A Teacher's Guide to Surviving the Week Before Holiday Break

T'was the week before holiday break... 

...and all through the school, the kids were super hyper while the teachers tried to keep their cool. The coffee bar was stocked full of strong winter brew, with lots of chocolate and candy to get teachers through. Administration and crisis team had walkie's on and ready to go, preparing for the worst, but hoping it wouldn't be so. The nurse and custodian were prepared too, flu season had come and they knew just what to do. The secretaries were ready with fast hands on those phones, to get the back up guest teacher, good 'ole Mrs. Jones. Teachers were creatively mixing fun with required, finishing up the grading period, and feeling quite tired.  Secret Santa gift giving had started among staff, with little gifts and sneaking around, causing some people to laugh. So, how does this school remain so positive and at ease? They followed these survival tips and it was a BREEZE!

Survival Tip #1- It's OK To Take A Break

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This goes for you and for your students. While you are feeling rushed and hurried and stressed about getting your end of quarter grades done and holiday shopping complete, the kids are also feeling the stress and rush of it all. If you are feeling overwhelmed, take a few minutes before the kids come into your class to listen to quiet music, relax and set your intention for the day. When you see your students are struggling to focus. Stop your lesson. Give them a minute to turn and talk, stretch their legs, or even jump onto www.gonoodle.com for an energizer or a soothing refocus activity. If you are feeling like you are getting frustrated or can't focus, tell your students you need a brain break and put on some quiet music and let them have 5 minutes of quiet free time for drawing, reading, writing as long as they are quiet. Brainpop and Youtube have lots of short educational videos you can even put on to just have a few minutes to regroup.

Survival Tip #2 Plan Ahead!



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Of course you have a plan for your week, but how thorough is that plan? Do you have your materials out and organized? Is that holiday craft sorted and ready for students? Do you know what assessments you will use and which ones you won't? What are your Learning Targets and Success Criteria? The more you have organized ahead of time, the less instructional time lost. This is the week your students will not be able to be quiet during transitions. They will be chatty in the hallway, they will be chatty at their desks. Plan in opportunities for movement and talk. Put the students in charge of their own learning. This is NOT the week to have long transitions between activities while you gather the materials for the next class or lesson. YOU WILL LOSE THEM! Have everything plus extra planned out and ready. Keep the pace quick and engaging and make what they are learning fun.

Survival Tip #3 SMILE



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There is a ton of research on the impact of a smile. A simple smile can brighten someone else's day. A smile goes a long way in making others feel better, but it surprisingly does wonders for your own emotional health too. Try it now, while you are not feeling impatient or frustrated, to see the impact. Put on your biggest, most fake smile, and try to leave it there for as long as you can. If you can, take a silly selfie or get on Snapchat and send a pic to a friend. Next time you are angry or feeling yourself get frustrated, put on your biggest most fake smile and stick with it for a few minutes. It works! I do this regularly, and even though I may look silly or feel strange doing it, it has helped to change my mindset in the moment. Teach this trick to your students when you see one or more that may need it. You'll be so happy to hear the giggles from your class.

Survival Tip #4 Remember, You May Be The Best Part of A Student's Day



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Sometimes the student that drives you the most crazy, is the same student that needs you the most. We don't know what happens when our students leave our room each day, but based on the stories they tell us, we know it isn't the same for everyone. If they are lucky, they go home to loving, caring homes where they are cared for and have everything provided to them. Sadly though, many of our students don't go home to this at all. They go home to a place of stress and chaos. So many of our students will be alone at home over break, due to both parents working or parents not being able to afford daycare.  Knowing this can cause anxiety in many students. They like the structure you provide them and they know they get breakfast and lunch every day at school. They know someone is there to listen to them and guide them. This week, those students, the ones that get to you the most at times, need you the most. They need to know you will be thinking about them. They need to know that is is ok that their traditions may not be the same as everyone else's in the classroom. Most especially, they need to know that you will miss them. Make this clear to them during this week.

Survival Tip #5 Get Involved With Staff Activities




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Does your school do a Secret Santa, ornament exchange, staff lunch, or Ugly Christmas Sweater competition? If they have any activities that help you to bond as a staff, this is the week to jump on board. Everyone is feeling overwhelmed and wants to just get through these last few days. Lord help us if we have a full moon on top of it all. For me, family obligations and my long drive have gotten in the way of me participating in Happy Hour or after school events up through now, but these are things I can participate in while I am at work. Giving small gifts to someone and seeing the smile on their face, or hearing how much they enjoyed trying to figure out who their person is helps to build relationships with your co-workers. If that's too much for you, or it is too late, jump on board for the Ugly Christmas sweater competition, or the staff luncheon. It is a time for you to all talk and laugh and share what you will be doing over break.

I hope these 5 easy tips will get you through this last week before break. I wish you the happiest of holidays! Enjoy your time with family and friends. Drink, relax, and rest up for the last half of the school year!

Promoting Kindness in the Classroom

November is the time of year when most people stop and take a moment to be thankful for the wonderful things in their life. It is usually a time when teachers have students write about what they are thankful for too. But, what happens during the other months of school? Are you promoting kindness and gratitude throughout the school year, or mostly in November? This post is to help you to continue the gratitude and kindness throughout the entire school year. 

Last year I read a lot about promoting kindness in the classroom. I tried to find activities that would help my students to be thankful each day and also to be kind to one another. The little steps I took made a difference in my class, and in how I felt each day coming to work. I hope a few of these tips and resources will help you along the way too. 

The first step is practicing gratitude on your own and modeling it for students. Develop a routine with students where each day you have what you are thankful for written on the board or in a morning message to students. Each day on my board, I had three words of the day such as, "Always be kind!" or "Do your best!". Under that I wrote what I was thankful for. It could be as simple as, "I am thankful I woke up on time today." or "I am thankful to hear you listened so well for the guest teacher." Students would enter the room, and write their own thankful statement as part of the morning routine. I had them do this in their assignment notebooks so parents could see them, but some teachers prefer to have a worksheet that students add to each day. I created one for you that you can use. The first page is for a daily gratitude and the second page is for a once a week reflection. 

Link to free template

This could also be part of the sharing portion of your morning meeting once a week, or at the end of day meeting. Some teachers do Friday letters to families and this could be added to that. Also, I suggest having a place in your classroom where students can reflect and thank others. I had a "Reflection Board" which was used as a parking lot for questions to me, questions to the class, compliments for others, or compliments for the class. It was a great place for me to see students' thoughts and ideas and a great way for students to share. I got the white board sheets in a roll from the Dollar Store! 

Another thing you can do to promote kindness in the classroom is to have students recognize one another for being kind. They need to hear it from their peers as well as you. I had a Boogie Board like this in my classroom that my students loved to use instead of their whiteboard each day. In the beginning of the year, I modeled how I chose a student for the day by giving specific feedback to that student for why they earned the Boogie Board. "Natalie is earning the Boogie Board today because she showed perseverance during math yesterday when the problems got tough for her." Soon, students were ready to nominate a peer that they had also seen being a visible learner in the classroom. I just used an old pencil box and students once a week would nominate another student to use the board. When I pulled a name, the student who was the nominator said why they nominated that person. Sometimes there would be 3-5 students who nominated the same person and they would all share why they nominated the student who received the board. You should have seen the pride the nominee showed by hearing the compliments about their work. To prevent the same students from getting the board each week, I kept a checklist and each week students who were not nominated could have their names put into the pencil box. This way, EVERY student, even those who had a hard time in class with behaviors would be recognized by a peer. 

The third way to promote kindness in the classroom is to use these little templates that I created for the year starting in November. I don't think students know each other well enough to do this earlier in the year, so November is a great time to start. 

Get the template for these HERE.

My rule for these templates is students cannot write, "Thank you for being my best friend." They are also encouraged to look for people who don't have one hung up to find something the could thank them for. I had them in a little basket and students would grab one when they finished work or if they had free time. Once finished, they would hand them to the receiver, and the receiver was the one who got to hang up in the room. I hung mine in rows along the shelves for everyone to see. I sent them home at the end of the month and put out the next month's shape to continue the kindness.


Finally, there are a ton of kindness and gratitude books out there for a read aloud with your students. Click HERE for 13 books that could get you started!


I would love to hear how you promote kindness and gratitude in the classroom year round. Please comment or ask questions below. 

Parent Teacher Conferences.. Prepare Yourself My Friends

If you have been teaching for a while, I am sure you have experienced the wide array of personalities that spawned those beautiful learners you get to work with every day. Parent Teacher Conferences are the one time you get to sit down and spill out everything you have learned about your students in 10-15 minutes. If you are lucky, you get to do this twice a year. They take skill, organization, and honesty. You have to show parents that you care and that you are an advocate for their child. I will get to all of my tips and tricks to changing your conferences into Student Led Conferences at the bottom of this post, but first, I thought I would help you to get to know the parents that you will be working with so you can be prepared for anything that comes up.

The Crier

This is the parent who is either so proud of the accomplishments their child has made, they don't know what else to do about their child's misbehavior in class, or they are just so overwhelmed with their own personal life that they end of crying at some point during the conference. I have to admit that with 5 children, I have shed a tear or two for all of the above reasons at conferences. This parent needs reassurance that you are there for their child, you will do whatever it takes, and you are not giving up. If the parent only talks about their own personal life and their own turmoil (which has also happened) try to listen for a minute and then turn the conversation back to the child by saying, "I am so sorry you are going through so much. Here is a tissue. But, we only have 10 minutes together, so let's try to focus in on Courtney for now."  If they are happy tears, just keep going and acknowledge the hard work that the student and parent have put in. If they are sad or frustrated tears, brainstorm with the parent and student on how you can help the student reach his or her goals. 

The Demander

This is the parent that demands more for their child.  In my second year of teaching I actually had a parent slam their hand down on the table and say, "So what do we have to do to get my kid into the gifted program next year." They demand special opportunities, "My son needs tutoring. I have no clue how to do common core and cannot help him at home. The school district should be providing this for him." They may demand more homework or less homework. Basically, this is the parent that isn't very nice about asking for something that they want for their child. The first thing to do is to take a breath, pause and listen. Write down what they would like, and try to see what you can do to help. It is best to remember that this parent isn't just being abrupt to get under your skin, they just want to get to the point and quickly. Even though it may seem odd to you, they really want what they think is best for their child. 

The Blank Stare or Nervous Parent

This is the parent that feels uncomfortable with a teacher. Maybe they were raised to not speak up to a teacher or had a bad experience with a teacher of their own in the past. Maybe they just have so much on their mind that they just want to get through this 10-15 minutes with you and then move onto their next child's conference. Whatever the reason, this is the parent that just stares and listens. It is hard to get them to ask any questions and produce a conversation. You and/or the student are definitely doing most of the talking on this one. 

The Educator

This conference will go two ways. The educator is the parent who also teaches, works in a school, is on the school board, or is an administrator. If this person is happy with what they've seen coming home, you haven't heard from them. If they are not happy, you have probably heard from them at least once a week. This is the person that expects you to be at the same level as they see themselves and their school colleagues at. They know common core standards and they know best teaching practices. You may feel comfortable with this teacher, or you may feel uncomfortable the whole time wondering if you are being judged. You are bound to hear, "We do that in my school, you don't need to explain it to me." You may also hear, "Can you please send me a copy of that. I love this." If you are doing student led conferences, this parent will love this idea and may even expect it. 

The Negotiator

This is the parent that is not very happy with their child's grades and they feel they can negotiate to get them higher. They may not be happy with a comment on the report card and want it removed. Maybe they feel that you were being a bit harsh on an assignment. This parent will offer up evidence to get you to change that grade. When put in this situation, it can be very easy to get defensive at first. If this happens, take a minute and think about what they are saying. Could they be right? Is it a comment that can be easily removed without changing anything, but making the parent happy. If not, and you feel strongly that you have given the correct grade or written the correct comment, be prepared to back that up with evidence from class. Use your formative assessments or student work to back up your decision and statement, or share the student's work compared to another student's work in the same class. (Take off names of course!) Data is data and they cannot argue with that. 

The Non-Believer

This is the parent that is hearing rave reviews or negative things about their child and they just cannot believe what they are hearing because their child is a complete nightmare or wonderful at home. This parent is shocked that their child is listening and quiet in class because they never shut up at home, or their child is excellent at home and misbehaves in school. This is also the child that is on task and does all of their work in class, but cries and fights with mom and dad about doing any sort of school work when home. These parents leave happy or surprised. So, what part do you play in all this? Show them the proof! Parents may think you are just being nice when you are complimenting great behavior and work, but when you show them the proof, they cannot deny what is happening in class. The same goes for the student who is great at home, but struggles in class. This happens a lot when you have a parent telling you their child does the work just fine at home, but in school you are not seeing the same thing. You have to remind the parents that you can only grade them on what you see in school.
The Appreciative Parent

This is the parent that appreciates everything you do. This parent may even show up with a small gift of appreciation to get you through the long night of conferences. This parent cannot even imagine how you do this every day, and are just so thankful for you and what you do. This parent sees the hard work you have put into their child and sees the extra effort you take. This conference will go smoothly and whether it is just you talking or the student talking, they will love you for having this conference with them. 

So, how do you take all of these personalities and have an effective conference with parents? The answer is simple!

STUDENT LED CONFERENCES

What do you need to do to get started?

• Tell parents to bring their child to the conference and that their child will be leading the conference themselves. You may have parents uncomfortable with this, but assure them that you are all in this together and the student needs to see that we are all a team. 
• Send a survey home ahead of time. Here is one that I have used that really helps to have a focus for the short time with the parents. Parent Teacher Conference Survey
• Prepare the kids. Hopefully you have done some goal setting with students already. If you haven't don't worry! You can use this quick one page script to help you out. Student Led Conference Script A script is huge! The kids need to have something to go off of and know that their time is short. They can read it right from the script or they can make bullet points for the conversation. You will do this as a whole class and students will make it unique to them. 
• There are lots of student led conference resources on Teachers Pay Teachers. I have used a packet in the past that has students self assess their behaviors and lists their goals for the conference and year. I am working on developing one of my own, but it isn't complete yet. 
• Have data and student work ready for kids to share. Tell them when they are planning they have some choices to make. Most parents want to hear about behavior, reading, math, and writing. However, if you have kids who are really into Science and Social Studies, then they can share that information as well. (This is from an elementary perspective, but of course in high school or junior high they would do this for the subject you teach.)
• Have a timer ready. You do not want to get behind in your conferences. 
• Have the kids practice with a friend the day of or the day before the conference. 
• Keep all of the materials with you. You will have kids who don't come with the parent because of other commitments. So you will need to share what the student wrote down. 
• What is so awesome about the kids making everything is that if a parent doesn't show or come to conferences, you can send it with the child and have a parent sign off that they saw it and had a conversation with their child. (Ensuring that 100% of your class has had some sort of a conference.)
• Be organized. Once you know your schedule, have everything out and ready in order of your conferences. Have your list outside your door and highlight the names as you greet each parent. This lets those in the hallway know where you are in your schedule. It also helps you to stay organized. Oh and don't forget to block out a few times for a bathroom break!
• If you have kids who can't read: K-1 students can do this too, they will just need more guidance. You can share data with parents for half of the time and then you can have the student share what they are doing well and what they are having a hard time with in class. 

These are just a few tips and tricks. The best way to do this, is to just jump in and try it! I can tell you that since I have started this, I have had no "Criers", "Demanders", "Blank Starers", or "Negotiators." The "Educators" are excited and appreciative of the process and the "Non-Believers" just look right at their child and discuss the disbelief while you are all together. I have found my students loved the experience. Some get very nervous and some are so excited, but through it all they see you, their parents, and them are all working together to help them have the most successful year ever.