Coaching and Learning
Diverse literature must be meaningful. I received this for my birthday earlier in the year and it is simply amazing.
It’s too long to be read in a single sitting, especially for the younger kids, but it is full of wonderful, RAD women. It’s nonfiction, a genre not as readily utilized in the primary ages, it highlights a history not readily included, and it covers the alphabet–add this to my favorite alphabet books!
Installment #6:
I teach for the steps.
This is silly, selfish, and not entirely true when I started teaching, but teaching is active; so, now I say I teach for the steps.
I have done the office job and I have been in a classroom. Classrooms create plenty of opportunity to burn calories. Sure, my candy drawer also gets used more, so I am consuming more calories. Nevertheless, a classroom position is an active role.
I walk as I teach. I walk from student to student. I walk from desk to desk. I stand up, I sit down, I stand up, I sit down. I sprint to the bathroom and back. I take kids out to recess. I play at recess. I walk around at recess. I take my students to the cafeteria, to specials, to line-up, to dismissal–and back. I monitor work by walking around the classroom. I monitor testing by walking around the classroom. I go from one meeting to the next, from one classroom to the next, from one end of the school to the other end.
My feet are tired, but by the time I get home I can safely look at my steps app and know I got all my steps for the day. One less thing to worry about–and that is definitely a perk, maybe even a reason, to teach 😉
🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️🚶🏽♀️
You have picked a theme. Now it’s time to think about how this theme can manifest itself in your classroom.
I will be providing color palettes, and/or suggestions for free items, to gather for decoration that apply to many of the themes mentioned in my original post.
Once a theme is picked, the fun begins. However, make sure that fun stays focused (keep to just a few colors) and make sure to spend carefully. A classroom can be beautiful without breaking the bank.
This added follow-up, as well as a few others, is meant to provide guidance and support so that all classrooms can be creative vibrant spaces for learning. Stay tuned for more!
Give yourself a goal.
What do you hope to accomplish this year? What do you want to learn this year?
We are wrapped up in student learning goals, their presence and the pressure around them, that sometimes we forget to think about our own learning. We forget to sit back and think deeply about our professional development. We also forget to take care of ourselves–personally and professionally.
I know we have observations, but they aren’t daily or weekly–usually.
So, I challenge you to give yourself a goal. Create a weekly or monthly goal for yourself. Create a singular goal for yourself. Do something that enhances your work. Do something that ensures you operate at an optimal level.
Say: This year I will . . .
The goal does not have to be lofty, or even completely teaching-centered.
What I desire is a goal that provides you the opportunity to enliven your personal and/or professional experience. Whatever that looks like for you, whatever you decide, I support you. So, go ahead, think of something–and go for it.
C is for Camacho 