The New Normal

No this has nothing to do with covid, aside from context that right now covid is going on. I'm just talking about the fact that I'm writing this blog post during the few minutes free time I have during lunch break, and that appears to be the new routine for these posts.

I'm keeping on. The other elementary class is out for 2 days because one of the assistant teachers found out they were exposed to someone with covid, so everyone's getting tested and we're letting the classroom sit to 'disinfect it' (given the 72 hour or so life of covid on surfaces)

In the meantime, I'm trying to tighten the reins on my students getting more productive work done. It's amazing the variability in how easy or difficult that is. one student is actively antagonistic about being told to do work and it's like wrestling with an angry oiled cat. Another is respectful and listens to the instructions on what to work on without complaint. As a new teacher, I would of course prefer all the students were like the latter, or even better, already knew how to work with focus, but also because I'm a new teacher, it's particularly important to have more challenging cases, so I can learn how to deal with them. I've gotten to chat with my mentor a bit recently so I've got some ideas and strategies, but they're all easier said than done. There's a lot of implicit understanding and skill that I don't have yet, and so I'm often left at a loss for what to do next, or what to do in response to what a student says. I'll just keep pushing for now, trying to learn from my missteps as well as successes. 

I recently had the thought that there is probably more efficient and less efficient strategies for learning how to teach. The thought came to me as I was trying to put my magnetic "bucky balls" away. A set of small magnetic balls that have a storage case for them in a perfect 6x6x6 cube (though maddeningly, I'm missing about 6 of then, so it will never be a perfect cube again. Doesn't really matter though, since I'm using some of them for magnets on my whiteboard.)

I tried to get at least part of the cube constructed, and it was difficult to the point of impossibility. Then I looked up some youtube video's for how to do it, and found an easy way, and then, while looking up some other cool shapes I could make to store the extra balls, found an even easier way. Trying to get the balls all lined up using my method was near impossible, requiring super finicky fine motor skills. Trying the second way was much easier, though still a little finicky, and trying the third way was both fun and much easier, using the properties of the magnetic balls to their natural advantage. It still took work, and especially the last part was a little delicate, but it was easier to get to that last part.

In the same way, I think there is perhaps something like a mindset or approach, that would make the whole process less of tiring struggle to learn, though still challenging. I'd like to find that.

OK, I'm out of time, so that's it!