When I think about how I feel right now, I feel honored. Honored to have the opportunity to study with 7 amazing women who provide me with so much hope and inspiration. Honored to have the opportunity to grow so much as a teacher over the past two years, and to serve along with the other members of my third grade team. Honored to be able to lead and serve my students, who are incredible human beings. Honored to be in a profession that despite its challenges, is meaningful and important. I could go on and on.
Looking back over April, one of the biggest patterns in my celebrations was my own presence in my classroom. Over the past month, I have tried hard to keep things light in my classroom instead of succumbing to all of the CRCT testing pressure. Although I have had freak-out moments about my students not being prepared for the CRCT, I was able to spend most of my time in April spending quality time with my students in my classroom. I focused on improving my reading instruction and spending more time with my readers. I honestly had a lot of fun reading different texts with my readers, and having discussions about them. While I struggled to perfect that "gradual release" model, my students and I enjoyed analyzing poems, short texts, and stories together. I hope that I can continue to grasp what it means to teach rigorous reading instruction in an enjoyable way. I know that the Pathways to the Common Core book has inspired me to prioritize reading and writing in a new way.
This month I've also been doing a lot of reflecting about my behavior management. After having a discussion with Dr. Fisher about effective behavioral management techniques, I realized that I needed to make it a priority to help my students intrinsically build their motivation. I stepped back and critically thought about my role as a disciplinarian and I basically came to the conclusion that I wasn't training my students to monitor their own behavior. I was not teaching my students any self-control techniques and instead was being the voice that told them when they were doing a great job and when they were struggling. While my behavior management has been so much better than last year and I don't have any extreme problems, I still have a long way to go in developing students who self-monitor and who are intrinsically motivated to be their best selves. I have found that deepening relationships is honestly a type of behavior management in a way. We don't have to have any rewards/points systems. We need to develop relationships with each student and encourage and support them. I'm still learning how to do this in a way that is not manipulative, controlling, or aggressive. I am learning how to challenge my students to monitor their own behavior, which in fact is the long-lasting change that we want for our students.
I just want to say thank you to all of you who have supported me so tangibly throughout this past two years. To say that last year was a struggle is an understatement. There were times when I literally did not think I was going to make it through the day, and more times than not, I left my classroom and school feeling discouraged, lonely, and disappointed in myself. It was a dark time for me, and as cheesy as it sounds, GSU was the light. You were the ones who never stopped believing in me, and you always saw the greatness in me. Thank you for being patient with me during those times and for persistently encouraging and supporting me. I truly feel honored to know each and every one of you. You have touched my life in a real way. And, even more than that, you have even played a role in serving my students -- because of your unceasing love and encouragement, I have been able to love and encourage my kids this year. So, thank you.
Joy - WOW! You have always been an amazing reflector and you have always done a great job of truly looking at what you want to do differently and actually making it happen. I admire this about you. I really appreciate your paragraph about behavior and how we need to build their motivation intrinsically rather than always telling them what to do. I think this is a tricky concept to master and I too have been working on it the past two years. I feel honored to have done this journey alongside of you and I know that I would not be the teacher I am today without you. You bring joy to everyone around you and your students and colleagues are extremely lucky to have you by their side day in and day out. Stay true to JOY because that is the teacher your students need!
ReplyDeleteKM
Joy,
ReplyDeleteI am so thankful to have taken this journey with you! You have challenged me and pushed my thinking in so many ways. Thanks for helping me to become a better reflector, educator, and friend throughout this process. I love that you are CONSTANTLY challenging yourself and thinking about how to improve. There isn't stagnancy in the life of Joy Harrison and that is one of your greatest strengths.
I know that we talked about the behavior management pieces the other day and I was challenged by that. I want to think through that more with you as we think about how to help our students to be successful in managing themselves once they are outside our classroom walls. How powerful is that!
Let's keep working on this whole teaching reading thing! I'm excited to keep growing together next year :)
Aw this message is so beautiful, and the comments the kelseys left, moved my heart. I almost cried :)
ReplyDeleteFirst, I cannot help but to agree with the two last comments, and feel as honored or even more to have you by my side during my this two year learning process. Even though some times you did struggle, hearing about your struggles was so important to me, to know that I wasn't alone journey. Also seeing you reflect, work alongside of you, and hearing about your struggles and successes as a teacher, helped me to become better by constantly challenging myself through admiring your hard work. All I have to say is thank you for the impact you have caused in my life, maybe, without even knowing.
On the other hand, I have been really thinking about how to intrinsically motivate my students. I know I had shared with you and Dr. Fisher, how the PBIS environment at my school at made some of my students believe that the only reason why they behaved the way they did, was to gain stickers. Since then, I tried to get away from giving stickers as much as possible, and use more words to allow students to know when they were doing a great job. I have noticed, as you say, that the best way to help students behave is by building a relationship with them. The problem I have been noticing with this, is that when they or I, are not having a "good day" per say, the good behavior banishes. And it worries me, that if kids go along to other teachers or other life circumstances, if they don't develop good relationships with their teachers, for whatever reason, they may become an angrier version of themselves?
I don't know, it's just a thought... I would like to keep thinking of ways of how to not become the internal voice of my students that just approves or disapproves their actions, but to empower them to think about why and how they make choices, but without being conditioned to a relationship.
Okay okay so I cried. But rightfully so. I was almost through the entire blog and then the third paragraph came. Joy you are so special to our group. You are the light, the joy and the comic relief to ease the stress and frustration that sometimes accompanied this journey. I am equally blessed to have been apart of your learning, reflection, and experience as an educator. The support and encouragement that you have given me so much inspiration and courage to continue to push forward.
ReplyDeleteI love the reflection of discipline and giving students the space and opportunity to understand how their choices have consequences. It is important to spend the time developing and strengthening relationships. Trust is important in relationships and when you develop that, students will open up and can share the metacognitive processes of learning how to become intrinsically motivated.