in and knew nothing about your classroom. For example, current class rosters, special circumstances, allergies, a daily schedule, a map of the school, a list of daily procedures, names of helpful adults and kids, and a set of emergency lesson plans. Those should be by your desk at all times, as a minimum. I always set mine up thinking, “What would a teacher need if I can’t be here tomorrow and I’m unconscious and can’t give any information?” It sounds a bit morbid, but it wasn’t about me. It’s about your students and about your team. Leaving incomplete plans or information hurts everyone and makes you look incompetent.

Now if you really want to impress your sub, let’s take this a little further. Include a map of the school and be sure to highlight the adult restrooms and soda machines. Leave a copy of your discipline plan, and set up a special reward system for the “star students.” Create fun and easy to explain lessons. Why would you leave the hardest and most mundane work for when a sub is there? How would your students react to this activity if you were there? Imagine how they’ll react to a sub!

Here’s a really great sub binder that I found through the blog of a substitute teacher, who is now a classroom teacher. She has some great ideas on Teachers Pay Teachers, as well as some freebies that she offers for your “sub tub.”

Speaking of students, if you know you’ll be out, prepare your students ahead of time. Let the students know who the sub will be (if you know ahead of time), and what your expectations are while you are gone. Reassure them that you’ll be back and that a “guest” teacher is similar to having a guest in your home. While the guest will do their best to keep things as usual, they may not do things exactly the same. Leave names of helpful students and the names of students who do specific jobs (line leader, restroom monitor, etc.). In my experience, even the most well-behaved students will take advantage of a sub’s lack of familiarity! Therefore, be detailed about how students walk in the hallway and how many trips you make to the restroom. The procedures that you put in place are out the window when a new teacher comes in the room!

As for your most challenging students, really think about what they are able to handle when you aren’t there. I had a situation where a classroom had a student who was creating a distracting environment for everyone. When his behavior became too much for me and I called the office for him to be removed, the administrator (who was very familiar with the student) questioned me and why I was having him removed. First, never put your sub in that position. If you know a child is that disruptive, have a plan in place. Have your admin (or other personnel) come by and check in with that student. Leave a note for the sub and give them strategies to use with that student. Leaving them with no knowledge is frustrating at the least, and might make them think twice about returning to your classroom, or even your school. Remember, there aren’t enough subs out there to begin with, why are they going to want to return to spend the day with mediocre plans and unsupportive administrators?

Substitutes start their day by checking in at the office. In the system I currently sub in, the district has a policy ACROSS THE SYSTEM of how substitute teachers check in. They are issued an ID badge, a room key, and a roster. However, some schools do this in different ways. My favorite has been in a high school where everything was laid out with my name, rosters for EVERY class (not just 1st period), a map of the school, the teacher’s schedule, and a friendly person to greet me and show me where to go (it was a HUGE school!). On top of that, each person (including the students), greeted me, welcomed me, and thanked me for being there. Yes, it was a public high school. In addition, the neighboring teacher checked on me to make sure that I had what I needed and offered any support. Needless to say, that’s a school where I want to spend more time. The teacher left great plans, and we had a flawless day. Your administrators and office staff should also have a plan in place and work together to support the guest teachers in the building. It sets the tone for the day. If the school has high expectations for their students, more guest teachers will want to be in that building!

So what will you do to improve your school environment for the day you can’t be there? Planned or unplanned, it’s going to happen and it’s up to you to keep your “well-oiled machine” growing and learning!

“Like” Teaching and Beaching on Facebook!

Follow @teachingandbeachingtn on Instagram!

If you’re needing help, support, or mentoring in your classroom, let’s chat! Message me at pamarnold2001@gmail.com

A new teacher, fresh-faced and armed with the knowledge from her student-teaching experience, as well as her university professors, walks into her empty classroom and sets down the armful of bags labeled “Target,” “WalMart,” and “Parent-Teacher Store.” A feeling of pride washes over her. She imagines the minds she will mold here! The thoughts of changing lives brings tears to her eyes. Today is the day when she will set up her classroom! “Where do I begin?” she wonders. The orientation, provided by the district, gave lots of paperwork and information, but nothing on how to build a classroom, much less teach in it! The bags she brought in are full of decorations, books, and punch-out letters. She knows how to put together the perfect classroom. She knows how to write a lesson plan, but there’s nothing in her bags that will help her with the execution of those plans. Nothing about how to talk to a student and determine their level of understanding. She was so confused! Nothing she had learned in college prepared her for this! She needed a fairy godmother to appear about now, someone who could guide her on what happens next.

She needed a mentor.

If you’re a teacher, I know this sounds familiar! It’s how we all felt walking into our first classroom. The pride! The joy! Soon followed by: The fear! The anxiety! And the tears.

How do I arrange my classroom? Where do I get supplies? Where do I get my lessons from? Is there a book? What happens if they don’t like me? Can I send them to the office if they talk back? What time is lunch? When do I pee? How do I use the copier? What do I do with them on the FIRST DAY? How long until Winter Break? How do I get all of these Standards across in just nine weeks?

Where did I go for the answers? I had a wonderful principal, but these weren’t principal-worthy questions. The school secretary could help with some of my questions, but she was overwhelmed herself with all of the new registrations.

It was very intimidating to imagine myself in a classroom, alone, with 30 sets of eyes that are waiting for my guidance…expecting me to be the “all-knowing teacher” they imagine. I wasn’t even sure where the restrooms and cafeteria were located!

The greatest gift to a novice teacher is a strong mentor. Someone who will patiently answer questions and give advice and guidance freely and lovingly. For a new teacher to succeed, finding someone like this is priceless and necessary. In fact, I recommended to all of my student teachers to find someone in their building that they can turn to in a struggle. I let them know that I can always be reached for advice, but it’s nothing compared to having someone who is in the same trenches!

I was incredibly lucky that my first year was in a school where I was surrounded by incredible teachers who reached out without thinking twice! My first teaching assignment was actually 7th grade math! Anyone who knows me knows that math can be a struggle for me. My brain isn’t wired that way!

I was basically standing in my classroom in the days before school started and had no idea how to proceed beyond the first day introductions!

Then the most confident and intimidating woman I’ve ever met comes walking in! She introduced herself to me, and inside I was thinking I’d found my first ally! Karen Phair is truly the most confident woman I’ve ever known. I’m pretty sure that she could run the worst middle school without blinking an eye or raising her voice! She made herself known in my world immediately and answered all of my questions as calmly and as many times as I asked! She had an affinity for math and for 8th graders, both of which scare the heck out of me! She retired a couple of years ago, but still is influencing the lives of students and teachers with her part-time school role. I never would have made it through those first weeks without her and some other very special teachers.

I can think of multiple days when Bonnie Hyde would spend extra time talking with me and sharing ideas and advice, especially when it came to working with her “cherubs” (her word for the hard-to-love-but-needs-it-the-most kids). Bonnie was our ELL teacher, something I had no experience with, and she shared a love of Social Studies. As a first-year, second-year, and even a third-year teacher, she was someone I could turn to for advice, help, and support. Not because she was assigned that job, but when you have a passion and a love for serving students, you want others to share that as well. After Bonnie retired, she went on to work with a publisher, and she worked to mentor young teachers in the classroom. Even though I was long past a novice, I still loved to chat with her and hear her take on classroom teacher struggles. She passed away a couple of years ago, but I will never forget the kindness and patience she had for me and the compassion she showed in the classroom.

After the first two weeks of school, I moved from the 7th grade math class to a 5th grade SELF-CONTAINED classroom! Now it was me and 32 other children all day long! I had numerous experienced teachers on the 5th grade hall, but none impacted me as much as Ellen Davenport. I realized I already knew Ellen from many years before when I was a teenager and volunteered for Vacation Bible School at my church. Ellen’s daughter was in my class and she was the sweetest little girl! Anyway, Ellen loved teaching and loved our students. She was kind and reassuring and helped with every issue I had in my very crowded classroom! She loved Science and was always willing to get her hands dirty, rescue a “critter”, or steer me to a fun hands-on lesson. Ellen not only was a great mentor, she became a wonderful friend! She went on to teach in the gifted program and recently retired to spend more time playing tennis, cheering the Vols, and loving her husband and grandchildren. She showed me that there was more to life than teaching and I wish that I had remembered that lesson! She had a great balance of teaching and home and I always admired her for this.

Our mentors are important. Experience should be valued, not cast aside like yesterday’s news. I think teachers understand this better than most young people today. For example, I had a new teacher on the hallway who was dynamic! I loved her ideas and her energy! I know that I was learning as much from her as she was from me and I made sure to tell her that. I believe that even the most experienced teacher can learn new things about teaching. How can we promote lifelong learning without modeling how we learn and communicate?

The ladies I mentioned earlier weren’t just great mentors, they were great learners and listeners. They taught me if I wasn’t willing to open myself up to input and ask questions, how could I tell my students to do that? I know I did a lot of telling over the years, but I hope that when my colleagues and former students think of me, they’ll remember that I was as good of a LISTENER as I was a teacher. Don’t think that because you’re new to the profession that you shouldn’t have an opinion. There are many people in the profession, who lifted me up with their wisdom, their advice, their lessons, and sometimes just a kind smile. I learned so much from teachers younger than me and less-experienced than me! Just because I carry that “professional” license, doesn’t mean that I know everything about connecting with kids and adults!

Teachers should not be left in isolation once they’re hired and assigned a classroom. I have always questioned why this is considered appropriate for the profession as a whole. While I do believe in teacher education programs and degrees, I also believe that there is incredible value in spending time in the classroom with an experienced teacher. I always felt it was my duty to do that for college students coming up through the ranks. I had multiple student teachers at different levels visit my classroom over the years. I had novice teachers that observed my lessons and asked questions about my methods. Unfortunately though, once teachers are given a degree and a classroom, our system says that they should be in the classroom teaching, and we don’t give them time and mentors to work with on a consistent basis. Teachers need other teachers to help them through the highs and lows of an incredibly loving and demanding job. There are many days that I would have crumbled except for the support of other teachers.

Here’s the gist, if we don’t begin to acknowledge and value our experienced teachers, they will go away. We see it already in many of our priority and high-needs schools. The teachers that fill those roles are young, novice teachers with no mentors in the hallway to turn to when they struggle. I guess they can look up strategies on the internet, and I guess they heard about all of the shiny, new programs from their college professors just a few months ago and can’t wait to try that out on a kid that is reading two years below their grade level. Pretty soon those young teachers will get to frustration and leave the profession in less than five years. Our experienced teachers are leaving the profession in droves. My school experienced a 50% attrition rate last year, and the district as a whole STILL has over 150 vacancies in classrooms. That is quickly becoming the reality of schools everywhere. That is happening every day, in every school district across the nation, not just the one in which I happen to be employed.

This should be unacceptable in our communities and I hope that our leaders are reaching out and finding out WHY teachers are leaving the profession and using that knowledge to improve working conditions for those still in the classroom. It makes me sad for the young teacher who wants nothing more than to teach and guide students on a path to success. Who will this young teacher turn to when they are struggling? The answer isn’t found on Google! That teacher will likely find a job making the same money with less stress in the near future. Lyft and Uber are full of former teachers!

The young teacher I mentioned at the beginning is full of hope and excitement! She could be the teacher of a future president, an astronaut, or a scientist that cures cancer. She might mold the mind of an artist or a world-renowned musician. She could inspire great leaders of Fortune 500 companies! She can inspire kids to dream and excel beyond their own limitations…but it won’t come from WalMart, Teachers Pay Teachers, or an Amazon wishlist. It doesn’t even come from the degree that she worked so hard to obtain and probably has loans to repay. It only comes from the heart, and from the guidance and support of those around her. It will come from the knowledge she gains from watching, learning, and observing those mentors that she will hold in her heart and tell stories about for years to come. By standing on the shoulders of giants, she will move mountains!