ELLEN
BERG
Diary #26
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the "Doggocks" and "Ah-Ahs"
While You Can, Teachers
I spent four out of five days last week on my couch battling strep throat. It wasn't until Friday that I began to panic about writing this entry. What observations could I possibly make about teaching when I had spent the entire week downing ibuprofen and antibiotics, surfacing only long enough to take my temperature and roll over to take another nap?
I honestly believed I was going to have to beg my esteemed editor for a break on this week's entry. However, Saturday morning at 11:15 a.m., something wonderful happened: Kyle James entered the world.
My husband's sister delivered her second child while I was drinking my late morning coffee and reading the paper. Five hours later (and properly certified germ-free by my mother-in-law, a nurse), I was holding my nephew in my arms and marveling at the miracle of life. He is perfect. As we spent the day with the proud parents, grandparents and extended family, two truths became clear to me. Although they are not necessarily exclusive to education, I think teachers are terrible at following these two principles: 1. Eat dessert first.2. Take care of yourself.
I fully claim I stole the first idea, eat dessert first, from Janet Allen's Yellow Brick Roads. Allen uses the concept of eating dessert first to explain why she reads aloud to her students. If struggling readers can hear the magic of language and become immersed in the story, they develop more of a clear appreciation of and value for reading. Once students see the value in reading, they will be more likely to work to acquire the skills to become readers themselves.
Enjoying the journey
My husband and I try to embrace the dessert first philosophy in our own lives. We are far from hedonistic, but we believe the journey and not the destination should be filled with rich experiences and happiness.
Unlike a close family member of mine, who hangs her hat on some day far in the future when she is retired and only then will be perfectly happy, Greg and I are trying to enjoy the ride. We have the same concerns she does -- saving for retirement, day-to-day problems and the like -- but we are trying to enjoy our lives as we live them. I think we have been pretty successful so far.
I think sometimes we approach our classrooms the same way my family member approaches life. When children question why they have to learn what we teach them, we give them answers that allude to some murky, unclear day in the future when they will need the information we push on them. What is wrong with giving them a reason to know right now? Better yet, let's give them a reason to want to know right now.
We forget sometimes that we are teaching children who do not have the benefit of the long view. When we were their age, we might have had some vague idea of what our futures might be, but we were also wrapped in the immediacy of our lives. We had the same questions of relevance our students do now.
As we begin to feed our students the cannoli and tiramisu of our subjects, we need to remember to take the next step -- helping them savor what we've placed before them.
As our students become engaged in our subjects and begin to grapple with difficult concepts and tasks, we need to celebrate the small achievements along the way. What about a spontaneous round of applause for a good discussion? A high five for a well-thought-out answer? Time to brag on a new understandings at the end of class? We must show our students the value and structure of the journey so, as they complete one journey and begin another, they understand what skills, habits and attitudes are necessary to make their way along the next path.
Sometimes we place so much emphasis on the summative evaluations our students take that we forget the importance and value of the work they--and we--did to prepare them to be successful on their end assessments.
Caution: Don't eat the students
The second idea--take care of yourself--is an important one for teachers especially to follow. We push ourselves to the limit, often neglecting our health, families, and well-being as we attempt to do ever more for our students. I am reminded of the title of a book I keep meaning to buy: If You Don't Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students. How many times have we gone into work rundown, sick, and exhausted because we spent all night grading papers or looking for resources? Too many. We do it because we care, and we think if we do not push ourselves just a little bit harder we are failing our students. At some point we have to take care of ourselves. A sick, tired, or unhappy teacher is not a good teacher for students, no matter how hard we work. I actually felt guilty for taking four days off last week, though my doctor had told me to stay home. I kept thinking of the time lost and how my students were suffering. I kept telling myself I should go in, that even if I was sick my students needed me. But I was wrong. How would spreading strep throat to my students help them? How would my becoming even sicker be of benefit to them? Yet I sat with my 102 degree fever and actually considered going into work. My instructional coordinator had a colleague e-mail me on Thursday to order me not to come to school on Friday. She told me I needed to take the time to get fully well so I would be at my best with students. She told me to take care of myself for once. Though I did not want to stay home, I followed her advice and rested, and so was able to enjoy my new nephew on Saturday.We must take time for ourselves, even when we have a pile of essays to grade or a diary entry to write. As I sat in a crowded hospital room Sunday afternoon and tried to write this entry, dodging my almost-two-year-old niece's curiosity about my laptop and ignoring the people around me, I began to understand the absurdity of what I was doing.
My niece is only little for a while. Eventually she will stop calling airplanes "doggocks" and candy "ah-ahs," favoring the correct but not as cute terminology. My nephew will grow by leaps and bounds; he will only be one day old once in his life. My students, my readers, and the world will not end if I take a little time for myself.
I closed my laptop in favor of reading a book to my niece. I figured John would understand that just this once, something more important was going on. [Editor's note: Thankfully, Ellen managed to do both!]
