Teaching Log Etc.: Reflection

Yesterday we had after school meetings. Each grade met with either the next grade up or the one before to compare notes on curriculum.

At one point during our meeting we were discussing how to get parents involved with reading to their children more... for the purpose of enjoying reading more than ratcheting up skills. I proposed that before conferences we send home a reflection questionnaire, or during conferences we "help" parents figure out the best times in their busy schedules to do this in order to emphasize the importance.

I made the statement: "We all need more opportunities for reflection: Teachers, students and parents."

Everyone had a good laugh. I'm friends with them so I didn't feel humiliated, just let-down. "Oh, Evenewra, they said (with my real name) their just isn't time for that." Same as they might say about the fact that I try to eat a big breakfast each morning, do yoga etc. All those things I really work at doing.

My inner voice used to say, "Oh, you'll have to give that up once you're a mom." So far I've had to plan more carefully, but haven't had to give up anything.

It's true that limited time is a very big issue, but how that time is spent is flexible. Another teacher on my team did remember that before conferences I had my students do a self-reflection which we then showed the parents and was a jumping-off point for conferences. For some it was like, "Oh, isn't that cute?" For others we said, "Wow, under 'When I need help I go to...' he wrote 'no on.'" Is that true? Does he never ask for help? How can we help him learn to get help?

I told myself last night that I would get up early to get all of my important work done this morning like cleaning etc., but I'm taking a few minutes here because I feel agitated about the idea of not taking time to process all the information we work at so hard everyday. How can we NOT make time to reflect? Why waste hours in our lives and work, teaching and learning bits and pieces that will never go below the surface?

Today is my "schmooze" at school. The most important thing here is to discuss what position I want next year. But I'm tempted to bring up professional development too. Our last professional development day provided a list of 3 workshops we could attend. The two I went to were both technology based. One was about using a technology that the school can't afford to put in my classroom. (Useless). The other was about using power point. The best I can figure out to use it for is to spice of my lectures... if I gave lectures! The night was useless to me.

What if instead it had been like the old grad school days where we would sit and reflect and write in journals about our own memories from school, or we would be asked pointed questions that helped us reveal hidden prejudices towards our kids etc. I miss using writing to get to deep and meaningful revelations. (I had a reputation in my cohort for doing this to excess. In my time there I filled two composition books with notes from the classroom.)

Anyway, time IS limited. So off to my day. Thank G-d I took these 15 minutes to write here. I could have been doing youtube instead!