Although this blog is typically about my hiking, I do have a professional life and in that life I am a teacher of 8th grade Spanish. I have another week of school left and I've decided to throw my thoughts about the year out to the universe, mainly so that I never forget what I learned this year.
I've been teaching off and on for thirty years. I started out teaching at a small Christian school and then went into public education after I got my teaching credentials. I have seen a lot of things change over the years and teaching through the perils of Covid, the pivot to on-line instruction and then the return to the classroom for a "normal" year this year has stretched me tremendously.
In August we had several days of professional development before school started and although I've attended a lot of PD there is one thing that a presenter did this year that has stuck with me the entire year. He showed a picture of a class of elementary children and front and center was a little boy flipping off the camera. We all laughed at the picture and then he said "How many of you noticed the two girls standing in the back row?" And until he pointed them out I had only focused on the boy with the bad behavior. I realized how often I have not noticed the good, quiet compliant students because they are good, quiet and compliant. They are also the students that I have a hard time remembering their names. But the boy who flipped off the camera I would have noticed and learned his name probably the first day of school.
I resolved that I would go into this year seeing the quiet ones.
Then the year began. Everything came at me to try to shake that resolution.
My 6th period (last period of the day) had some major heavy hitters of poor behavior. The FIRST DAY of school I visited the dean to discuss ideas about one of the students in the classroom. There was NO honeymoon period which pre-covid really was a thing. Trying to teach 6th period was like playing whack-a-mole with multiple poor student behaviors. I also had a group of mean girls in my first period which were very challenging. I was frustrated and I wanted to quit. I cried at home multiple times. Several times I just about walked out of the building and in fact, one day I did. I went home sick after 2nd period so I wouldn't have to face 6th period.
I was tormented by thoughts of quitting. I envisioned quitting multiple times a day. I dreamed about just walking away, what I would say and how I would do it. If I could have quit, I would have. But I stuck with it because I did not want to potentially lose my health insurance or my house.
Then in October I learned about another opportunity for professional development called a professional growth plan where I could get lots of free clock hours and also design what I wanted to do. I decided to do a project where I made weekly positive phone calls home.
I have occasionally done positive phone calls but never made it a consistent part of my weekly routine. The decision to do this changed my life and helped me fall in love with teaching and with my students again.
Part of the professional development involved researching how to do a good positive phone call home and the rewards of doing them. I already knew their power because after teaching for 30 years I know that if I can catch a potential problem student being good the first couple weeks of school and call home with a positive phone call, that kid and I will likely have a good relationship for the whole year. And if I need to call home later on with a not so positive call the parents are much more likely to hear what I have to say and support me.
But I have not done a lot of positive phone calls for good kids. This was all about to change.
I started by putting a sticky note on my desk with 1st through 6th period. Throughout the week I would look for someone to do a positive phone call for from each class. When I saw a kid doing well, I would write their name and what they'd done next to their name. Then on Fridays before leaving for the weekend I would call the parents of the child.
Within just a few weeks I no longer dreaded going to work anymore. Talking with a parent about how great their kid was made them and me happy! It also broke the power of the negative thought cycle and I'd walk into the weekend leaving my cares and frustrations about school behind me instead of stressing about things all weekend. I started to sleep better. I started to notice and see the quiet ones. My mental health improved.
I made it a point to stand outside my door and greet students by name even when they ignored me or did not respond back to me. I went to some after school activities to cheer kids on. I attended the school Culture Fair. I put more time and energy into trying to develop relationships with kids than I ever have before. And slowly but surely it began to pay off. Some kids who disliked my class began to express how much they liked it.
Shifting some kids around also helped. A few kids from 6th period were moved into some of my other class periods and just getting them away from that group changed the dynamics with them. A couple kids moved away and a couple left to attend Virtual Academy. And I found myself genuinely sad to see them go.
This week will be my last week with this group of students. And I've fallen in love with them. I am looking forward to chaperoning the 8th grade dance on Thursday and seeing them dressed up. I want to sign their yearbooks on Tuesday and tell them how much I will miss them. Because I will. I look back at the contrast between the beginning of the year and the end and I am amazed. The time and effort I put into making those phone calls were seeds that have blossomed into a rich and beautiful harvest.
Below are some resources that I found about positive phone calls.
