These last few difficult days of teaching

Michael Grinder, our mentor,  http://www.michaelgrinder.com/ talks about difficult days of teaching as “Right Brain” days.  You know the ones:  the days leading up to a holiday, Valentine ’s Day, full moon days, if you teach in the Pacific Northwest like we do, unusual weather days (2 snowflakes falling or bright sunny days – yes it rains here a lot!!)  Of course the granddaddy of them all:  the weeks before summer break!!

Michael has taught us that preserving relationships is of the utmost importance during these “right brained” days.  Therefore just knowing these days may not be ones which result in stellar learning, and planning for them makes them easier and much more enjoyable. These last few weeks of school, we focus on keeping the structure of Daily 5 going, yet relaxing a bit on heavy focus lessons and guided groups.  We do many more individual conferences, lots more reading to the kids and spend our time enjoying them.

We also do many more kinesthetic breaks such as singing a song or poem, running outside for a quick game or even reading our chapter book outside in the shade. Throwing the structure of the day out can result in some of our more difficult children floundering yet changing it up and relaxing a bit can mean the difference between management nightmares and a happy year end for all!  Ahh Haa!

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