Stressed Out in December? Ten Suggestions.

December 11, 2017

     It's not secret that teachers are stressed in the days leading up to Winter Break. There is a lot going on in our personal lives as well as in our classrooms. The demands of the curriculum that must be covered and the looming standardized tests don't vanish just because a holiday season is approaching. Add excited students to the mix and the ingredients are all in place for serious teacher stress.
     Although there are many different ways to deal with stress in general, there are some that are particularly helpful for teachers and that don't involve chocolate and alcohol. Here goes:
1. Go to your school’s media center and escape into a good book or read a newspaper for 10-15 minutes.
2. Talk things over with a sympathetic colleague or mentor.
3. Take a brisk walk around the perimeter of your building.
4. Refuse to take it personally when students are rude or disruptive.
5. Find a quiet spot and practice deep breathing exercises.
6. Slowly count to one hundred before you speak in anger. Still stressed? Keep counting until you feel yourself relaxing.
7. Try to lighten your mood by changing your perspective. Find a way to laugh at yourself or the situation.
8. If you have too much to do, divide each task into manageable amounts and get busy.
9. Turn on some music to change your mood.
10. There are lots of free apps for mindfulness or meditation. If you would like to try one, a good place to start is with Calm (https://www.calm.com)

It's Not a Happy Holiday for All Students

December 7, 2017

               For many students, the contrast between their classmate’s lives and their own can be particularly painful during December. It’s important to keep in mind that not everyone in your class is going to have a merry holiday filled with presents and loving families. Children of poverty are not the only ones who struggle this time of year. You may have students whose home lives appear on the surface to be happy, but they may be dealing with family conflicts, family substance abuse, or any other of the perils of modern life that can be so difficult for all children.

               Of course, it is only natural that caring teachers would want to celebrate the joys of the season with their students, but thoughtful teachers will strive to keep the impact of the holidays on their classrooms as low key as possible. Here are some ways you can keep your students focused on school instead of the holidays in the days ahead.

·        When students veer into discussions of the holiday, gently steer them back to learning. You don’t have to be the Grinch to do this, just be gentle, pleasant, and firm.

·        When your students beg for a class party, offer a celebration after the holidays to commemorate classroom achievements instead.

·        If students bring you gifts, handle them tactfully and as privately as possible. Honor the giver with a sincere thank you card rather than making a big deal of the gift in front of students who were not able to give gifts.

·        Recognize that the distraction and excited buzz that many students feel is completely contagious.  If you are used to one or two students being off task, expect to see many students off task now. Add in activities that help students stay on task: use manipulatives, have them work in pairs, use checklists and choice boards...do whatever will appeal to your students’ interests so that they will want to work.

A Service Project Where Everyone Learns

December 4, 2017

     Although this is traditionally the season of giving, not all of students will be able to participate in the many charitable activities that occur in schools everywhere this time of year. While some students will bring in heavy bags of canned goods or armloads of warm winter clothing, many students and their families do not have the means to do so. The challenge for a compassionate teacher is to find charitable activities where every student can participate.
     One of the best ways to do this is to have students play an online game that allows them to learn and help others at the same time without having to spend any of their own money. Free Rice (www.freerice.com) is an addictive charitable game that any student who can read can play. For every correct answer, ten grains of rice is donated to the World Food Programme.  It is a legitimate enterprise with thousands of players around the world--and loads of fun to play.
     The photo above is a banner my students and I made to celebrate the total number of grains of rice they donated in one month several years ago. After they learned to play the game, we made it a class goal that they would use their spare time in class to play the game to help others less fortunate. (We were fortunate enough to have a one-to-one laptop classroom.) They set a goal near the end of January that they would try to raise one million grains of rice by the end of the school year in June. They reached that goal by the end of February. The banner is a representation of how proud my students were at being able to help others. And what a gratifying way to spend any extra time in class: a shared class project that provides differentiated learning opportunities for all players, does not cost students anything but time and effort, and encourages students to do good deeds. It's worth a try.