Category Archives: reflection

19 for 2019

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Last year inspired by the podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, I made an 18 for 2018 list and loved it! For some reason this stuck way more for me than New Year’s resolutions, even though it is pretty much the same thing. I accomplished 14 of the items on my list, including flossing every single day, going on a date with my husband at least once every month, hosting a dinner party, and learning a new song on the guitar. It was a fun and practical way to get things done I had been wanting to do. And I’ve still flossed every day since January 1, 2018!

So, this year I knew I wanted to make a 19 for 2019 list and loved hearing on the podcast that many other people were inspired to do so as well. As I brainstormed, I knew I wanted to keep a couple things on my list from last year like going on a date night each month and going camping. However, most of my list is new.

After some brainstorming, I wrote out my list in my new Erin Condon planner. (Aside, thanks to Sarah Hart-Unger and her podcast Better than Before, I found this awesome planner to use for the year from Erin Condren!) Here is my list for 2019!

A few to highlight

  • Run 365 miles: Last year on my list I had to run a half marathon. I trained for the summer and was planning to do one with a colleague in September. But then a few weeks before my knee was hurting so badly I could barely make it two miles. I ended up not running the race, which was the right call for me. This year I thought I would add a running goal again, but one that I could track in a whole different way!
  • Organize a playdate with Owen’s friends: Sometimes I am aware of how much of a second child Owen is. We do playdates for my older kiddo and her friends, but I haven’t organized one for him…yet.
  • Meditate regularly: I like Dan Harris‘ idea of daily-ish in meditation. I signed up for the Calm app for free through their educator program. It has timers, body scans, guided meditations, and master classes on various topics. My daughter loves their meditative sleep stories too!
  • Go to Canada: We live so close to Canada it’s fun to take advantage of heading to a different country for the weekend. This was on my list last year and we never went, so I’m determined to make it happen this year!

I’m excited to work my way through this list and see what comes in 2019!!

Fun and Tiring: Reflection on the First Three Weeks

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It’s hard to believe there have been three weeks of teaching already! It both feels like we just started and that we have been back for months. On the first day of school I saw a colleague in the hall and we both commented that it feels so great to be back in the classroom. As my students would say, teaching is my jam. It felt great to be back! The two words that come to mind about the first three weeks are: fun and tiring.

This year I am teaching a course I haven’t taught in 5 years. In that time, there was a significant revision of the scope and sequence. Teaching a new course is absolutely a combination of fun and tiring. It is great to be back with sophomores and it’s fun to look at lesson plans and assessments with a fresh perspective. I’m not as efficient at the grading or lesson planning as I learn the layout of the new curriculum. It has taken me much longer to have my lessons ready to go than it did last year. I also find myself having many more questions for the teachers on my team. Thankfully they are wonderful and very willing to help–even when I texted on the weekend to make sure I had the right answers on a reading quiz!

Last week I led our sophomore retreat, which too was fun and tiring. It is outside for most of the day. The week leading up to the retreat it said rain and possibly thunderstorms. We have never had to create such specific back up plans in case of rain. People joke that in Seattle it rains all the time, but in the 12 years I’ve been at the school we have never had rain on this retreat! It took a lot of extra planning, more coordinating with other adults, and lots of flexibility from people all around the school. The day of the retreat, my boss and I talked at 6:00 am to make the call–we had the retreat outside because the forecast kept pushing the rain back later in the afternoon. The retreat was one of the best we’ve had and the weather was great!! We even got hot chocolate for the kids in the morning which was a big hit! The whole day, and days leading up to it, were so fun, and tiring!

It is definitely nice to feel like I’m getting into more of a grove. And falling asleep at 8:30 pm on Friday night felt great too! Ahhhhh, back to teacher life!

Who ever is doing the talking is doing the learning

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When talking with a third-year teacher a while back, we were talking about the difference between a student-centered class and a teacher-centered class. I made the comment that I think whoever is doing the talking is doing the learning. She sat back and thought for a minute, then said, “my first year teaching I did so much talking, and I learned so much!” She wasn’t so sure the same was true for her students.

This idea of considering who is doing the most talking has helped me many times over the years. It is even a line in my Manifesto on Teaching.

It is easy to talk a lot as teachers. We have a built in audience. We (hopefully) have interesting things to share. We have objectives to teach.

And it can happen to all of us. In our first years we are working so hard to get by, that it can be easy to default to teacher-centered practices such as a lecture with a PowerPoint. As experienced teachers, we can fall behind and want to “get through” material that we may opt for the efficiency of teacher-centered practices.

However, if we are always the one doing the talking what does that mean for our students?

Ya, but…

You’re probably there are many ways to be an active learner besides talking. And we all know that just because someone is talking does not necessarily mean they are learning.

But I do think that if we step back and consider who is doing the talking in our classes it can give us insight about who is learning and what they are learning. It can help us to see if students are at the center of the learning. It can help us to consider how we are making space for students to share their knowledge, experience, and learning. It can remind us to step back and listen a bit more.

In your class, who does most of the talking? What does this mean for the learning and the environment?