This week we are delighted to bring you another article from one of our favorite teachers, Heather Trees.  Heather just completed her second year of teaching and she has great insight to share.  We hope you enjoy this as much as we did!  

A Teacher’s Dozen: 12 Lessons I Learned My Second Year of Teaching

by Heather Trees

1. Be dazzled.

My sixth grade students worked hard learning formulaic writing to meet Iowa Core standards: argument, research, theme. But in our third trimester we tackled memoir otherwise known as personal narrative. When I introduced the unit, I read a favorite story by one of my students from last year: an athlete, a popular kid, a boy that got in trouble more than once. My current 6th graders were stunned. It was good. No, it was great. It had all the elements of a riveting story: it read like a memoir, it made a movie in your head, it had realistic dialogue, it showed and didn’t tell the story.

They were inspired and relieved. Anyone, not just “smart” students could write a great story about their own lives. And my students did – after lots of mini lessons on what makes a good memior; stories about tubing, and trips to Wisconsin Dells changed into stories which reflected important moments in their lives. The stories made me laugh, cry and shout for joy: a diagnosis of Type One diabetes, shooting their first eight point buck, visiting a beloved neighbor one last time, letting a raccoon raised as a pet return to the wild, winning a golf tournament after a disastrous hole, losing a cousin to cancer. The list goes on and on. Last lines were especially poignant as students dug deep and looked for realizations and special moments.

We celebrated with a class reading party. The room was silent. Everyone was absorbed in the stories on the page. Writers and readers at work. It was a teacher mic-drop moment.

2. Don’t give up but don’t give in either.

There are certain times as a teacher you want to give up. Raise the white flag and surrender. It could be a difficult parent: weekly emails, questions about grades, extra attention for their child. Or it could be a challenging student, one who gets under your skin or refuses to do work or be on task. One of my favorite teachers and authors, Rafe Esquith, says, basically, don’t let certain students ruin what is happening in your classroom. I agree- give them a choice. Join us. Be part of the community we have created in the classroom to the best of your ability. Otherwise, don’t deny other students the learning and quiet they deserve. Writing takes thinking and thinking takes silence. Reading take silence if you are to enter the zone.  You can’t fully enjoy the book you are reading for pleasure if someone is poking you or making a joke. So then, that person must leave. I’m sorry but I have 25 other students who are absorbed in the page.

3. Lean on anyone and everyone.

For the first time, I have lots of help. In a class of 12, I have 2 associates/paras. During my language arts block with 26 students, I have an associate and a special needs teacher a few times a week. I used to think leaning on them for help showed weakness. Now, I realize, it shows strength. They have different strategies, ideas, and motivational tools and are better with certain students than I am. I am not the Lone Ranger or Superman. I am just one teacher with up to 27 students in my room who all want and need my one-to-one attention. Help!

4. Serenity Prayer

Let go of the things you can’t change. You cannot change the home life of your students, you cannot change your team, you cannot change the angry parent, you cannot change enrollment numbers. If you focus on things you can’t change, it takes your energy and attention away from what matters. See number five.

5. Pay Attention

On morning duty, I see one of my outgoing students sitting alone hiding behind the vending machines. I leave my “duty” post and plop myself next to her. “What’s up?” I ask.

“Nothing,” she mumbles as she looks away.

I persist. “You never sit alone…What is going on?”

“My dad made me let Nico go last night?”

“Your pet raccoon- into the wild?” I gasp. She loved her raccoon like a brother. It slept with her. She talked about Nico like a person.

“Yeah,” she said.

“I am so sorry. What happened?”

She proceeded to tell me the whole story, and I told her she needed to write about it. She did and in doing so came to terms with the loss in her own way. It was one of the most touching and heartbreaking stories I have ever read from anyone- not just a sixth grader. Look around, see what your students need. A lot of times they need things from you that are not academic, Be engaged and pay attention so you don’t miss opportunities to connect and help them through difficult moments in their lives.

6. Be present in the classroom.

Do not grade, surf the internet, check emails, or chit-chat with other adults while students are learning in your room. Sometimes, I just want to phone it in. I did not sleep well, or I have something on my mind. When it happens, I am not present to my students, and I don’t teach them well. To be truly present takes focus, energy, and openness. It takes work. Show up and do the work. I discovered this year on low energy days or faced with content that is not my cup of tea, if I say to myself — I am going to teach this class like it is my favorite class I have ever taught –it helps a lot. I have more energy and enthusiasm which spreads to my students. Suddenly, the classroom is alive again with learning and engagement. No one is just grinding away bored and adrift.

7. Create class rituals.

Each morning when my students arrive, I greet them with a big smile and a good morning. Then we talk as a whole class about what they did the night before,  upcoming weekend plans or their favorite flavor at Dairy Queen. Sometimes it is a rollicking class discussion, a bit of a free for all. Other times, I am pulling teeth to get someone, anyone, to talk. But the students and I can count on it to start the day. As a Catholic school, we also pray three times a day. Morning prayer includes intentions which can be a powerful way for students to share and ask for help.  I need to figure out ways to add daily, weekly, and even monthly rituals. Students love things they can count on. They create community. I am starting with prayer. We pray three times a day. How can I make it more meaningful?

8. Find your stress release.

My husband bought me an exercise bike with access to online classes for my birthday. I love it. It has changed my outlook on exercise and dare I say – even life. The classes are upbeat, fun and energizing. Someone is motivating me which is just what I needed. Who knew? I didn’t realize  I spent so much time motivating others, it was draining me from motivating myself. After a workout, I feel alive, energized and ready to be present to my family.

9. Let go of failure.

I failed at times this year. I did not reach some students, I lost my patience, my temper and was sarcastic and short with students. I created units that were a waste of the student’s time and my time. I graded unit tests too hard and sometimes too easily. As a second-year teacher, I made mistakes. I could brood about it all summer. I am not going too. Instead, I will do better next year.

10. Reflect

Reflect on your own teaching. What went well and what didn’t? Take the time to look at student data. This year, all of the writing in my classroom paid off. On our mandatory writing benchmark test at the end of the year, 25 out of 26 students in my language arts class made progress. Not only that but as a 6th-grade team, 85% of our students made growth. Wow! Where you put your time and attention students grow. Be intentional about your teaching. What do you want students to learn? How are you going to teach it to them? What are you going to do if they don’t get it at first? What are you going to do if they already know it? Before every unit, I am going to zero in on these four points.

Have students reflect. The only time I see real learning occurring in my classroom is when students take the time to reflect on their own progress. At first, they do not understand. What do you mean? Do I get to grade my own paper? They all just want to give themselves A’s. But then, I give them checklists and they have to look at each part of their assignment. Did they really punctuate all of their dialogue correctly? They are given prompts and have to write a paragraph about what they learned, and what they still need to learn. Ohhh. The lightbulbs turn on. I have to think about my learning – not just grade it.

Finally, reflect on your class or content area with a macro and a microlens. My classroom looks out over a courtyard. At the beginning of the year, it was a construction site with mud, rocks, heavy machinery, a trailer and trash blowing around. By late fall, the equipment was gone; the mud remained. Slowly, tiny shoots of grass sprouted, patchy at first. By spring, it was a  full-grown lawn. Looking at it in a macro sense, I see lots of progress and success. The previous broken place is now a lush expanse of green. However, when I actually walk out into the courtyard and get down on my hands and knees – I see lots of bare ground; places the trash was embedded into the earth and the seeds could not sprout through, or patches where the soil was too rocky or lacking nutrients. From afar, it looks perfect. But up close, it is like most lawns or classrooms; it is not consistently amazing. As a teacher you need to value the macro view and see the year or the class as a whole. The year was great – look at how much progress the group made. Other times you need to get out the microscope. Not everyone grew at the expected pace, some students entered your room below grade level. Did they gain ground? Yes, but not enough for me to be completely satisfied. Take the time to get out the microscope and dig into that rocky ground to try and ensure every seed sprouts. But once in a while, step back and look at the lush, green lawn from afar. It was a good year in room 121, which now looks out upon a verdant courtyard.

10. Savor the gifts.

Recognize and savor the special moments as they occur in the classroom. For our end-of-the-year religion project, each student researched  a Judge or King from the Old Testament, created a presentation, and wrote a reflection. In the reflection, students spoke about the gifts of their chosen Biblical leader and how the Judge or King shared them with the world.  Students also reflected on their own gifts, and how they would use them in the world. Remember, these are sixth graders. At first, their thoughts were simplistic, “People tell me I’m a great reader.” “I’m good at the piano.”

But I sat down with each of them and helped them dig deeper. I would ask, “What is it about you that makes you love reading or practice the piano for two hours a day? That is the gift.”  My students pushed themselves to think what special gifts God gave them. As I perched next to one of my students helping her discover her unique gift, a boy sitting across from us looked up at me. He said, “And Mrs. Trees gift is to see all of our gifts.” He smiled at me and then got back to work on his reflection. I teared up. His words resonated inside of me like a tuning fork. He summed up my entire teaching philosophy and greatest gift.- a gift I didn’t even know I had.

12. Prepare for next year

How do I bring my teaching to the next level? How do I ensure that engagement and learning occur in room 121? I struggle to answer these questions. I know it has more to do with me than what students are placed in my room next year. One thing I do know, I won’t start from scratch. I am making a list of what worked and what didn’t. The memoir unit worked, teaching argument writing with the renowned writing teacher Lucy Calkins as my guide worked, monitoring home reading with yellow trackers- not so much. In social studies, despite working with our instructional coach and spending hours planning and researching – my Silk Road unit was a bust. On the other hand, my world religions unit that I tacked on at the end of the year was a surprising success. My goal was for students to have an understanding of the five main world religions, and how they were interconnected yet still unique to their time and place of origin. I will drop the Silk Road and tweak how I designed the world religions unit while they are fresh in my mind.   I have much to learn; I am eager to get started.

Let my third year begin!

Read Heather’s advice to first year teachers here. 

Heather Trees is a sixth grade teacher at Mazzuchelli Catholic Middle School in Dubuque, Iowa. She teaches social studies, religion, and language arts. Her greatest passion is inspiring a love of reading in all students. She believes there are no nonreaders just children who have not found their gateway book into a love of reading.

Teaching is a second career for Heather. She has a BA in theater and communications from Northwestern University and an MA in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern. Her first career was a television journalist and nightly news anchor at TV stations in Iowa and California.  After taking time to stay home with her children, she began a career working with children in a school library, which led to her returning to school to get her teaching credential.