Teacher Journal 2

I recently texted this prompt to a friend who is in her last year of teaching English before retiring after almost 30 years in the classroom. Here's the prompt:

What would you have been grateful to know sooner in your teaching career that you know now? If possible share that info with a colleague who is newer to the profession if possible. 

If I could answer that question, I might give my younger self the following advice:

1. It's a marathon, not a sprint. 

Take lunch breaks and don't work through lunch with students in the room for the first 10 years in the classroom. 

Along those same lines, I would also reduce some of my grading load. I would have one box of ream paper that I graded from just tests during one year. That didn't also include things like homework and binder checks or any digital work during the year. There was a level of torture in grading 96 European History AP exams with 2 essays per kid plus a short answer question. The amount of bad handwriting I had to endure is meritorious of some type of prize equivalent to a Pulitzer, Booker or Nobel.  

2. Give grace when its healthy. 

High school is a stressful time of transition for many students. Teachers have long had strategies to build in both equity and fairness into the school system. Dropping the lowest test grade of the semester, giving out homework passes, giving an extension on a paper without a penalty are a few of the tried and true methods teachers have used. 

3. Don't be duped and manipulated. 

Wisdom is knowing the difference between a student who is being lazy and needs boundaries and a student who genuinely needs an extension on a deadline. I recognize that thinking that a student is lazy is not a charitable view. In our current classroom culture after the pandemic the pendulum has swung to an extreme. Deadlines are against some school's policies. Students then don't engage in the iterative learning through the semester and then expect some type of miracle learning at the end of the semester. Kids often appreciate boundaries and expect adults to enforce them. You are adult, don't be afraid to act like one when a child is acting childish. Help your student become the better version of themselves and find self esteem through a challenging accomplishment.  

Teacher Journal Challenge

One of my teacher friends told me that she plans to retire at the end of the year. Last year, I had an impulse to start journaling my thoughts as I progressed through the school year. I left the school not having written a single journal entry. I am trying to preserve my memories by posthumously journaling about my years in the classroom, but lament that I didn't do it sooner. It would have been amazing if had I written things as I was experiencing them. Alas, the grind of teaching put me in such a state of exhaustion that I had nothing left to write with at the end of my days. 

My teacher friend is in the English department, so maybe she has more intrinsic motivation to write--motivation that I lacked in the history department. Maybe she can succeed where I failed? 

I reached out to my English department friend to ask if she would consider journaling. I shared that I wished I had journaled through my years in the classroom before I left. 

"Two people have given me journals in the last week!" she replied. 

I asked if I could give her a weekly prompt for her journals. She said yes. I am thrilled. 

If sharing my journal prompts is good for one teacher, why not share them with more? The idea for this blog series is born. 

The goal is to publish a new journal prompt each week on Thursdays. I will enable comments so that  you can post your own response to the blog, should you choose. 

Week 1 Journal Prompt: 

As you transitioned out of summer and back into work, what went well? What was challenging about the shift? What did you look forward to, what did you dread?

When I texted that to my friend, she immediately asked, "Did AI write that?"

"No! I did." I replied.

Upon reflection, I agreed, it did seem like it was written by a bot. It is a little, generic, or mild as is the AI writing style. So if you want something a little "spicier," I will provide a second prompt. For the slightly spicier version of the back to school journal prompt, here's a "hot salsa" prompt:

What's the latest micromanaging policy from admin that you will not miss one iota when they change their minds or their attention moves to the next "shiny monkey" later this year or next?

Valentine's Day Cards in History or English

 💖💙💛 Historical Heartbeats: Spreading Love Through Time in Your Classroom  💚💝💜

As a kid and as a mom, I loved elementary school Valentine's day rituals. That kindergarten year was particularly memorable with my son. Being the teacher-mom, I knew that I shouldn't help my son make that box for his Valentine's Day cards. We sat at the kitchen table and grabbed our thick pile of construction paper and discussed what he wanted to do for his Valentine's day box. He decided to make a penguin and glue it to the top of his shoe box. He drew the design himself, used the scissors himself, and glued the whole thing together. We had fun and we were both so proud of his box. 

The next morning I had the small luxury of walking him to school before heading into teach. This is a special treat as a teacher mom, it's a somewhat rare occasion that I have the morning free for morning drop off. When we arrived, my son was apparently the only kid who actually made his own box. All the other boxes looked professionally done. My son immediately deflated as he thought he had the worst box in the class. What he didn't realize was that he had the only kid-made-box of the 24 wiggly students in that room. 

Regardless, he rebounded. By the time he came home, he had a big smile on his face and lots of candied cards in his box. Filled with sugar and the joy it brings him, he reveled in the time honored Valentine's Day ritual of the card exchange between classmates.

Somewhere along the way we eschew the small seasonal rituals which bring great joy of learning to our adolescents. Not only do we not decorate our classrooms for each holiday (how could we, we are buried with stacks of papers to grade, parent and student emails and online gradebooks to maintain), we don't do some of these fun rituals. Maybe by high school these holiday rituals would be stale. Still, a few years ago I started a card exchange on Valentine's Day in my classroom. 

I have had a lot of fun over the years with my students on Valentine's Day as both a college prep, ESL and AP teacher with this lesson. I ask students to make a Valentine's Day card from the perspective of a historical figure that we have studied. The kids would come up with some brilliant stuff. 

John Locke: You've got a Locke on my Heart.

Catherine the Great: Please come climb my social ladder.

Some successful cards were short and pithy just like the tiny cards in my son's Penguin decorated card box. Others were longer verses. There's many ways to do this!

From the Perspective of Jean Jacques Rousseau:

As the ink of my quill dances upon the parchment, my thoughts are consumed by the enlightenment that is you. In the spirit of reason and the pursuit of happiness, I offer you these words;

In the social contract of our hearts, my love,

A pact forged with reason, a gift from above.

Embracing direct democracy, so true,

With every heartbeat, I choose you.

In the garden of reason, our love does bloom,

An intellectual embrace, dispelling gloom.

As we navigate life's philosophical stream,

You are the sunbeam of my romantic dream.

Emile may have been my written guide,

But you, my love, are my joy, my pride.

Through the book of life, hand in hand we turn,

In the school of love, together we learn.

No chains of convention shall bind our hearts,

For reason and love, a symphony that imparts.

With every dialogue and every kiss,

Our minds entwine in pure bliss.

In the forum of love, let reason preside,

With passion and logic, side by side.

A Valentine's ode to our shared delight,

In the enlightenment of love, we take flight.

So here's to you, my philosopher-queen,

To the harmony, our love does bring.

Happy Valentine's Day, my reason, my rhyme,

In the book of love, you are my prime.

With reason and affection,

Jean Rousseau 📜💖 

So without further ado, I bring a Valentine's Day card assignment to you!!

Please visit my Teacher's Pay Teacher's page for this free download. 

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American Imperialism in Hawaii DBQ Skill Builder

🌺 Getting students ready for the DBQ? Wanting to embed pre-AP skills into your college prep history class? Feeling the winter blahs? Check out this modified DBQ on American Imperialism in Hawaii. 🌺 Unleash the Spirit of Aloha in Your Classroom: Teach about American Imperialism through writing and discussion! 🌎

Aloha, fellow educators! 🍎✨ We are past the honeymoon period of January. I love teaching in January, minus the cold and flu season. The gloomy weather means calmer students: why are students like solar powered batteries? I digress. We have no big tests yet because we've just begun learning the new material. No tests to give means no tests to grade. Teaching is so much more fun without those parent emails or student tears from the inevitable disappointment and temporary setbacks which are the inevitable rhythm of education. January is all teaching and planning. My two favorite parts of the job.

As a winter warm-up to the AP testing season or even for a regular US History as an pre-AP skill builder, I've created a modified Document-Based Question (DBQ) lesson plan that covers the following key vocabulary and concepts: 🏝️✏️

Concepts that are more universal on the theme of Imperialism

Social Darwinism

Annexation

Territory

Cash Crop

Sovereignty

Tariff

Coup

Details that are particular to Hawaii

King Kamehameha

King Kamehameha III

Pineapple business

Sugar plantations

Pidgin

Queen Liliuokalani

Sanford Dole

This is a great reading and writing skill builder for either US History or US History AP. The lesson asks students to engage in active reading using a "thoughts, questions, epiphanies" reading strategies. Next, the lesson builds expository essay writing skills in the "DBQ" format. Through the lesson students will be asked to to group documents and explain the groupings. The lesson finishes by asking students to write a sample thesis using what they have learned. The lesson includes am answer key with one possible way to group the documents and a model thesis statement.  🌟📚

Please check out the lesson on American Imperialism in Hawaii on my Teachers Pay Teacher's page and Happy Teaching!!

www.EmersonEdu.org

Emerson Education Teacher's Page

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