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.

I Wasn't Going to Blog Today, But...

It was a long second day of school. My students were doing their reading MAP test all day, so as I monitored, I also worked on checking in beginning of the year paperwork, and read some picture books I'm considering using in class later this year so I could assess how they might fit in, and I got to know my students better by reading their responses to the first day of school questionnaire I gave them (thank you so much for sharing, Katherine!), and I started inputting data on my overview sheet so I could get a quick glance of summer growth or slide. That was pretty much my day. And then I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home to get a few items to get us through the rest of this week (this is what happens when I don't go on the weekend). Sidenote: It's really time for me to get back into the school year routine.

Anyhow...by the time I sat down and could look at my computer, I was exhausted. And I'd had a headache since I woke up. And I'm hungry. And I figured I'd just skip blogging today. I mean, it's not like I made a committed declaration to blog every day. It's not like I have to blog. It's not like anything major happened to write about. . . . . .and there's the crux of it. See, now that I started this teaching/writing blog thing, I realize throughout my day there are moments when I think I could blog about that tonight. There are times during the day when I think Hmmm, maybe I could figure out my thinking about this by "talking" it through in writing. And the fact that I didn't want to write? It probably meant that I should. Why? Because how many times will I have a student in my classroom who doesn't want to write? Spoiler alert: Every. Single. Day. So many times my students probably feel like I do tonight. They're tired. They don't want to write. They have other things on their mind. They don't feel great. They don't have any idea what to write about because nothing happened. And there it is again. That crux thing. If I can't figure out what to write about when I don't have anything to write about, how will I ever be able to help my students through the same thing?

And then I remembered that lesson on small moments and how easily they can be made into something to write about. So I opened up my blogger window and started to write. Because I know I need to model for my students. And I bet I'll come back to this post sometime as an example of what happens when you just start writing even if you think you have nothing to write about. And you know what? This post kind of wrote itself as I worked through my thinking. I was going to talk about how much better I got to know my students through the questionnaire (what a great use of testing time for me!) and that I have a book recommendation for each of my new students jotted down and ready to go. I was also thinking I could share with you the most joyful moment of my day - it was when...oh, wait, maybe I'll save that seed to write about another day when I feel like I have no idea what to write about because, you know what? Somehow in writing about why I didn't want to write today, I have a blog post written.

Lesson of the day: