The Sunburst Through The Haze (A Classroom Sunbeam)

Getting to know students is the foundation to every classroom community. Looking them in the eye day after day, telling stories, learning about each and every one of your students. It is what makes teaching so incredible- the breakthrough moments where you connect and bond. It can take mere days with some students, and months with others. Especially now that we are wearing masks (at least in my school) and it was a tough year virtual learning for so many students. The balance is slow this year- but when it happens it is shiny and bright.

At my school HS courses last 44 days and MS classes are 88 days. I teach both. Having my middle schoolers for 88 days makes it easier to make this connection. But my high school courses have been a bit of a struggle- not only are high schoolers more aloof and distanced but the standards are many and time is so full of covering all the content it is difficult to do my mindfulness lessons and just having moments to get to know each other. This term, my first with HS is in week 2. So I am still learning names and personalities.

Today, we had a breakthrough. A beam of light peeked through the clouds and lit up the room. I gave each student a fortune teller - about metals and noble gases and the trends of the periodic table.

They played a review game with a partner and were having a great time. The quiet students started talking to me - "This is such a cool way to study- I used to love playing with these when I was little." A simple childhood memory created a bonding experience like no other. It was awesome. Then I had them create InstaBoard messages (like Instagram messages) and they had fun on a 2 minute timer summing up their days knowledge into messages we added to our InstaBoard.

It was a good day. I have only had one full week of classes with these classes- then we had Thanksgiving Break. So this week has been a bit of a challenge to get them engaged and interactive. But a few quick review tools to get them collaborative was what we needed. Finally, they worked collaboratively on a card sort about periodic trends. I left the conversation up to them and just listened.

"I feel better about all this periodic table stuff- these activities are cool."

"Fortune Tellers are so awesome- they remind me of grade school."

"The Insta message made me think quickly about what I knew about this stuff- it also helped me see what I don't know and what I need to study tonight."

I have always taught middle school. So these last two weeks with high schoolers has been a bit of a learning curve. Teaching both middle school 3 times a day and high school two classes a day definitely makes the day interesting. But isn't that what education is all about? The adventure. Sometimes we just need a map, others GPS and a flashlight- others we need to go back to our roots and remember why learning is fun. Why smiling and reminiscing is a sunbeam- a lure into the present for the doldrums that blow in this time of year.

Good day indeed. As Malcolm Reynolds and the crew of Serenity would say "Shiny."