It reminds me of my own children. Each time they were learning something new, an older skill began to lag. My one-year-old is becoming very verbal. She is jabbering almost constantly, learning new words every day (hi, bye, mine, yeah, huh-uh, mama, dada, boo) and now she is singing! She sings Twinkle, Twinkle so well you can tell what she's trying to say! This is all awesome stuff, but there is a trade off to be made. She's putting all her concentration and growth into language skills and in turn, she has started waking up in the middle of the night again and wants a bottle...just when I was thinking 2 a.m. feedings were done and maybe we should be phasing out the bottle. I know she will settle back into her normal sleep routine again.
It's had me thinking about my students. School is a new "skill" for many of my kindergarten kiddos. I wonder what is falling to the wayside right now while they are learning how to "do school" and do I know them well enough yet to figure it out? Will I be patient enough while they even back out?
In the meantime, I'm going to continue to teach my students writing routines and do my best to be patient with my baby girl when I find myself making a bottle in the middle of the night because I know that it means growth and learning are in progress. I'm going to be patient with my students while they even out and get the school routines under their belts. I'm also trying to be patient with myself...I will get myself back into my writing routine when I can and until then...it's all good. (Pete says so!)
Find more Slice of Life stories at Ruth and Stacey's Two Writing Teachers blog.
You have many, many jobs to juggle and many, many roles to fill, just like your students and thus sometimes, some of the jobs will have to wait. I always find September and June to be the most DEMANDING for teachers. I guess it is the "fresh start" challenge each year.
ReplyDeleteOh goodness YES. It is ALL good. Patience...... teachers and parents have super patience powers.
ReplyDeleteHaha, my first thought was OH MY GOODNESS YES, but Dana stole my comment! :) I was thinking the same recently about my own writing, and how strong the urge to write has been for me lately. Here I am leading the troops into the writing trenches, when I'm slacking in my personal writing! But patience is key, and eventually we figure out the balance -- because, as you said -- it's all good!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you wrote today! Your observations are so true, but I've never puzzled it out before. Thanks for reminding me to be patient, with others but also myself.
ReplyDeleteHi Robin-great to hear your thoughts again! This is such a thought-filled slice, and can apply all the way up to even us, don't you think? If one is concentrating hard on one thing, other work does fall away. I guess a remedy (if needed) is to lessen the concentration on one thing. It's something to think about in teaching for sure. thanks much
ReplyDeleteAnd Pete is soooo right! Glad you wrote today.
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