Making Time For What's Important

As I was driving home from what ended up being a three and a half hour dinner/chat with Donalyn Miller (it's hard to stop talking when you see each other so rarely and are having so much fun), I was thinking back on what Chris Lehman said each time I've seen him speak recently, whether in reference to reading or writing, about making time for what's important. We make time for what's important in the classroom for the reading and writing and the talk and the community building and relationship building because we make time for what's important to us, and those are the things that are important in helping students develop. And as I was driving home, I was thinking about this and realized that it was important for me to make that time last night. No matter how busy or tired or overwhelmed by to-do lists or thinking about teaching the next day I am, it's important to make the time for evenings like that with friends who understand and can relate to what I do everyday. Talk is important...it's a way to work thorough things I've been thinking about, confused by, wondering about...it's a way to process my ideas...it's a way to feel better about where my head is at. It's important. I need to make time for it.

To make that time to discuss and just have a really enjoyable evening was important. Because I need to make time for what's important to me. You make time for those things that matter and I'm glad for the people who make time for me. Friends who help me to be a better person. People who make time for what's important-that connection and community.

I make time in my classroom for reading and writing. It's important for my students to believe they're readers and writers. I need to make that dedicated time for them to experience and delve into their reading and writing because that's what is important. It's important for them to find the joy and interest and motivation and engagement in reading and writing. I need to make time for that because it's important. The kids who enter my classroom need to discover themselves as readers and writers and believe that they can do it. I know that's important...and everybody should make time for that.

Image from: MelissaJoyKong

Learning IS Hard

Heard across my classroom today: "This is hard!!!" {I hope you're imagining the half whining/half frustration overload tone of voice this was yelled in}

So...how to respond?
-Well, yeah. Learning is hard, but how great - you must be learning something new!
-Yes, but that doesn't mean we give up.
-Please don't yell across the classroom and disturb everyone who is writing. It's okay to be frustrated, but it's not okay to interrupt everyone else who is working.
-What can I do to help you?
-Remember when I've talked about that idea of cognitive dissonance, where things get more confusing before they start to make sense in your brain when you're learning something new? Well, I think you're in that stage right now.

Take your pick. I'm actually pretty sure I said a variation on every one of those options in the minutes following that outburst.

Then I started thinking about it some more. My thoughts first went to...hmmmm, I really thought I had explained that well when I was talking with him, but maybe not. How can I explain it in a way that will help? Then, as I looked at the boy's face across the room, I realized that I recognized the body language and look of utter frustration. Just last spring I had been exactly there. When? At a writing retreat for my National Boards portfolio. I get it. I just wanted to be done and have it make sense and write whatever and just get it over with. I understood the emotion this kid was feeling. And it made me change my thinking to empathizing with him versus questioning it.

And as I write this, I realize what perhaps I came to understand even more today. It's crucial that I continue to be a learner. It's important for my role as a teacher that I put myself in situations that can help me feel what my students might feel like on a daily basis (without quite as much middle school angst). How can I possibly understand what my students are going through if I haven't gone through it? And I'm not just talking about thinking back to all those years ago when I was in middle school. I'm talking about continuing to be a learner today. With my understandings where they are, if I hadn't pushed myself past my comfort zone to that stage of cognitive dissonance recently myself, I'm not sure that I would have so quickly moved in my mindset to understanding just exactly what that feels like. And what did I need when I was feeling that way? To get up and take a walk, get a drink of water, talk to someone about something else for a few minutes, give my brain a break...and then get back to it. So why shouldn't I give my students the opportunity for that same outlet of taking that break to keep the thinking fresh? Something I'll be remembering the next time this happens.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/536015750/

Being Encouraging

I'm sitting here staring at a blank screen trying to figure out what to write and getting stuck because I'm not sure what to write, and all I can think about is that my students must feel the same way sometimes as they're sitting in class having to start writing.  Today alone, I heard several times, "I don't know what to write." No matter how much modeling, instructing, and scaffolding I do, sometimes there will be kids who are still just stuck (like I am right now).

But then something encouraging happened in my classroom today. As I walked around and checked in with students on their first drafts, many of them commented that what they had wasn't good. Even as I reminded them that our first drafts don't have to be great because we get to revise them to make them better, they didn't seem convinced. That was the discouraging part. But then I had some conversations. I made sure those short conversations were focused on encouraging the student that his/her ideas were a good starting point to revise into even better or that the ideas they had were already good. And I saw faces change; I saw attitudes become more positive; I saw students more willing to work; I witnessed students being more confident in their own writing. All from just a few encouraging words.

And, gee, isn't it the same for me? A little encouragement goes a long way. Something to remember...especially when it comes to something as personal as one's own writing. I'm going to convince my inner critic to be more encouraging, I'm going remember to focus on keeping my talk about students' writing encouraging, and I'm going to look for those encouraging reminders for myself.