Being a teacher means embracing constant change. Yet all too often, teachers are told when, how and why to change. In this monthly column, Mrs. Mimi takes on creating change for herself by rethinking old practices and redefining teaching on her own terms.

p: Auremar/Shutterstock.com

If you have ever met me, talked to me or read any of my writing, you probably know that I think all topics (no matter what they are) can be related back to school, education, and the art of teaching. In my mind, schools, students, and teachers are at the center of the universe and, therefore, always on my mind.

So, you probably won’t find it surprising that today, while waiting in the doctor’s office for an appointment, I was thinking about and drawing parallels to school. (What can I say? I’m a teacher. It’s impossible to shut it off.)

Anyhow, I sat in the waiting room as people filtered in and out in various states of frustration, lateness and oblivion. There were people who were clearly ticked off that they had to be there and had no tolerance for anything other than a prompt appointment and little to no human interaction. There were people who were running fifteen minutes late and clearly had a million other things on their minds. There were people who sauntered in, slamming the door loudly behind them as if they were the only people in the room.

As I watched this juicy social tableau unfold before my eyes, I was thinking about how many of these individuals were almost caricatures when it hit me like a ton of bricks. BAM! I could equate each of these broad character types to a specific type of teacher in a staff meeting.

With the Common Core State Standards looming in our daily realities, there is a lot of change on the horizon and I am sure that you are in more than your fair share of meetings. Am I right or am I left? So let’s think about this—which role do you play, and how does it impact the way in which your colleagues view you and/or the way in which your school is moving forward?

As your school continues to advance and refine its literacy practices, which voice are you going to add to the fray? Are you going to be Frazzled Teacher who has a To-Do List that has spontaneously grown more To-Do Lists? Are you going to be Frustrated Teacher who cannot seem to get past all the impending change? Or are you going to be Oblivious Teacher who feels as if she is the only one who has ten thousand competing demands on her plate?

Personally, I know I can be and have been any of these teachers on any given day.

Will you be one of those teachers, or are you going to pause, take a deep breath, and think about what kind of teacher you want to be and stand in that reality? A little fake-it-until-you-make-it, if you will.

I feel like major change is on the horizon and we do have the potential to seize the moment and make an impact as teachers. There are only so many days left in this school year and, as is the tradition in many schools, these days will be filled with decisions, thoughts about next year and meeting after meeting after meeting.

So let’s collectively take a beat and think about how we want to represent ourselves, how we want to contribute to the conversation, and how we want to be perceived.

Mrs. Mimi is a pseudonymous teacher who taught both first and second grades at a public elementary school in New York City. She's the author of IT'S NOT ALL FLOWERS AND SAUSAGES: MY ADVENTURES IN SECOND GRADE, which sprung from her popular blog of the same name. Mimi also has her doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.



Time After Time: Making It Count with Each Student

Celebrate Good Times, Come On! Reinserting the Joy into Reading

Being a teacher means embracing constant change. Yet all too often, teachers are told when, how and why to change. In this monthly column, Mrs. Mimi takes on creating change for herself by rethinking old practices and redefining teaching on her own terms.

p: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc

A few weeks ago, I was watching GREY’S ANATOMY. (Of course, I was watching it while feeling guilty because it was only 9:00 on a Thursday night and I probably/should have /could have been doing something teacher-y like grading papers, planning a lesson, or selecting books for an upcoming unit. Isn’t it crazy that we feel guilty about not working at so many times outside of the school day?)

Anyhow, on this particular episode of GREY’S ANATOMY, our beloved doctor friends were (spoiler alert!) getting a taste of what their work lives would be like under a regime of new leadership at the hospital. The new focus was on efficiency, getting to as many patients as possible with little concern to the quality of doctor-patient interaction and standardizing medical procedures to be efficient rather than (always) effective.

I suddenly sat up like a shot and declared, “This is one big metaphor for the current state of the classroom!” To which Mr. Mimi replied, “Not everything is about teaching.” To which I replied with a giant eye roll. Because it is. Everything is about or can be related to teaching.

Let’s take conferring with readers. I have never met a teacher who isn’t worried about the schedule for conferring with readers. When teachers take a look at how many minutes they actually have to confer with students and then consider how long it can take to have a strong conference with a child, they realize that they can only get to two or three students a day. This means there is essentially no way they can work with every single student in their class over the course of a week. Cue the panic and a bit of guilt mixed in with some anxiety about what the administration will think.

But how can we teach anything well with the nagging feeling that we should really be moving on, checking off more boxes, and “getting to” more children? What does it even mean to just “get to” someone? Is that all we can expect to give to our students now? Is that what they deserve? Is it what we deserve?

In my experience, when I am conflicted about my practice, I am not at my best. I am distracted and unfocused and when I think about it, even the 4.5 minutes I spent with a particular student were a waste of time.

The truth is, working with students in small settings (such as the one-on-one conference or a small group) is what makes the biggest difference in a child’s learning. It is how we tailor our instruction to meet the individual needs of the wide range in our classrooms. Not only is this point based in research, which tends to make more people sit up and listen, but it is plain common sense.

Classrooms are busy and getting busier. They are big and getting bigger. But those factors are out of our control, so why do we have to alter what we know is best for children in the name of being more efficient? We know bigger classes are not necessarily better classes, so let’s not compound the issue by rushing through our time to develop our relationship with and address the needs of our students, no matter how many we have.

Teachers have a lot to do, a lot to cover, and even more to test. Therefore, I think it is more important than ever that we slow down and embrace the conference as a time to savor the moment and be present with just one little friend at a time. It is what they deserve. It is what we deserve, too.

Mrs. Mimi is a pseudonymous teacher who taught both first and second grades at a public elementary school in New York City. She's the author of IT'S NOT ALL FLOWERS AND SAUSAGES: MY ADVENTURES IN SECOND GRADE, which sprung from her popular blog of the same name. Mimi also has her doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.



Celebrate Good Times, Come On! Reinserting the Joy into Reading

QUIET! Teacher in Progress: Embracing What Works

Being a teacher means embracing constant change. Yet all too often, teachers are told when, how and why to change. In this monthly column, Mrs. Mimi takes on creating change for herself by rethinking old practices and redefining teaching on her own terms.

Happy World Read Aloud Day! If you are celebrating, I hope your day is fabulous and you revel in the joy that is reading. (Nerd alert, right?) And if you are not celebrating today, I hope your day is fabulous and you revel in the joy that is reading.

If you’re not picking up what I’m putting down, what I am saying is that whether it is World Read Aloud Day, a Monday, the third Tuesday of the month or the day back after a long vacation, reveling in the love of reading should be something that is considered and practiced each and every day.

Don’t get me wrong—days such as World Read Aloud Day are extremely important and make for wonderful celebrations. They help us to remember how lucky we are to share our stories, our opinions, and our knowledge with one another through the written word. However, I would say that celebrating the joy of reading, books, blogs, and all the other texts that deserve to be enjoyed just one or two days out of the year is not enough.

Think about your own reading instruction, and think about it honestly. Is it fun? Is there a sense of excitement about what you are reading and learning to do as readers? Is there an air of celebration for the accomplishments of students? Or is it task-oriented, test-driven and all about getting to the next level?

If you are a joy-filled wonderland of reading excitement and growth, go get yourself a cocktail and celebrate you. If not, I’ve been there too and I know how you (most likely) got there.

We are teachers, we are list-makers, we are afraid of dropping a ball, we are diligent, and we are just trying to navigate our way through an ever changing landscape of standards, mandates and programs. Am I right or am I left? The business of teaching small friends how to read is serious and should be taken seriously, but not so seriously that we beat every ounce of fun out of it, leaving it in a sad pile with nothing but a rubric and Scantron sheet to keep it warm at night.

So, how do you get your groove back? I would suggest reflecting on your own reading life. What and how do you read for pleasure? If you’re like me, it’s a reward at the end of a long day or a treat in the midst of a busy week. Why can’t this sort of reading for pleasure be reflected in our classrooms? Extra reading time in the midst of a busy week viewed as a way to treat ourselves and celebrate our hard work. Or extra reading time at the end of the day as a way to unwind and enjoy some time to get lost in a book. Reading is a pleasure (when your students are given choices) and should be viewed and practiced as such within the classroom.

p: ms. tea via photopin cc

Now think about your next unit of study or the next few weeks of instruction. What are your overarching goals for your students as readers? Do you have specific goals for each student that you can track and celebrate once they are accomplished? Keep your eye on the prize by holding two or three goals for your students in your mind as a way to avoid getting mired down in the day by day tasks of completing graphic organizers, logging titles and making it to all of your conferences on time.

Finally, think about the ways in which you celebrate the written word and your students’ accomplishments as readers. Do you celebrate at all? Do you celebrate with cupcakes and cheesy poofs? While I can certainly see the joy in a good crunchy cheesy poof and know that the rush of sugar that comes from cupcakes can make your little friends appear joyful (prior to the crash that is inevitable), is their joy related to their reading successes or is it related to the novelty of gloriously salty or sugary midday snacks? Consider moving away from the cupcakes (I know, they are fabulous) and toward more authentic celebrations in which children name their successes, compliment one another, become famous for their achievements and share their learning in more authentic ways.

The bottom line is if we get stressed and over burdened by day-to-day teaching points, we can easily lose what should be the common thread of our reading instruction – joy. If we are pumped up, they are pumped up. And if we can model our classroom practices after the real-life authentic joy that can come from reading, we are golden.

Happy World Read Aloud Day and happy celebrating…everyday.

Mrs. Mimi is a pseudonymous teacher who taught both first and second grades at a public elementary school in New York City. She's the author of IT'S NOT ALL FLOWERS AND SAUSAGES: MY ADVENTURES IN SECOND GRADE, which sprung from her popular blog of the same name. Mimi also has her doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.



Read Aloud Rut—I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up

Anita's Picks for World Read Aloud Day