Reach Before Teach (Middle School)

 April 5, 2021 I just read my last blog post. From June. Reading it brought back all the feels. The anxiety of what we'd been through; the anxiety of not knowing what was coming up.  Things I didn't know: in less than six weeks, my dad would enter Hospice. I'd spend multiple days a week with my parents (a privilege and honor, but still time consuming). He'd pass in September. Our school would go back two weeks later than originally planned, but we'd be face-to-face, masked and socially distanced. Animosity would brew because of individual's stances on masks and other precautions.  I didn't know how the isolation would impact my mental health.  I didn't know how everything would feel like an uphill battle. Everything. Keeping track of who was quarantined and supposed to be in my synch class. Who was from my class and who was from the other eighth grade teacher's class. Trying to keep myself healthy while worrying about my husband, my own kids, my pare...

June 16 finds me not on or planning a vacation. It doesn't find me resting after the fast and furious weeks of the end of school, with all the activities normally attended.  Instead, it finds me almost marking the days off to July 10, when our state will release its school reopening plan. Our district has a committee that will meet in late July to plan and prepare for our anticipated Aug. 10 return (students two days later). I'm anxious - literally - to know what that entails. I'm excited and apprehensive to know what this means for my students and for me.  For the first time in my teaching career, I bought a planner. I found during our teach-from-home time that I needed some way to make lists of what I wanted to put out on Google Classroom for my students, what I had already created, and what I needed to do. I went through printer papre quickly. A planner will help me be a bit more organized, I think, in not only teaching virtually but also in a traditional classroom. Eith...

I had the honor of leading a fairly well-attended Twitter chat this week (check out #masterychat if you haven't already). One question I asked seemed to resonate with many was about the relationship we have with ourselves. It's not something I think about a lot, seriously. I kind of take me for granted, if that makes any sense. I give for a lot of things. I make sure students are ok; I advocate for students and their needs for and with parents. I check in on fellow teachers. I try to make sure our school nurse and school secretaries feel noticed and needed. I'm not saying I don't get it back. People check in on me, and I appreciate that. But do I? Do I check in on me? Teachers - not all, but a great number - are in this profession because they are givers. They like to take care of others in a multitude of ways. We're also notoriously bad about putting ourselves on the back burner (teacher burn-out is real, folks, but that's another conversation). And now t...

Balance hasn't been a hallmark of my life. It's tough - parenting, being a wife, being a daughter, being a friend, being a teacher, being a student.. Those are a lot of hats, and I've worn them all at once, as have many, many other people. I'm not saying this is unique to me. But when we wear that many hats, one may tip slightly, thus setting all the ones above it at an angle. We adjust as needed, right? That's kind of how I feel right now. I don't know that I'm balancing anything well, but I'm trying. We aren't the only ones trying to balance. These students of ours are trying to figure out how to balance virtual learning with what their famililies need of them. For some students, that's a big load to bear. Some parents require a great deal of their older students, who are helping younger ones with work, providing babysitting service, doing a great deal around the home, and even more. I'm not sure if this is more than usual for some of t...

We just finished our official Week 3 of Virtual Learning (although the first week was really just a couple of days). I have had multiple opportunities to reach out to parents. Mostly, I've done it via email. I haven't made a lot of phone calls because I'd rather they be able to read it on their time. I've reached out when students haven't reached out during the week. I've reached out to let parents/guardians know I'm posting assignments so they can see what their student is doing. What I'm getting back has surprised and saddened me. I'm hearing from parents that they hear from very few teachers at the middle level and higher. Some parents/guardians tell me how much of a struggle their student is having. Some parents tell me how difficult it is to coordinate time with their children and  do their own work. Some parents tell me that when the child is at a different custodial parent, they have no idea what work is being completed. I feel for them....

My district just finished it's first week of content virtual teaching. We started the week before, slowly, with reach-out questions; we did those kind of things I might talk about with students before class really started. It was a way to see who could reach us, who might be having problems. It allowed parents of multiple children to ease into working together on school work more than what a teacher would send as "homework". Last week was eye-opening for me. Here are just a few things I learned. *I put out a Flipgrid just to say, "How are you?" I had kids responding with how hard this was for them. These 8th graders really need socialization, and they jumped at the chance to watch videos other students made. So lesson learned. I'm putting out at least one Flipgrid each week now. It isn't mandatory to view or respond. It does support what content I'm offering. More importantly, it allows two ways (written or video) to respond to the content. *I ...