Sunday, August 17, 2008

Sunday Morning Quiet!
It's Sunday morning, early. I love this time of day. It's the hush before a storm!

When we were young, Sunday morning was always a mad rush to get everyone ready and out the door to be on time for church. It always seemed to me to be a contradiction with what my mom referred to as the "Day of Rest"!

This Sunday, the rest will be focused. It is time to start mentally preparing for the Back to School flurry. 7 days to go before the New Teachers begin their journey with me. 11 days until the big district wide inservice program - my major undertaking! It is always at about this time of the summer for a teacher and still for me that the butterflies emerge - anxiety over what will be the outcome of another year of school.

For teachers, the list looks like this:

• What will the kids be like this year?
• How will I find ways to meet all of their needs?
• Will there be help for me if I need it?
• What will happen with my own family and homelife when the expectations from work multiply?

For me, the list looks like this:

• What will the new teachers be like this year?
• How will I find ways to meet all of their needs?
• Will there be help for me if I need it?
• What will happen with my own family and homelife when the expectations from work multiply?

It is no different. My kids are older. My kids are the teachers. Each of them coming with the same number of differences as the kids in their classrooms. I need to remember to practice my own recommendations:

1. Stay calm.
2. Take time at the beginning of the year to get to know each other. Show them that you care about them.
3. Set expectations for how people will treat each other. Let them help set the expectations.
4. Share the plan for the year - give everyone a sense of direction.
5. Tell them that you will be there to help along the way and mean it.
6. Stay positive by finding one positive thing that each person was able to contribute every day.
7. Ban negativity! It only brings people down. It doesn't solve problems. It creates them!
8. Start small. Remember everyone in the room has the same anxiety as you do!
9. Have fun! Learning should be fun!
10. Above all else, LAUGH! Laughter eases tension. Laughter calms fears. Laughter opens up the mind to take in new learning.

Sunday morning early - the hush before the storm!