Let There be Glitter (and Paint and Other Messy Stuff)

First of all, I would like to apologize in advance to the fine custodial staff at my school who tolerates my creative whims where the aftermath results in a mess. The floor of my classroom has looked like Tinker Bell threw up pixie dust at times. Now for you awesome elementary teachers, you're looking at this and saying, "Tell me something new." This article really isn't for you guys. You are the gods and goddesses of some craftiness.

I'm talking to my middle and high school colleagues. The people whose cabinets may be filled with paper, binders, pencils, and other very practical stuff. I had the advantage of first working in the elementary school system, and then being a middle school teacher.  When I moved from elementary school to the middle school, I donated lots of craft stuff to my elementary teacher friends, such as chenille stems (growing up we called them pipe cleaners), glitter, stickers, felt, colorful beads, etc. Why? Because I would no longer need those crafty things. Why? Because middle school kids don't do all that stuff.

So, I wrote plans for the first day of school that didn't involve making anything. We went over the student handbook (painful), and I tried to do some "mature" ice breaking activities. I was enthusiastic, funny, and I felt that I was losing them immediately.

I came home after teaching my first day of middle school deflated.  I told my husband (a veteran middle school teacher), "I don't think they like school very much." He looked at me and replied, "No, you don't say?" This was an eye opener for me. In elementary school, for the most part, kids love coming to school. They love their teachers; they love books; they love reading, and they love learning.

Something happens between 5th grade and 6th grade. I think there's a secret society out there that gathers up all hopeful, happy eager learners, and like Will Smith in Men in Black, zaps their brains, and "Poof!" All good thoughts of school have disappeared. Therefore it was up to me to try and reach them. I tried to find literature they could relate to, and this helped. If something bored me, I didn't dare expect them to read it. I researched activities that would help them understand what we had read. After completing a novel, I even let them paint a setting from the story using the author's description. There were teachers who thought I was insane. And they might not be wrong, but my kids loved it. It was messy, and I do know if they mastered a specific language arts standard from it. Maybe not, but they looked forward to it.  We even made ornaments at Christmas with (my favorite) glitter. One time I got a wild idea after reading a non-fiction book about the Civil Rights Movement. Students researched protest signs used during the civil rights marches, and I let my students paint their own protest sign. To be honest, most of the signs were not beautiful, but they got the idea of the purpose of the activity.

Now I'm no Martha Stewart, and we don't paint every day. But that first year of working with these little angels made me realize something...they were fifth graders with a summer added on. They still loved to learn (okay not all of them); they still loved teachers (okay not most of them); they love reading (something they can relate to), and believe it or not, they love to learn (but it's not cool to say so). They especially enjoy learning if after all that learning is done, they get to use glitter, glue, and paint. Sometimes I even like to sprinkle glitter on their desks and tell them it's magic learning dust.

So I challenge my middle school and high school teachers who feel their crafting days are behind them...see if you can incorporate a fun activity into a unit every so often. Use it as an incentive even for good behavior. You can use that magic educational buzz word "DIFFERENTIATE" and show this by offering those who have turned in all assignments the opportunity to be a Picasso. Just please make sure you make nice with your custodial staff first.

How to Refresh and Get Ready for a New Year

Me enjoying the freedom of an unscheduled day

We teachers know that a "New Year" for us means something very different than for non-teachers. A "New Year" for everyone else means recovering after New Year's Eve and making a bunch of resolutions that are rarely kept. For teachers the "New Year" begins somewhere around the first week of August (where I live anyway).  The "New Year" for teachers means recovering from a summer of no lesson plans, no meetings, no conferences, no paperwork, no alarm clock, no headaches...you get the idea.  In the above picture, I had enjoyed another morning of waking up whenever I felt like it, watching the Today Show (and my girl Hoda), eating a breakfast made by my husband (I'm a lucky gal), sipping on my coffee, playing with my toddler and her dollhouse and having a "tea party", doing some yoga, organizing my sock and underwear drawer, and then I felt like taking a nap. So guess what? I did.

Now with just a few days left of this utopia, reality sets in. How am I supposed to be a grown up and wear grown up clothes and lead a bunch of non-grown ups through the educational abyss of Common Core?

I decided to give myself a much needed pep talk. And trust me, I will have to do this several more times throughout the course of the year. Maybe my pep talk will help some of you too. Here's some tips for gearing up for this "New Year":

1. Remember why you went into this profession in the first place. Why did you want to become a teacher? For the awesome, endless benefits? For the high salary? For the high pedestal that society puts us up on? Probably not. Now if your main reason for going into this profession was to have off your summer, well then since summer is almost over you're kind of...@$%&ed. And although that is a very nice perk, more than likely it wasn't the motivating factor in your career choice. So what was? Maybe you loved reading and writing and you wanted to share that love with young minds. Maybe you always struggled with math until you had one awesome teacher, so you wanted show that with the right person anyone can learn. Maybe you are creative and love to look at things in a different way, and you wanted to teach others how to be creative. Maybe you wanted to make a difference in the lives of others. Whatever your reason for originally deciding to become an educator, embrace it and cling to it. 

2. Remember what it was like to be a kid. No matter what age group you teach, 5 year olds or 18 year olds or in between, TRY to think back to that age.  When you were the age of the students you teach, what did you want most from your teacher? Did they have to know everything? Did they have to have perfect lesson plans? No. If you think back, your favorite teachers loved kids and were understanding when you made a mistake. Your favorite teachers enjoyed seeing you learn and grow as a person. Guess what? It may have been 30, 40 or even 50 years since you were a first grader, but those kids want the same things. Those kids in your class want a teacher who actually acts like they like kids. Trust me, this can be difficult I know (especially if you teach the middle and high school kids). Now for me, I feel that I have about the same attention span (and sadly the same sense of sick humor) as my sixth graders. But there are times when I get ticked off at them when they won't focus and listen to me. Then I think, "Can I really blame them?" So this forces me to rethink how I introduce a standard and try to make it as interesting as possible. I might not can reach all of them, but I promise you that I will definitely try. I expect respect from kids, no matter what age they happen to be. But let's stop expecting kids to be little adults. They aren't. They don't think like we do, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

3. Find something to look forward to.  Now if the one thing you look forward to is the last day of school, well you're $@%&ed. Don't get me wrong...I myself look forward to three-day weekends, Christmas Break, Spring Break, and the last day of school. I'd be lying if I said I didn't.  However, if that's the ONLY thing you are looking forward to then you are setting yourself for a yearful of disappointment. Find something that brings you joy...(I know joy must come from within, but some outside factors help too!). Perhaps you're a nerd like me, and you like new supplies...a brand new pack of Sharpies, a new pretty binder for those demon lesson plans, a fresh pack of bright Post-It Notes, or a new calendar.  Get excited about the new faces you will see walk through your classroom door. Reconnect and grab lunch during pre-planning with some teachers who will support you throughout the year. Rearrange your room or put up a new bulletin board. Take a professional learning course that actually interests you. Or you can try one new strategy in your classroom.  Whatever works for you, just have SOMETHING to look forward to besides the last day of school.  If you don't, you just might miss out on some really awesome moments in between.

4. Find the thing you don't do well and don't do that thing. Okay, I have to admit that I stole this from the World's Most Interesting Man commercial, and it's funny, but true. I don't do well when I have too many irons in the fire. Some of us have a tendency to volunteer to do too much at school. I am one of those people. It is important for everyone to be a part of a learning community, but don't be that person that agrees to do everything for everyone. Other people can step up and contribute (and if you're a teacher who doesn't do anything but "show up", maybe try and sign up to do one thing for your school). Last year I was in charge of the yearbook, helped out with the drama club, tutored foster kids after school, created an end of the year slideshow for awards day, and was on the positive behavior committee. Nobody made me do these things; I did this all on my own but adding all my other normal teacher responsibilities in with this, I was completely spent by the end of the year. I decided I want to be better, not bitter. So this year I'm focusing on being a more effective teacher, and on taking better care of my physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and my family's well-being. My fellow educators, I suggest you try to do the same.

Happy "New Year" to all my fellow friends out there!  

Please share your back to school advice with me in the comments below.

Bus Drivers...the New Super Heroes

Bus parked in front of Winn Dixie. Photo credit to one of my fellow teachers.

We teachers can sometimes get on our soapbox and start complaining about things that bug us once the school year gets in full swing (too many unnecessary meetings, time consuming lesson plans, disrespectful students, out of touch policymakers, etc.) But let's take a moment and give a shout out to those fearless people who have a much harder job than we do...school bus drivers. I'm not even kidding; these people DO NOT get paid enough to deal with the stresses they must endure. When I have bus duty in the afternoons and watch those buses drive away, I think to myself, "God Bless their hearts."

Now you may be thinking, "But don't they just work a few hours a day?" Yes. But they deal with situations in those few hours that could be used in Navy Seal training. Imagine hurling down the road with 50 or so hormonal, immature adolescents (I'm talking from a middle school teacher's perspective here). You have to obey the safety rules of the road, AND be able to glance up and make sure the little angels behind you haven't organized a mutiny. Some parents may think, "My child would NEVER be disrespectful." You may be right; I'm talking about OTHER parents' kids.  There have been instances where students cuss out a bus driver, throw objects across the bus, get in fights with other kids on the bus, and even (GASP!) partake in illegal activities. Are bus drivers sometimes grumpy? Yes...but seriously can you blame them?

I truly love teaching (including the highs and lows) but trust me, I try not to turn my back to them very often. These are great kids, but they are just that...kids. Even if they have officially hit the status of teenager, they are still kids. Many of them do not think about the consequences of their words or actions. How do I know? I was one of them once! I myself could make some rather poor choices with my behavior while I was in middle and high school. I survived, but because of my own adolescence I can relate to these little angels.  

However, I may only have 30 students at the most in a stationary classroom to supervise. Throw in another 20 or so and imagine going the road about 45-50 miles per hour, and you've got a possibility for a dangerous situation. This is why I state again, bus drivers do not get paid enough for what they are entrusted with...the lives of students. Really that's what they are expected to do, navigate the highways and safely transport the future of our nation to and from school. This is why a desperate school board has been driven (no pun intended) to advertise in a Winn Dixie parking lot for bus drivers. There is a shortage of these road warriors, and the ones who are veterans of the profession should be heralded as superheroes. Trust me this group of individuals protects lives without the help of Thor's hammer, Captain America's shield, or Iron Man's cool gadgets.

Dangerous Box Tops

We have those moments where we think, "Well that was dumb." Last night I had one of those moments. As I was opening some cans of corn to make a yummy homemade Mexican dip, I noticed that there was a small Box Tops of Education label. I (like many parents and teachers) collect these to help out my school. I usually rip them off of a box of cereal or some other box of processed food (I know I'm a great parent). However, getting a label off of a can of corn is not so easily accomplished. One does not simply rip off a Box Top label off a can of corn because the label is glued on. My awesome problem solving instinct kicked in, and I grabbed a knife to pry the label off. (Please keep in mind that this label is worth a whole ten cents.) In the process of trying to contribute to my students' educational success (with ten cents), I stabbed myself with the point of a knife right between my thumb and pointer finger.

To sum it up, I cried like a two-year-old. After bandaging me up, my husband said, "That label is going to make all the difference." I laughed and started thinking, "It's a sad day when a teacher almost has to lose an appendage to get ten cents for her school!" 

First of all, I do applaud the Box Tops for Education program and all they do for our schools. But why do we even need Box Tops for Education? Although millions have been cut from school budgets over the past years, there's still millions out there. Let me tell you, if you put teachers in charge of those millions (and I mean current classroom teachers, not people who have been out of the classroom for several years) they can stretch a dollar. I've worked with some inventive teachers who can take a coffee can and turn it into a phonics center. Teachers are the ultimate MacGyvers. He might have been able to take a Q-tip and a used piece of bubble gum to make a bomb, but I've seen a teacher take PVC pipe, glue, and paint and create a listening center. So let the educational MacGyvers of the world take over the school budget. Sure you may have a math center made out of toilet paper rolls, but no more educators would have to be harmed trying to find a dime for their classrooms. 

Advice for Someone about to Marry a Teacher

To begin with I do not claim to be any kind of marriage counselor. I am simply giving advice to hopefully help someone who may be venturing into matrimony with someone who has chosen the teaching profession. Now you're in "luck" if you yourself are a teacher, and you are marry another teacher. You don't need to read any further. But for the rest of you, maybe this will help explain how the teaching brain works.

Now if you started dating a teacher during the summer, you were cheated out of a true picture of your love. You had the opportunity to meet the no schedules, no meetings, no conferences, no lesson plans, no worries version of that person. This was a disservice to you because when pre-planning started, you should have quickly figured out that this person had quickly turned into a new strange creature.

Let me explain. When pre-planning hits, we teachers become inundated with emails, calendar invitations to attend meetings (which is funny because it's an invitation, like it we have a choice of not going), Open House, figuring out how to make reading the student handbook interesting, student accommodations to read, paperwork and more paperwork, planning fun and worthwhile icebreakers to get to know the students, and trying to make our classroom warm and inviting. All of this and the school year hasn't even officially started!

Then once school gets in full swing, we have to begin writing ridiculously detailed lesson plans, research new technology to implement in the classroom, develop authentic motivating learning tasks and differentiate those learning tasks, round up the materials that you need in class, create authentic valid assessments, grade those assessments and enter them into the gradebook, display student work, communicate with parents, go to weekly meetings, attend parent conferences, help with a school dance, work concessions at a football/soccer/softball/ or basketball game, sometimes tutor after school, and maybe even sponsor a club.

Our brain starts going in so many different directions, sometimes it's hard for us to think about anything that doesn't involve school.

We aren't trying to ignore you. I promise. We can't help it. We need your patience and understanding. When we start telling you about the boring meeting we had to go to or the rude parent email we received, we aren't asking you to solve our problems. We chose this profession and all that it entails. What we need is just for you to listen, tell us we are doing a good job, and that we are somehow making a difference in the life of children. That's it.

Just remember...the school year (for most of us) is only 180 school days long, and you will get your carefree, summertime spouse back eventually!

How to Enjoy the Summer (Like you REALLY need my advice for this!)

So I'm writing this as sadly my summer is coming to a close. I'm trying to squeeze out every last minute. I go through a weird ritual as a teacher in the summer. The first thing I do? Sleep...And lots of it. There may be a day that I literally change from one set of PJs to another. I love staying up late and sleeping in. That was a great schedule to have when I was a bartender back in college. However, it doesn't work well when your career requires you to be dressed and ready to be at school by 7:30. Throw a two-year-old and a teenager into the mix, and it's even more difficult. I swear if coffee hadn't been created, I don't know if I would make it out of the house.


Now when summer hits, the mornings of rushing around and scrambling out the door like a chicken with my head cut off ceases. So I just kind of veg out for a few days, and then, believe or not, sometimes I get in a funk. Now this funk doesn't last long. I finally get up and get busy and start doing all the tasks around the house that gets pushed to the wayside when school is in session. Cleaning out the refrigerator, weeding out mismatched socks and throwing them away, cleaning out the junk drawers, organizing closets, etc. I usually have a yard sale too. Makes me feel productive.


Then I decide it's time to "try" to get in shape, so I use the gym membership that I have paid for all year long. Sadly during the school year, my energy gets used up at school. So during the summer, I do yoga, I watch Hoda (tried to make a rhyme there). I even cook some and try some new recipes. (You will learn that this in itself is an accomplishment.) Then I enjoy going to summer movies with my friends and kids. We even set up a projector, put a bedsheet on the wall, get boxes of candy from the dollar store, and have our theatre night. We hit the beach, and we grill out and hang out in the driveway with my toddler's kiddie pool (a/k/a our own "Redneck Riviera"). I try to take in a few concerts because I love live music. Lastly we try to plan some kind of family trip for 3-4 days somewhere. (This year it was Trade Winds Resort in St. Pete, FL. I'll post about it later!) The last couple of days I actually start getting excited about meeting new students and parents, and getting my room set-up. (It's the only time of year when my desk is clean.)


When it comes down to it, I enjoy every second of my summer. We as teachers truly need this time to rejuvenate and feel like we can face all the challenges that teaching sometimes involves.

My husband (who is also a middle school teacher) says the one good thing about summer ending...football season begins. :) Go Dawgs!


What are some of your favorite summer rituals? Please share with me!