Several years ago in Comal ISD, I went to a training called Quantum Learning and I learned some things that continue to drive instruction in my classroom. One lesson was that students don't learn if they are under stress. It is physically impossible for your brain to learn if it is in a stressful state. I remember an example of people not knowing simple things like their birthday or address when they had just experienced a trauma (even though they weren't injured). It was a great presentation where the presenter explained why and how this happened and really made it clear to me how important it was to make my students feel safe, secure and supported. I can't recommend it highly enough and would love to go through the training again myself. For now, I just want to reflect and remember one of the most important things I learned.
There are days when I find myself among many stressed out teachers (shocking? no!) who are trying to cram every strategy they can at their students. Keeping every second of every day full of instruction, constantly trying to cram in everything they need to know. Now, I'm not trying to pick on these teachers. They are extremely hard workers and do so much for students every day. However, when I am around them too much, they stress me out. I always feel like I'm not doing enough. I need more games, more mini lessons, more activities, more task cards and more work for my students. However, more isn't always more for me. When I try to mimic their teachings, I find myself throwing work at my students and rushing them. Feeling like we aren't getting to it all. Feeling like if I don't do every activity that they do, I'm somehow failing my students. Somehow making them fail. Now, I don't know about you, but feeling like I'm failing stresses me out. I'm not necessarily nice when I'm stressed out. I don't make my students feel their most safe and secure. So..... I find that I'm the best teacher when I give my students the time they need. I have to pick the activities we do carefully. Maybe I do the ones I did last year (because they are already made and I know how to use them). Maybe I pick a few from the wonderful strategies that I see these miraculous teachers using. Maybe I try and reuse a strategy that I have seen my students learn from this year and apply it to this new concept. Whatever I do, I try and give it time to take effectiveness. Seriously. Sometimes all my students need is time. In this microwaveable/ drive through dinner society headed from baseball practice to a piano recital, my students need time to let something sink in. They need me to make them feel confident that taking this time doesn't make them a failure. That they will learn what they need to learn and I will give them time do so.
Let's laugh. Let's learn. Let's enjoy each other. Because they really are precious little creatures. Many of them have only been on this Earth for 8 years. Not nearly long enough to stress out or feel like they are failures. They are good enough. They are smart enough. And my biggest job as their teacher is to make sure they know that about themselves.
My break has been so wonderful. Being around my family (especially my daughter!) makes my heart happy. I'm excited to go back to school tomorrow and hear about my students' travels. I'm looking forward to this holiday season with them. They will be excited. I'm determined to enjoy their excitement. Mostly, I'm determined to let them relax and take the time they need to learn.
