To preface for transparency:

I was originally writing my next post about social justice and advocacy in the classroom. However, upon further reflection, there’s a lot of “noise” out there on education channels in social media. Instead of writing one of my own, it’s more effective to share some of the incredible resources written and developed by POC voices. Instead, I decided to do a quick reflection write up of the last school year.

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I’m on my second week of summer break and, like the rest of the world, I’m completely drained from teaching online. As working from home slowly transitions to simply relaxing at home, I’m reflecting on some of the biggest takeaways that I’ve learned throughout this year.

The 2019-2020 school year was a big shift for me. I spent the last two years at my current school attempting to develop a concrete support model for language learners. I learned a tremendous amount about co-teaching and ELL best practice from the best in the field. I transitioned back into the classroom this year, so it was an opportunity to put what I’ve learned into practice. 

This actually transitions quite well to my first point of reflection:

Curriculum can wait

I went into the beginning of the year hard. We adopted new curriculums that I studied extensively and I was so excited to meld my new knowledge of ELL strategies with our existing resources. I started week one with an introductory module from our ELA curriculum and jumped on board with math while sprinkling a few typical “get to know you” type activities throughout the day.

Even as I write this, I’m rolling my eyes. It was such a rookie teacher mistake that started the year off on the wrong foot. Mind you, I teach first graders, so jumping into business was a drastic mistake. The students were overwhelmed, I was overwhelmed, and the first month of school was mostly just me putting out fires.

Moving forward, more time needs to be spent setting boundaries and routines with students. More importantly, I need to spend time getting to know my students on a personal level. This way, we can build a positive individual and collective relationship that benefits everyone throughout the year. I jumped back into the book “The First Six Weeks of School” by writers at Responsive Classroom.  It outlines how crucial it is during these first precious weeks to build structure and relationships in the classroom, and how that reduces classroom management issues throughout the year. Taking the time at the beginning of the year to do this actually saves time in the long run.

I’m grateful to have this autonomy as I know many teachers are more micromanaged with how they start off the year with curriculum. I plan to take this autonomy and utilize it to the fullest at the beginning of the next school year.

Little kids can have big conversations

Me being a queer teacher is a big part of my identity that I insist on sharing with my students, and I’m grateful to be in a somewhat safe working space to do so. Even at the ripe age of six years old, kids already have an understanding of the gender binary and identity regardless of whether or not parents explicitly taught it at home. Having a husband is “weird” or “gross”, and classroom libraries are completely whitewashed and heteronormative. 

Adults often project their fears on teaching these concepts because adults feel that children “aren’t ready” for them. I disagree from a place of experience. Throughout the year, we read stories about BIPOC and characters with different gender identities and expressions. We extended the stories to conversations about these folx’s experience with racism and discrimination. The biggest a-ha moment was when we read “I Dissent”, a story about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg experienced antisemitism and misogyny growing up. The kids were perplexed; “How can people be racist if she’s white?” they asked. They were independently making connections of people’s experiences and relationship with racism. This led to us having a conversation about how prejudice manifests in many different ways: with skin color, ethnic background, and religion. This also naturally led to how Ginsburg used her privilege as a white person to fight against racist laws that oppressed the black community. 

The kids THRIVED when we had these conversations. I think this was partially because these concepts are very “grown up” but I scaffolded them so that they would be accessible for six year olds in Thailand. The students weren’t treated like babies, and I think they felt that sense of maturity and trust. 

Next year, I would like to take these stories and conversations a step further by centering them in the curriculum that we teach. I’m looking forward to writing more about this next year!

Boundaries with colleagues

This was a huge challenge for me last year. I tend to take on a lot of professional responsibility in the workplace. I’ll offer to create resources, rubrics, and/or assessments. I’ll do research and communicate with admin. I tend not to ask for help because in the moment it just seems easier if I do it because 1. I know I can get it done quickly/efficiently and 2. I know I will do it well. I’m grateful for those who catch this and insist on taking on responsibility, but this isn’t always the case with everyone. Some folx, whether it be intentional or not, see this as an opportunity to take advantage of another’s knowledge and kindness.

I was taken advantage of a lot last year, and it contributed to heightened stress and anxiety to the point where I sought therapy and medication. It wasn’t until the latter half of the year that I realized the reasons why I was so stressed out. As the year came to a close, I decided it was time to have a heart to heart with said colleague(s) about my experience with them and how their behavior affected me. I expected nothing from the conversation other than to get my feelings off my chest. The conversations went as well as they could have and I made my points known.

Moving forward, I know to practice keeping firm boundaries with those I interact with professionally. I do a lot of work on my own to become a better educator, and I refuse to let others take advantage of that.

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With another year successfully completed, I feel a major shift coming along in my next year of teaching. As I learn more about social justice, equity, and anti-racism in the classroom, I’m reflecting further not just my teaching, but on myself as a whole. I’m excited to continue building on my practice and for what the future holds. Until then, have a great rest of your summer 🙂