Be Nice to Your Future Self-Theresa Coomer

Today I was listening to a podcast episode of The Happiness Lab in which the subject was why we are mean to our future selves.  The podcast thesis is that we tend to put obligations on our future selves that we think we will have time even though the data points to the fact that we often are overscheduled in the now.  I listened to this podcast and took inventory of the numerous times in my life that I tried to shove everything I want to get done on top of the have to get dones on my plate.  I have had a pretty full schedule this whole summer, but not overwhelming.  But that is mainly because there has not been an unforeseen catalyst that has thrown my schedule into chaos.  But I also know I am walking close to the edge. However, the words Marcus said to me as I walked out the door echo, 

"Keeping taking the seat at the table, it is going to be great."

So, I listen to this podcast of overscheduling ourselves, while my mind wanders to all the possible things I can still fit in to my hours, days, weeks, (as my mind almost always does when I find myself without parenting obligations, all while driving 2 and a half hours to Springfield to volunteer my time to work through the tedious job of sifting through the constitution for the Illinois Council of the Social Studies and making updates as needed.  Definitely a want to do that stressed out my have to do demands.

The past couple of years I have gotten better at saying no, but when it is a passion project, I tend to say why not.  Supporting social studies education in Illinois and beyond is one of those passions, and fortunately, I am able to be a constructive addition to the team working on this necessary action today.  Today being the operative word. The stars aligned and I was able to sneak away for one overnight to do this work. 

Even still my mind vacillates through the never ending mental checklist running in the background. Because I chose to do this want to do I am 

-picking away at the time left this summer to set up my classroom and putting an instructional plan together for the upcoming school year. 

-putting off washing and vacuuming my car

-putting the set-up for the week all into one day, sunday, instead of spread over the weekend, which most likely means takeout more nights than cooking next week.

-knowingly putting the possibility of having to carry most of the tasks of parenting myself next week as we deal with the fallout of me being gone for one night.

-as of an hour ago, unable to act on figuring out how to reinforce the bunny hutch to prevent them from escaping.

-delaying the organization of my craft room that has turned into a catch all room.

-not buying party supplies and creating the games for the Mario themed birthday that takes place next weekend.

At the moment I am sitting quietly in the hotel room, with a street concert outside my window serenading me with some rock tunes that remind me of my Dad, by myself taking the very rare uninterrupted writing break. And I engaged in great thought work with other like minded individuals that invigorates my being. And I was able to have the mindspace to quiet that checklist and look at some previous writing I want to dos and make headway in them.  And I will transition to a crochet project at the completion of this.  I am grateful for this moment in time. 

100's of Hexagons-Theresa Coomer

The heavy duty scissors slice through the colored paper in a zig zag. I am going on hour two of deliberate snips to ensure there are plenty of hexagons in a variety of colors. This is how I am using my snow day. School has been canceled due to the weather that is just starting to roll in and it looking to make afternoon travel treacherous. 

My thoughts roll over in my mind. I have been struggling to find my joy in my work as of late. I know that I am creating and maintaining an engaging, rigorous and standards based instruction. I know that I have put together classroom expectations that manage my classroom so that deep meaningful learning has the opportunity to blossom. I know that I am taking my time to make sure I give thoughtful feedback on writing assignments to improve the skills of my students. And I know that I address the social emotional needs of my students and provide a safe and caring environment for them to be vulnerable enough to take on challenging learning. 

Here I am cutting out hundred of hexagons to help ensure a lesson I planned has the potential to be successful and impactful, and i fight the tears rolling down my cheeks because it feels like a fruitless endeavor. I try my best to remember that I am doing a good job, but every time I get some momentum, an , I hope, unintended jab at my choices cuts deep and painfully. The burn lingers in my heart as a try to harden my armor to not let my lessons suffer and continue to use every moment of my prep time to do the millions of tasks necessary to have “successful” teaching week. 

I pull another sheet of hexagons from the pile to cut as I try to figure out my first steps in navigating my teetering despair. 

Last Day-Theresa Coomer

I step out in the sunshine with a bittersweet sigh of goodbye.  There is the sweetness in the relief of summer without the timetables of the school years. There is the bitterness of knowing that this is most likely my last year teaching at the school I have called home for the past six years.  There is the sweetness of knowing I was able to step in and help bring a sense of normalcy to an abnormal year for my sixth graders.  Having the tools of digital learning made it possible for me to broadcast my lessons from Paw Paw back to Skokie daily.  As the classes and I navigated through the “I think you are muted,” “Let me screen share,” “Ask me on goguardian,” and “I will just post it in google classroom, give me a sec,” we persevered.  There were plenty of days that technology was not working properly or the wifi connection was slow, but we pivoted and adjusted to every situation.  We worked together to rise above the challenges and make the most of our year together. We learned a lot and had a bit of fun along the way.  We had the added bonus of our class mascots, Timmy and Violet.  It has been one of the great pleasures of my teaching career to have had the opportunity to be your teacher this past year and I look forward to what the future holds for each one of you. As I took the short walk back to my car on friday, thankful to have had the opportunity to say goodbye in person, I smiled.  It has been a tough year in so many ways, but I had a great group of students to weather any storms and have brought the sunshine through the clouds. We learned to expect the unexpected.  As I stopped in front of my car and looked back toward the building, a bird swooped down on me and bopped me on the head. In a year full of surprises, this was the weirdly perfect way to end.

Superheroes-Kathy Risolvo

5 full buses. 300 students. 40 staff members. A million new memories made. This year was one that will not soon be forgotten. We have learned together in an ever changing flexible school. I have watched some of these kids lose parents over the past year. And I have watched some of them care for siblings. I have seen them grow as soccer players and musicians and readers. They have challenged me to see the world differently and set goals for myself personally. I have watched their teachers adapt and change their teaching strategies overnight. And then again the next overnight. I’ve seen them learn new technologies, and how to deliver content without the hugs that usually accompany them. I’ve seen them deal with personal struggles and celebrations while managing their jobs in unchartered waters. I have watched as parents love their kids through quarantine periods and revolving schedules. I have watched administrators lead us with grace and fill in holes as we navigated vaccine reactions, remote learning, and the constant revisions of social distancing regulations. So as the rain was drizzling down outside the walls, normalcy was drizzling down inside the walls. The halls were filled with laughter as they all reflected on a year that was like no other. And I am so proud to be a part of a community full of superheroes. 

The Power of Thanks-Multiple

They come at random times and in a variety of ways, but they usually show up when we need them most.  

"I had a bit of a frustrating day today.  My best class was very disengaged.  I'd ask a question and nothing.  Rephrase the question...nothing.  I had scheduled 1-1 conferences with students around the goal setting and less than minimal engagement once again.  I was at a loss for what to do next...I went into one of my 'trying to be motivational' talks...I felt the students take it as a disappointing lecture , then I thought of a post about how these kids are doing something no one else has ever had to do before.  I changed my tone and thanked them for showing up everyday.  I told them I understand there's a lot going on inside their homes and focus can be a real challenge.  Then the rest of the day went on.  Three long IEPs, an all staff meeting and a meeting about 8th grade graduation.  I was exhausted.  Then my email pings...

Hey Ms. Caffero Thank u for making my schedule its really helping me get my work done i appreciate it so much thank you i don't know how to thank you thank you so much.

...and the frustration and long day was worth it"

-Mary 

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"The past week we had been sludging through the writing process in our class.  It was a lot of intense thinking work on the students end and a lot of editing on my end.  I had assigned an optional art activity for the students who were done writing.  My brain was fairly fried from trying to read through as many papers as I could so that all the students were ready for their final drafts.  In the last minutes of class one of my students asked if they could share a picture they made for me.  She displayed a wonderful crayon drawn picture of my little family.  It is moments like this that I am reminded how much my students care and appreciate me as their teacher."-Theresa 

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"I kept a file of all the "thank yous" from students.  At times, I would open that file, look at them, and it would warm my heart and give me strength to carry on."-Diana

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"One student made hand made valentines for everyone.  He made my family into a pizza family...because we love pizza."-Carol

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"Free Write: Be Creative! in the box below write a poem, about a memory, a song, a scary story, a funny story, a persuasive argument, or anything you like to write about. 

Roses are red, violets are blue, the world's best teacher goes to you Miss Caffero."-Michelle

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A thank you is invigorating.  A moment in time. A pleasant reinforcement for being present; for lesson planning (with differentiation), parent-teacher conferences, going to professional developments, attending countless meetings, and most importantly for the Students.

What are we doing if not educating-Theresa Coomer

As I was driving in the car I flipped the radio to a talk radio station I do not often listen to.  The segment was on the necessity of opening schools.  The guests were anguishing the abysmal state of education due to the lack of in-person learning.  I could feel the flush of anger and pains of sadness start to well up inside of me.  Over the spring I had seen my mom and sisters throw themselves into innovating their teaching to provide their students with a high quality of education.  They had to navigate new normals and not only change their teaching, but teach all their students, and many of the parents, how to navigate the digital landscape that was remote learning.  They did all of this all while navigating their own journeys through a global pandemic.  They may have had many of nights filled with tears of frustration and feelings of being so overwhelmed, but they continued to not only show up, they put in the extra effort to take care of their students in so many ways.  I joined them in this effort in the fall.  It has not been an easy road, but we have all had a calling to be educators and we have faced this brave new teaching world with grit and love.  So, when I hear blanketed arguements that students have lost a year of education, or that another day out of the classroom means students are falling further behind, then our sacrifice and heartwork is dismissed.  

"Today I had a student raise his virtual hand in the middle of a lesson to say he was hearing something on the news that was upsetting him, but he wasn't going to share because he didn't want to interrupt the lesson...I asked him to share.  

He said he was listening to the Mayor talk about how kids in Chicago are not getting an education and it upset him.  He said the reason he wasn't learning at the beginning of the year was because he was lazy.  Now that he is engaged in his learning and was given the choice to go in or stay home he is more engaged and loves being in class.  He didn't like hearing he wasn't getting an education on the news because he knows he is getting a good education and he knows he is safe at home.

These kids keep me going every day when it feels hard.  They remind me why I do it."-Mary

"Our Governor just announced today that Maryland Students did not get an education this year."-Carol

"My U.S. Representative released this statement 'Every Day that goes by with out students in the classroom is another day students fall further behind.'"-Theresa

Teachers have gone from celebrated heroes at the beginning of the pandemic to societal punching bags, yet again.  What are we doing if not educating?

Today was Hard -Kathy Risolvo

One of the hardest days I have ever had teaching. Do you ever have one of those days, you know, the kind where all you really want to do is be there for others and give them your best? One of those days where you question each step and hope that your decisions are the best for the ones that you have influence over? Today I needed to be prepared to teach students who watched the news last night but didn’t quite understand what was happening. I mean, let’s be honest, I am still processing what happened yesterday in the capitol. I prepared to talk to 14 different classes of 9, 10 and 11 year olds and every single group was filled with little minds with different experiences. I was careful with my words, knowing the potential weight that each word carried. I was careful to watch my own bias knowing that I carry influence. And at the end of my work day, I was so run down and tired that all I wanted to do was cry and eat ice cream. All my parts went to battle. My activist part thought, “you should have said more.” My peacemaker part thought, “you should have said less.” My inner child said, “someone tell me what to say.” My teacher leader part said, “you’ve got this.” And so on and so on. All the while I realize that we are sitting in the middle of this story. A story that will one day be part of the American history books but also part of my personal history. And today was hard.