On Tuesdays, Two Writing Teachers hosts the Slice of Life. Everyone is welcome to share writing and comment on others in this special community.
I am currently in a front-row seat for watching a first-year teacher navigate a challenging first year. My youngest daughter, Cecily, is teaching third grade at a magnet school, and it's hard. I've gotten better at holding back some of my commentary when she describes lessons and interactions. She has a lot of support. The coaches, interventionists, and the assistant principal are all there to guide and support. And, from what I can tell, she has a great team, and they appreciate the work she's doing. They should.
Last night, she went over her observation lesson with me that she'll give today. She's gotten good at watching my face when she shares ideas and plans; she can tell when I like something, when I agree with something, when I can envision something... and when I don't. (I've never been good at maintaining a straight face. Poker would not be my strength.) When she showed me the slide deck she'd used, I might have grimaced, I maybe might have even taken an audible breath, when she got to the "breathing" slide that she'd use before launching the lesson.
"What?" she asked. "What's wrong with asking them to breathe?"
"Nothing," I said, trying to formulate words for the issue I had with the slide.
She played the slide, and I had even more of an issue. It was a short video of a voice directing the audience to inhale while an arrow went around a curve and exhale when it came down.
"Then what?" She is relentless, an important trait for teachers.
"You know how to take a breath," I said. "You know the steps for taking a breath. Why are you offloading that instruction to a video?"
She was thinking, so I gave her a moment. And then I continued. I wish I could remember more of how our conversation went, but the gist of it was that the video was a scaffold for focused breathing, an important life skill. I have been using mindful breathing all over the place; it gets me through a lot.
"Do you want to send the message that they need a video in order to take a mindful breath?" I think I said. I know I was being a little dramatic, but I have an issue with videos for instruction when teachers can do the instruction. I'm not saying never... but for breathing? That's even worse those movement videos which I could also go on a rant about.
"I can tell them to take a breath," she said. "I can coach them to inhale and exhale."
Out went that slide. And we still had the whole lesson to get through. Fortunately, the biggest issue I had with the entire thing was who gets to tell kids how to breathe.
This morning, I read Leah Mermelstein's post which is part of a series she's written about scripts. It's brilliant. She's brilliant. What is the purpose of scripts? When do teachers need them? I know the answer is far from black and white, and it's important to be talking about it and thinking a LOT about it.
I'm hoping not for breathing, though.
Melanie,
ReplyDeleteThis is so insightful and reminds me of conversations I’ve had w/ new teachers and student interns about extraneous material in lessons. I’m sure you take many dept breaths when talking teaching w/ your daughter. There’s that fine line that’s the subtext of this post.
I’ve recently had a few conversations with a friend, experienced but newly teaching Kindergarten, in a team that way-overuses slides. She is fighting back (calmly.) It takes real judgement to decide when the technology helps, rather than just thinking it is good to use every which way. I feel for your daughter on the one hand, it is so hard to be a new teacher, but I also have so much respect for her being willing to go through this process of asking for advice from you! Sweating these details is such a great way to grow.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, lucky Cecily, to have you as her guide as she navigates her first year of teaching.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I love that you got her to think deeply about what to outsource and what to do herself. I've seen way too much outsourced to videos -- for good and not-so-great reasons -- and I'm thrilled that Cecily heard this from you NOW.
Ditto what Stacey said! I love that you and your daughter have a relationship that allows you to have this kind of interaction. You described it all so well. You have me wondering if there are times I'm inadvertently doing this, too. For example, we have a purchased SEL curriculum. In years past I've chosen to bypass lots of the videos, but they've "upgraded" it this year and it's now much more video dependent. I don't love that, but I haven't made much of an effort to revise it either. You have me pondering if there are small ways in which I might do so... I'm off to read the Leah Mermelstein post that you linked. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCecily is definitely lucky to have so many people in her corner, helping her hone her craft. I think it must be exciting for you to be able to help. (And maybe there’s a sprinkle of frustration in there, too. )
ReplyDeleteOne thing that annoys me (a retired teacher who spent 35 years in an elementary classroom & is now subbing) is the assumption that teachers “need” scripts to teach. Granted, using scripts might have helped me when I struggled with time management, but I also remember the days when I could scrap the rest of the lesson and just go with what was happening in that moment. Such learning we experienced in those teachable moments!
I used scripts for a month the first year of teaching. Then I ad libbed my scripts and I think it went very well. However, today I was teaching organization to a large class of 5th graders and I told them to breathe when they got nervous or upset and they all started hyperventilating. Not my intention at all!
ReplyDelete