April 2024
April seems to always hold two things, often in juxtaposition. One moment, a Northerner like me is enjoying the first flowers, only to wake up to them covered in snow. We pull on our warmest sweaters so we can also maybe wear sandals.
We teachers are still in the thick of our content, meetings, planning, and testing; and yet, the number of days left is finally small enough to count. We are athletes, carrying the exhaustion of our efforts, but also twitching our fingers to ramp up adrenaline for the finish, wondering just how much we have left in the tank.
When I find my tank is nearing empty, and the opportunity to fill up is not quite close enough, I must lean into my best habits. What are your strengths as a teacher? Where can you give yourself a break? Where are your “moments of zen”?
The best compliment I ever received from a student was, “She doesn’t talk too much. She lets us try instead.” When the pressure ramps up, I try to step back and let students see what they can do. I think of it as pushing harder by letting go. I use more VNPS work as part of the existing lessons, add stand-alone posters for consolidation and Closure, and use the STTS Hot Seat to make good, old-fashioned computation practice less old-fashioned. And my best moments of zen come from realizing some students’ thinking and discourse is so on point that I can tell them, “Take the wheel.”
Endurance is a combination of choosing the right pace and fueling yourself. Your pace comes from your strengths, and your fuel comes from the breaks and moments you give yourself. So, do yourself the kindness of holding both of those. Summer is coming.
Jocelyn Dunnack
jocelyndunnack@cpm.org