Keep the Beach Sand, Lose the Chalk Dust 2018-19

With all the emphasis on real world applications in education, I got to thinking about how many hours teachers spend in their self-created world of the classroom.  Do we teachers spend enough time in the real world to be authentic in our classrooms?  Do we spend enough time reading things that are not student written, or curriculum focused to be considered connected to the real world?  Do we spend enough time outside the classroom to be effective inside the classroom?

As I feel the constrictions of the school schedule landing on my shoulders and seeping into all of my thoughts, I want to hold on to a little beach sand.  I want to keep the time to discover and explore available all year long.  (This from the girl who worked straight through the summer with 5 total days off from May til August. I know...sounds hypocritical, but wait.)  How can we keep the beach sand without it all being replaced with the constraints of school life, the proverbial chalk dust, if you will?  How can we keep our feedback to our students at the highest and most effective level, and document and differentiate and create a hook and be amazing teachers while still keeping time for ourselves.

I know some people will give tips to grade things in a more streamlined manner.  (Grade one sheet at a time.  Touch every paper once.)

I know some people will join work less clubs (Like Angela Watson's group--40 Hour Work Week).

I know others will join with a friend to streamline the work. (Think a family of adults each grading a page of an assignment in an assembly line.  Or a family putting bags of manipulatives together. )  My family will all search high and low for the random request lists the teachers in my family put out.  (I just borrowed a captain's wheel from a yacht from my brother to hang in my classroom.  My family always subsidizes and aids my efforts.  I am truly grateful for each one of them.

I know others will vow not to bring home work.  Others will vow to leave at x o'clock no matter what is incomplete.

For me, I intend to carve an hour per day for just my brain.  No work, just exploration.  No thinking of how I will use it, just free play for my mind. One hour.  Sixty minutes.  My own personal Genius Hour, if you will.  My Genius Hour will be reading a book that piques my interest, walking in my neighborhood, playing the piano, learning the violin, creating a painting, making something new or whatever.  But, it will be inviolate.  One Hour.  Every Day.  All mine.

I will continue to work to streamline my work, use my planning periods effectively, accept help where I can get it, keep lists and check things off as I finish and use all of the organizational tools at my disposal.  But don't call or email or text me during the Genius Hour because I will be refreshing my brain.  That's how I will keep the beach sand during the chalk dust season.  I hope you will too.

First published August 4, 2018