It’s Friday afternoon, around 2pm. My students are working on some word problems at the vertical whiteboards, engaged in the task and happily chatting about math (and who is dating who). I cycle around the room, red expo marker in hand. I check in with groups, circle an interesting strategy that students came up with to discuss during consolidation, and listen in to the math conversations. Class is humming along, brains are thinking. Things are going well.
And I’m completely exhausted.
After a full week of teaching, all I want is for the bell to ring, trudge to my car, drive home, check my mail, snuggle with Puck, then take a 2 hour nap. My Shadowrun gaming group is meeting at my place tonight, and I’ve got to get rest before we are up running the shadows until 1am.
I do my best to stay energized and positive, but my brain is getting fuzzy and I really need that bell to ring.
At long last, the weekend chimes ring out, and students rush out to do a million different things. I’d love to be right there with them, but I know that my Friday afternoon ritual needs to happen, otherwise next week will be much more challenging.
I’ve known many different types of educators in my time. Some can write their lesson plans on a post it note and leave school at 2:36pm. Others create entire manuals for each day, staying until 9pm each night (I do not recommend). A brave/foolish few just simply wing it each day (I do not recommend). On the spectrum of 1 being “winging it” to 10 being “massive over planner”, I’m about a 7. I can’t leave school without my agendas for the next week all set, the supplies organized, and my email inbox all clear. If I don’t check those off my list before leaving, my weekend is laced with stress and uncertainty.
So I shake off the cobwebs, steel myself, and spend the next couple of hours getting tasks done that “Monday morning me” will be very excited about. Copies are made, supplies organized and put away, test retakes are graded and recorded, Canvas is updated. I empty the late work bin and stamp the work, filing each away in its respective class folder. All the tasks that never seem to get done during the week are finally taken care of.
As I’m about to head out, weary but proud of myself, I open up my email one last time. The previous week we had an SST meeting for a student who has not been their best self this year. Math class has been a real struggle for them, and I expressed my frustration at the meeting about how I knew they were capable of so much more, but they kept spending their time and energy trying to be someone they are not. The parent was incredibly supportive of the teachers, administration, and their child. It was a really great meeting, and I was really hopeful to see some positive change.
And you know what? I did.
This week the student was focused, worked really hard, and was much more positive in their words and actions. During our vertical whiteboard time they were a leader in their group, and figured out a new strategy for solving systems of equations by substitution. By Friday they were solving systems like a pro, with a happy smile on their face.
So before I left school, I made myself pause, sit down, and write the student’s parent an email to let them know how well their child did that week in class. It took me about five minutes to write a simple message letting them know the positive things I saw their child do that week.
I sent it off, then phoned a colleague for a few minutes before heading home. In that short span of time I had already received a reply from the parent, thanking me for the email and exclaiming how happy they were to hear the good news. I could almost see the smiling face behind the words.
It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by the everyday tasks of teaching. Grading, lesson planning, organizing, meetings, etc. It becomes a lot. I realize that I can be so focused on getting the “must get done” tasks finished, that I forget about the “should get done” and “this would be nice to do” tasks that can go a long way. A five minute email can really make somebody’s day better.
How many students do I have in my classroom who do the right thing, work hard every day, but don’t get the recognition they deserve because they don’t have a “look at me” type of personality? I bet I’ve had over a thousand students go through my classroom over the years who simply did the things I asked them to without being flashy about it and I took them for granted.
So now I am determined to add one more item to my Friday afternoon ritual list: Send at least two happy emails home to parents, letting them know the awesome things their child did in math class this week.
10 minutes a week well spent.
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