Week Eleven

First, thank God the edTPA is over.

(The above picture is from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.)

Moving on, the thing I have been thinking about a lot this week is that what happens in the classroom with the students is a small percentage of what a teacher actually does.  I knew this going into student teaching, but it has been more prominent in my thinking this week.  I think it’s because the edTPA is over.  Not only did the edTPA take up a lot of time, it was always in the back of my mind.  It added another layer of stress to everything else.  Now that it is over, I do feel like my load is lightened, but there is still so much to do.  (I did ask my CT if I could have a heavier hand in planning now that I’m done with the edTPA, and she’s all for it.)  I have just been thinking about all the behind-the-scenes work.  I feel like no matter how much I work, there is always more to do.  I could be looking for a better activity, creating a better worksheet, finding more engaging resources, etc.  The testing, copying, progress-monitoring, grading, trying to get incomplete assignments turned in, meetings, etc. – it’s never ending! 

When I get overwhelmed with the thoughts of the volume of work, I remind myself that I have worked at office jobs, sitting in front of a computer for 8.5 hours a day, and there’s no going back to it!  Working in a school is just the best.  Everything that I do as a teacher is service.  It is teaching kids and helping prepare them for life.  It’s being there for them.  It’s doing good in the world.

Last week in my blog I mentioned trying to see the students in the context of their whole life, not just in the classroom.  Three events this week really drove home this point. 

1. One of our students keeps falling asleep in class.  He falls 100% sound asleep.  It happened once while he was making eye contact with me – we were in the middle of a conversation, and I just saw those eyelids start closing, and the next thing I knew he was asleep.  He has fallen asleep with a pencil in his hand as he is working on something.  I believe it’s related to medication that he takes, but I am not privy to all of the conversations.  When he is himself, this is a student that has a tendency to mess around, be out of his desk, have a lot of energy, shout out answers, etc.  He is not a quiet student, and this can be aggravating at times.  However, the aggravation just melts away when he’s sound asleep, drooling on his desk.  He’s just a little boy.  He can’t help it.  I don’t know what goes on when he leaves school.  But there he is, snoozing away at his desk, and there’s no way he can help it.  I would take his distracting behavior over his sleepiness if I knew that he was feeling OK.  (This situation is being addressed by the school and the child’s mom.) 

2. I was helping one of the students work through a lesson using the Lexia app on an iPad.  This child had not told me anything personal all year.  Out of nowhere he started pouring his heart out to me about what’s going on at home.  It broke my heart.  Here I am, trying to get this kid through a phonics lesson, but his mind was on his parents’ divorce.  I just listened.  I didn’t know what to say.  How can he concentrate on school when that is weighing on him?  What does he care about vowel sounds when he's thinking about his dad leaving?  I know he started to see the school counselor last week, so hopefully that will help.  

3. Lastly, the same student who I was talking about in #2 above got hurt on the playground yesterday.  The children were playing tag, and this student got tagged so he turned and started running.  He ran directly into a piece of playground equipment.  He was bleeding a lot from his head.  If he had been one of my own children, I would have picked him up and carried him to the nurse’s office.  But he’s not my kid, and there was a lot of blood (and admittedly my thoughts went to bloodborne pathogens).  I was worried that he was going to get woozy from seeing the blood because one of my own children has fainted a few times in similar circumstances.  So I sort of put my arm around his shoulder and got a grip on his jacket.  I talked to him all the way to the nurse so I could try to gauge if he was still “with me.” We made it to the nurse and she cleaned him up.  The student went home.  He was back today and didn’t even end up needing stitches, which was remarkable to me because he’d bled a lot.  I wanted to give this kid a big hug, but I didn’t.  I did make it clear to him that I am so happy he is OK and that he was back at school.

These events were good reminders that these kids are not one-dimensional.  They are not just students who are either compliant or non-compliant during a particular lesson.  They are each unique children of God with their own experiences, hardships, and lives.  Keeping these in mind will help me to be a more compassionate teacher and one who demonstrates Illinois Professional Teaching Standard 1L, which states, “The competent teacher uses information about students’ individual experiences, families, cultures, and communities to create meaningful learning opportunities and enrich instruction for all students.”

My goal for the week is to use the opportunity to have a heavier hand in planning to really do a good job, and to plan good and engaging lessons for my students, regardless of individual experiences, families, cultures, and communities.