Summer You, School You

'Tis that season: the school year is coming... or perhaps for you, it's even already here and has begun.

The transition time for teachers from "Summer You" to "School You" can be a little bumpy. It's hard to let go of one, and then move into the other. (Especially if summertime is your thrive time of feeling alive through the gift of time.)

"Summer You" knows how to breathe and decompress, reading entire book chapters at end without interruption, basking in the pool. "Summer You" loves late sunsets, patio-sitting, day-tripping, and vacation-jaunting. "Summer You" adores the "real time" of being in the moment, not living in the "scheduled time" of the school year.

But "School You" has its own perks: loving and being energized by work. Making a difference. Connecting with colleagues. Capitalizing on the creativity that comes from an inspired lesson plan, feeling that flash of brilliance. Being lit up from the joy of engaged students and their electric current of learning, all a part of what put us in this career to begin with.

But work comes with work, busy-ness, and sometimes weightiness: planning lessons, answering questions, writing emails, updating paperwork, tweaking slides, assessing students, and definitely being "on" for everyone! Including our families or our kids and maybe even making time for our own friends.

August comes like clockwork, with a collision when "Summer You" and "School You" comes crashing together. "Summer You" is still sun-kissed and hopeful, relaxed and fresh. "School You" is sharpening pencils and multi-tasking with too many open computer tabs and brain compartments. You are feeling the wistful melancholy of "Summer You" slowly slipping away, all too soon. You really, really liked her and don't want to see her go!

If only there was a way to merge the two, bringing "Summer You" into the school year, perhaps even creating the most sustainable version of you?!

Probably starts with boundaries. Making time for weekend and after work fun. We have all probably learned the hard way that no one gets points for working 24-7, being exhausted, or burnt out. No one wins from that... including our students. I remember my workaholic days in the early years of my career! Sleep, laughter, the outdoors, and time for the people in our lives that matter are restorative. Same for stepping away from the computer, carving out some down time, and not checking every chore off the list in one fell swoop. Laundry can be very, very patient and doesn't all need to get done "today." We all need breathing room and pockets of "summer" in our lives... even in the middle of winter! That comes by the way of our own "me" time with activities we enjoy. Likewise "we" time with our families building in group fun and relaxation.

Add in, there is no denying that we live in the land of AI now. It's a huge productivity tool that can carry some of the weight. Can it do everything? No! Nor should it! We need to be human, and relationships in particular need empathy, creativity, time, nurturing, and humanity. But AI can save time working as our personal assistant, buying us energy when it helps us differentiate material for our students, create project rubrics or slide shows, or streamline mental loads. 

Along those lines, our lives are more tech-centric than ever before. The gravitational pull to our phones, iPads, computers, TVs, and more is strong! I circle back to my long-time love-hate relationships with devices. They are an amazing in all they can do... and equally amazing in the level of "time-suck" they can bring. Often, when talking with teachers or parents about how students/kids are using technology, I ask: are they "creating" or "consuming?" Are they active or passive? It's a good question for all of us. It's especially a good one to ask as the educational pendulum continues to swing back and forth between the "to tech or not to tech" question in classrooms. 

I landed on these questions, and I think they serve as a good reminder during this quest for "Sustainable Me." Points to ponder when I am thinking about creating (or redesigning) meaningful and engaging activities for my students. (I think they also will serve me well when I find myself going down the rabbit hole of tech-consumption wasted time, whether it's doomscrolling social media or mindlessly playing that silly phone game when I need to decompress!)

• Does this activity ask students to create: code, design, compose, build?
• Does it help them connect: collaborate, give feedback, see perspectives beyond their own?
• Does it invite them to contemplate: reflect, question, think about thinking?

Perhaps all of this helps create a preservation plan that leads its way to "Sustainable You." A mix of the best of both worlds. A hybrid where "Summer You" and "School You" peacefully co-exist, maximizing potential and harnessing inspiration & innovation. A way to maintain your well-deserved, vital energy for the school year ahead. May we all find our very own sustainable selves! Have a great school year ahead.

Images created using the EduGem "Career Caricature" prompt: https://www.edugems.ai/gem/career-caricature and then compiled in www.canva.com

AI Acrostic Back-to-School Teacher Poster Fun

Here's a fun AI back-to-school teacher prompt that I've been enjoying playing with for both myself and friends. Created by LaNedra Johnson, her prompt is on her Facebook page "Canva Creations for Teachers." LaNedra's Facebook pages is decorated with a ton of colorful creations from teachers sharing their posters. It has definitely inspired me to play around with it too. You can play around with the level of photo realism and cartoony" caricatures you'd like. (The photo realistic ones are scarily spot on!!) I've adapted the prompt several times, making a few for my family, my fun bunch, and my partners in crime.

To find the full prompt, go to LaNedra's original prompt post here, then you can cut and paste into your favorite AI Platform. Then go forth and have fun!

Image created in Perplexity.ai, using & adapting the prompt found here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ZgiAWobsC/

New Year, New Mindset: A Garden of Ideas

Summer always feels like an invitation to breathe differently. It's a good respite after 10 long months of teaching. It's a time and space to create life differently, reset, and refresh.

This time of year, teachers everywhere are doing what I am: reflecting on their summer, readying for the racetrack ahead. We all are taking in how the summer went, making mental notes of how we want to shape the school year ahead.

So, looking back: did I dabble in some back to school techno-babble, digging into the world of AI, lesson planning, sharpening skills through some professional development over summer? Of course I did... because that's what we teachers do. We grow our skills. 

But I'm happy to say it certainly wasn't a summer of "all work and no play." I made plenty of time for reading, pool-lounging, sleeping in, running around with my family, working out, road-tripping, appreciating my husband's gardening and the fruits his labor (or rather: vegetables), and more. 3 cheers for sun & fun, and R & R!

Stepping away from structure and slipping into the slower side of summer definitely includes travel, as I mentioned last week. Travel is the ultimate teacher:

• In Quebec City, I could see the connectedness of both history and people as I stood in this fortified city, gazing upon centuries-old walls that were originally designed to protect, but now serving as an embrace of the many who gather in this multicultural city. 

• In Montreal, I stood amongst the 1976 Olympic Park, now reimagined & "repurposed" through innovation to bring joy to visitors by way of the Biodome and surrounding sights that are now a concert stadium, a pool, a planetarium, and more. The same could be said of my experience at Bota Bota Day Spa, a former ferry boat turned health and wellness oasis.

• In the Midwest, I drove stretches of highway from Chicago to the center of the state to reunite with family... much in the same way I walked stretches of beach in Ocean City, Maryland. This opened time and space to think about pace: in life, in the moment, and even ultimately thinking forward to this fall's school year and how I want to run my classes.

The destinations changed, but the throughline stayed the same: 

Connection. Curiosity. Perspective.

These 3 guiding principles are the same things I want to bring back with me to the upcoming school year and to my classroom. 

Teaching, like traveling, is not about the destination, but rather the journey. It's about what grows and happens in between. It's what we take in when we slow down and let the unexpected shape us. Teaching too is like gardening. It is the roots that anchor everything down. They support the growth and harvest ahead.

Connection, curiosity, and perspective do all of this.

Before the first school bell rings, here are some nature-centric points to ponder while putting up bulletin boards, unpacking boxes, and setting up shop. Plant these questions like seeds in your mind. Growth comes from steady care and the courage to nurture what matters. 

🌱 How can I "grow forward" this school year ahead?

🌱 What connections can I make (to both people, students, and ideas)?

🌱 Where can I grow in my curiosity and shift my perspective?

🌱 How can I innovate and create when needed, shooting and rooting for potential not perfection?

🌱 How can I remind myself that "letting go" is part of growth: letting go of expectations, self limitations, fear of failure, control (always a hard one), the past and "how things have always been done." One thing I’m letting go of this year… 

🌱 How can I make it a year to stretch, branch, and bloom....as a person, as a teacher, as a global citizen in a partisan world, as an educator navigating this ever-expanding edtech world?

🌱 How can I teach smarter not harder, always aligning with these values?

🌱 This year, I want to feel more ______ in my teaching.

🌱 A student strength I want to notice (or encourage) more this year… 

🌱 A space in my classroom I want to reimagine or make more alive… 

🌱 One edtech tool I’m excited to try (or try differently)… 

🌱 One way I’ll bring more nature, climate awareness, or global acceptance into my classroom…

Images created at Canva.com

Heading Back to School: 2024-2025

There are certain traditions that teachers have during Back to School season. In the past, mine (along with probably millions of other teachers) have always included: 

• shopping for new markers, 
• setting up a fresh planbook, 
• perking up the place with new bulletin boards, 
• readying the classroom for the upcoming year, 
• soaking up all that summer energy I've gained to get back on track for the next 9-10 months ahead with the new crop of students.

One of my GTG traditions also is to be a little reflective while simultaneously trying to sink into that inspirational space for anyone who might be in my same place. Adjusting to that transitional overlap between letting go of the sweet taste of summer in order to settle into the career I chose and love. 

Case and point, Exhibits A-H:  2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2016 - 2015

Given all of that, back to school season can be a little bittersweet for us teachers! Our days of sleeping in are over, along with the relaxed schedules with our own friends and family, reading books, enjoying pool time-naptime-vacation time, sharpening our skills with our own personal development (school or otherwise), recovering from the previous year and resting up for the next. It was a pretty good gig. 

But the days bring us closer to that back to school business. Students and teachers alike have that summer underway, but not every summer is idyllic as the prior paragraph. 

• Sometimes summers can be bumpy with personal situations (whether circumstantial, health, aging, and otherwise for both ourselves, our kids, our parents, and our friends). 
• Some teachers (due to teacher salaries, affordability, and cost of living) have worked all summer to supplement their income. 
• Sometimes there's continuing education classes necessary to keep up teaching credentials and more. 
• Some people also just respond better to life with the consistency of routines in place--sometimes a blessing and a curse of summer when they are absent. 
• Sometimes you get hit hard by the whiplash of not much going on in the summer that harshly contrasts the start of the school year's "exploded calendar syndrome." This really hit hard when my own kids entered high school and I had sports practices, school meetings, social events, and a myriad of everything else in between hitting the calendar in a majorly overwhelming way!
• Not every kid went to amazing camps or on stellar vacations (if any at all). 
• Not all homes are the safest of places. 
• Sometimes it's daunting to come back. I remember my 2nd year of teaching once I'd had kids. Although I was a seasoned teacher, I also now was becoming a seasoned working mom, and it particularly stung that year because I knew full well how hard BOTH jobs were!

All proving the complications of the back to school season. One person's perfect icebreaker may be another person's nightmare question. 

Whether your motivation is in mint condition or still a little on the shaky side going into this next school year, here are some articles that may speak to you one way or another as you are readying yourself for this new year and fresh start ahead.

• Teaching in Blue Jean's "5 Words of Encouragement for Teachers"
• Really good reminders on any hard day of teaching. They are destined to bring you back a little closer to center.

• Engaging Their Minds post by Terri Eichholz "Back to School Inspirational Videos for Teachers"
• Be sure to check out her links to her Pinterest board and also her Wakelet links to catch these videos after reading her article.

• ThoughCo's "7 Back to School Tips for Teachers"
• Good ideas for creating the tone you want for the beginning of the year.

• DISC Insight's "Back to School Motivation for Teachers" 
• This is a post advertising some of DISC Insight's products, but the main points are clear without the products.

One of the biggest things I've read lately was in reference to something else completely, but I feel it holds here to the beginning of the school year--for teachers, parents, and students alike. The biggest (and maybe hardest in this social media oriented world in which we live) is "You Be You." What does that mean?

• 
  Take things at your pace. 
• Do what works for you. 
• Resist the urge to compare to your next door neighbor--whether that's the house next door or the teacher buddy's classroom next door. 
• There are a lot of ways to navigate transitions.
• Ff you are gung ho & gangbusters and all in with energy--super. But it's okay if you are a more filled with trepidation and traveling on tiptoes. 

That level of authenticity will help you find your groove. And once you do, you will soar. As will your adventures ahead for this school year!

Images created on canva.com--images created using Canva's magic tools with back to school classroom prompts.

Contemplating the Complicated Emotions That Come With Back to School Season

Back to School season always hits me with such a myriad of emotions. 

I love teaching and I love my job (especially as it has evolved over the years). I adore my fellow colleagues and always learn so much from them and appreciate how teachers have a wonderfully wicked sense of humor. I thrive on those "ah-ha" moments that my students have when they learn something new or that connection finally clicks for them. I do a silent "yes" (arm & fist "yes" gesture included) when I see student struggle coalesce into confidence and complete understandings. In my role as Tech Specialist, I get the opportunity to experience that with my teachers learners too when they also acquire new tech skills I have taught them. I have a true love of learning, soaking up new trends and seeking to continually becoming wiser within my field.  

BUT...I love my summers!!! They are so hard to say goodbye to. Teachers are blessed with having this 6-12 week block off in the summer to relax, refresh, and rejuvenate between school years. Time to "BE"--off schedule, outside, at the pool, napping, reading, less stressed! In my 30+ years of teaching, I've seen the people who see "teacher summer" as decadent and perhaps like to laugh at the concept of "easy living." But then there are the people I know, love, and live with who see how vital that summer block is for decompressing, reflecting, and reinvigorating to prepare for all the demands that teachers face during the 9-10 month school year. Even moreso, here in the post-Covid world of 2020 and 2021, Many of us still are in recovery mode, warding of the PTSD of pandemic teaching, given the demands of that era of education seems to be the gifts that keep giving.

So now, here we are, at the front end of another school year. 

I have been experimenting a lot lately with ChatGPT. while playing around with it, I fed it the prompt "back to school season" and it spit out 5 paragraphs about what all that 4 word phrase entails. I then typed in the following prompt: 

"Using the information listed above, write a lighthearted, positive welcome back poem to teachers, elevating them for the school year ahead, and paying tribute to all of the things they do for their students and students' families all year long. Honor them as unsung heroes and wish them good tiding for a super year ahead. "

ChatGPT responded with a 7 stanza poem (in less than 60 seconds, of course), showcasing its power and prowess. As one should do when using generative artificial intelligence, I read through it, generated a few versions through the AI, merged a few, then made it my own by sprinkling in a bit of me. Full disclosure, it was a combined work, with ChatGPT getting a bulk of credit for it. (Demonstrating good practice, I've credited it below.). Here's the outcome:

Ode to Back-to-School Season & Our Teachers

Goodbye dear summer and our teacher delight,

The time has come for school to resume its flight.

Adventures lie ahead within classrooms we'll share,

With backpacks and supplies, all readily prepare.

Unsung champions, mentors so true,

Through challenges faced, teachers help us breakthrough.

From numbers and words, to wisdom's embrace, 

Teachers light every paths with knowledge and grace.

Teaching so much more than mere words on a page, 

Cultivating wisdom and hearts that engage,

Teachers do it with patience and care each day,

Providing students a chance to learn, laugh, and play.

So here's to you, Teachers, with hearts of gold, 

As the new school year's story starts to unfold. 

May your classrooms resound with joy and with cheer,

As we wish you super success for a very good year.

Just as each new year is unique and different, teachers need to embrace the changes and challenges that lie ahead. With the growing questions and curiosities and concerns and celebrations of AI, this quote spoke to me. I found in the public AI Classroom Facebook Group. The quote is by author Amanda Fox, coauthor of The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education (and co-written by Dan Fitzpatrick and Brad Weinstein). I like the focus on collaboration and the importance of mixing human intelligence (HI) and artificial intelligence (AI) together to make something better than before. [Vicki Davis, known as "Cool Cat Teacher" and the creator of "The 10 Minute Teacher" podcast has written a lot about the combination of HI + AI.]

Teachers, may your upcoming school year greet you with good energy and adventure for what is ahead. May we all serve as inspiration to each other, lift each other up on the hard days, and make amazing memories during the year ahead.

Poem above modified and shortened from 3 generated poems by Chat GPT on August 19th, 2023 using the prompt listed above, quote image from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=670851428412638&set=a.591901022974346&type=3; back to school image created at Canva.com and https://www.excitededucator.com/home/back-to-school-resources

Cowabunga Creativity Over At Canva

I've been a longtime fan and user of Canva and have written about it a time or two. And I will adamantly say: things are always getting better over there. 

Earlier this summer I took a PD class at my school taught by a colleague all about creating dynamic visual presentations. No surprise: Canva was a featured tool. In addition to discussing Canva's modifiable templates for presentations, graphic organizers and more, there is a bounty for teachers. Their Canva For Education feature is downright amazing for educators.

During the work portion of our PD, I got the opportunity to play around with Canva's AI element "Magic Design." Using this built-in AI tool, presentations nearly write themselves, complete with content and graphics, giving you a few templates from which to choose. Beyond that, you can tweak the verbiage, the font, the images and more. I was able to create this presentation in about 15 minutes for my upper elementary graphic design elective, modifying the text with just a simple AI prompt that I typed in.

The Elements of Design: Funtography by Vicki Dabrowka

Canva has a wealth of design tutorials and tools on their site on all topics. Using Magic Design to Create a Presentation includes a detailed explanation and video on how to use Magic Design.

While Magic Design is pretty darn amazing, there's still so much more you can do using Canva and its latest supercharged elements. 

Richard Byrne from Free Technology for Teachers is one of my go-to websites for the latest in edtech. These are 3 of my many favorite posts of his regarding Canva:

• His June 26, 2023 post: How to Magically Make a Presentation in Minutes
• His December 3, 2022 post: 50 Canva Tutorials for Teachers
• His June 29, 2023 post: The Coolest Canva Use I've Seen

Two other really amazing resources I have found include the following:

• Stock Photo Secret's August 23, 2022 post by Ivanna Attié: 20 Cool Canva Projects for Kids

• Amanda Fox's book The Canva Classroom: 42 Ultimate Answers to Templates that Rocket Student Engagement (The Hitchhiker's Guide for Educators Series. I read it one afternoon recently and my gears for projects were whirring! Additionally, there are several QR codes built into the book linking to Canva templates that Amanda created. Once you scan the code, it saves a copy of the presentation/activity into your Canva projects so that you can edit and adapt it. A wealth!

Once you discover Canva, you won't be able to stay away!!

Image created at canva.com; Presentation created at Canva.com--viewable link: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFmdnTA-pE/oY481mKfVgHxWS8rVJZSUA/edit?utm_content=DAFmdnTA-pE&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

"Design the Best School Year Yet With Canva"

And we're off and running and most teachers and students are back to school by Labor Day (if not before).

What is unique about teaching is that each school year is a brand new stand-alone. You can create it to be however you'd like. For veteran teachers, you get the decision to create your classroom culture. You can pull out the tried and true tricks from years past, or you can shake it up and create something new.

Digital design platform Canva for Education (which is supremely, wonderfully FREE to educators), can help you do whatever you want to create all school year long.

I've been a big fan of Canva for years, but I felt like I hit the jackpot when I ran across Kasey Bell's August 23rd [Episode 169] of her Shake Up Learning's podcast: "Design the Best School Year Yet With Canva!" I got really jazzed by all the untapped potential in Canva that was still out there. 

With canvas there's so many of the "Teacher-y" things you can create: name tags, classroom posters, class syllabus or schedule templates, newsletters etc. But you can also create mind maps, graphic organizers, presentations, awards, videos, whiteboard activities, feeling checkins...the list goes on. On top of that, you can also get your students creating--which sometimes is where the magic begins!

Kasey has a lot of creative ideas listed in her podcast. 

Additionally, here are a few more places you can investigate:

• Click here for some cool "Back to School" Teacher Design Playbooks from Canva.

• Check out Canva's Design School for their courses, tutorials, and events. Their "Teach With Canva" series may be your one-stop-shop for all sorts of goodies. "Canva For Students" also has a wealth of tutorials.

• Dive into the wealth of videos over at the Canva YouTube Channel.

• If you are teaching students younger than 13, you may want to be sure to cover your bases and send the Parents/Guardian Consent Form home to parents.

Images from https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/design-the-best-school-year-yet-with-canva-suls0169/, "Create in Canva" created using https://www.bitmoji.com.

It's That Time of Year Again: Back to School

'Tis that time of year again! B2S. BTS. Back to School.

As the "first day of school" photos of friends across the country also started peppering across my Facebook feed, I ran across the following from motivational speaker Thomas C. Murray. I follow him along with many other educational leaders and organizations. In doing so, I have curated my own bit of inspirational, educational feed filled with this along with all things environment, edtech, technology, and innovation.

Along the way, I ran into this, posted by Thomas by Kelsey LaMar, which I think is the perfect send off to teachers this fall. Whether you are just beginning in schools, or returning back for your first, fifteenth, 31st year like me, or more, you are a great teacher. If you've been teyaching the last 3 years, you've been through a lot, but you've made it! You tackled a lot of challenges during the pandemic and growth as a teacher! Most importantly, you will do great things this year too!

Thank you Kelly LaMar (from her Aug 14th Facebook post), for speaking to me and to all of us! Your words mattered... a lot. May we all pass your words, and words of encouragement of our own, forward. Have a good year, my teacher friends!

"It wasn’t the text I was expecting as I pulled into the parking lot on my first day back at work. And yet, there it was. 

 

It was short and simple. To the point. Sent to me by a principal that I haven’t worked for in over three years. 

 

“I hope you have a wonderful year. You are an amazing teacher. Your school and your students are so lucky to have you.” 

 

It was exactly what I needed to hear at the exact moment I needed to hear it. 

 

Cue the tears. 

 

Over the next few days, friends that I’ve worked with over the years received texts also. We’re spread across the country now. Many of us haven’t worked together in years. But yet, we were remembered. We were encouraged. We were seen. 

 

Here we were. Veteran teachers. Reduced to tears. 

 

We joked that our old administrator was out to single-handedly end the teacher shortage and burnout. 

 

It was a joke, but it got me thinking that maybe there was a little truth to it. 

 

Now hear me out. I’m not saying an encouraging text will end our problems.

 

It won’t end low, unsustainable pay rates. It won’t end the hours and hours of unpaid work expected of us. It won’t end the overfilling classrooms. It won’t end the mental load we all carry. It won’t end the lack of resources. It won’t end the behavioral problems that worsen every year. It won’t end the classes we are required to cover during our plan time. It won’t end the lack of substitute teachers.
It won’t. 

 

But maybe, just maybe, our words really are our most powerful weapon. 

 

Maybe, weary after years of teaching on the proverbial front lines, all we needed to know was that we were doing a good job. Our work was valued. 

 

When you enter my classroom, you’ll see notes pinned above my desk. Letters I’ve received over the years from administrators, coworkers, and parents. Little messages that remind me on the hardest days that my work is important. That my talents are recognized. That I am loved. 

 

This text? It was a reminder that I have the power to make someone’s day. To remind them of why they love this job so much. To look at them and see the immense value that they bring to their students and schools. To speak life into their weary hearts. 

 

So friends, today I encourage you to do the same. 

 

When you see the beauty in a student interaction. When you see the enthusiasm brought to a lesson. When you see the grace given where it wasn’t deserved. When you see the classroom that exudes peace and joy. 

 

Speak up. Tell them. It may be just what they needed to hear at the moment they needed to hear it.
And friend? In case you haven’t heard it in awhile, you’re an amazing teacher. Your students and your schools are lucky to have you." ~ Kelly LaMar

 

Kelly LaMar text from her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/talesfromtitle1/posts/pfbid02YRVptXdhAgHkY1QQJ8Pyyh58D8FXuYHUNyaAdQX5Ro4j7uFqqGiS9RfgKL1zEWysl , image created at www.canva.com using my Bitmoji.

Welcome Back to School

School starts for me (by way of teacher meetingsI) today. Official school for our students starts next week, but first day photos on Facebook show me that schools have started back in action almost up to a month ago in some areas.

This year, school starts with some trepidation. Remote learning, hybrid school, and the pandemic the last 18 months have sent all of us spinning a bit. Variants are on the rise after we've all tasted the sweet elixir of freedom in June--it's leaving my colleagues and I wondering what the future holds. Mask? Zoom? Quarantines? Covid cases? Or are we all back to normal? Only time will tell.

In the meantime, let's all take a deep breath, muster our strength and stamina, pray for good wifi if we need it, and hope for the best for a good school year ahead, connecting with our students. In the last 18 months, students and teachers have learned to be flexible, to pivot when needed, and to be creative problem solvers. We can do this. May the rejuvenation of the summer stay with you, and may you always be a good trouble shooter with a good sense of humor. Stay healthy, stay strong, and have a great school year ahead! Cheers!

Image created at canvas.com using my Bitmoji.com.

Canva For Education

In my last post, I mentioned toe-dipping into some edtech tools this summer. It left me with needing to put Canva in a post of its own!

Canva has long been a go-to website for me for creating digital signage and imagery. I've used it frequently here at GTG, always referencing when I do. They've made some additions with their Canva For Education which make it a teacher's dream! No doubt it's one of the many edtech shifts that have come out of remote and hybrid teaching during the pandemic, making it easier for students and teachers to connect.

The perks of Canva for Education:

• It's free to K-12 teacher's and their students--sign up just entails a teacher login on your school domain and verification.
• Teachers can invite students to their Canva classroom to assign and manage class activities.
• It works seamlessly with Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and more.
• It opens up pro features including fonts, icons, and images.
• The templates!! A wealth of customizable templates on every subject including social-emotional learning. Insert 3 thumbs up here!! Some of the broader category of school-specific templates include:
• Class Posters
• Schedules
• Graphic organizers & mind maps
• Lesson Plans
• Certificates
• Bookmarks
• Certificates
• Class Decor Kits
• Not to mention all the templates they already had which could be adapted to the classroom: 
• Integrating Bitmoji's (just discovered that one!)
• Presentations
• Infographics
• Business Cards
• Brochures
• Newsletters
• Resumes
• Invitations
• Even fun stuff like T-shirts, menus, postcards, and logos. Just think of the literature extension ideas you could use by assigning creative activities like these.

The possibilities are endless, both from the teacher productivity standpoint and the "create and write" standpoint for your students! 

"Head Back to School With Canva" art created at canvas.com; Graphic organizer image screenshot from https://www.canva.com/education/; Logo from canva.com

Thoughts a Month Into Hybrid School

This summer when I was introduced to the idea of "hybrid school" (where half of the kids are in class and half are remote), my first instinct was it had to be like juggling knives.

I was not wrong.

Hybrid for me at my school means that most of our preschool through 1st graders are in school in person (with the exception of those students who’s parents opt to keep them home full time). Our 2nd through 5th grade students also have a handful of “full-time remote learners,” but otherwise they in person at school either Monday-Wednesday or Tuesday-Thursday, and every other Friday. It’s definitely mental juggling trying to remember which Friday is which! We bring in our home kids daily via Zoom and Swivl to create a full class experience for our kids. We are using technology more than ever before with Seesaw, our learning management system, online resources like Google Drive, and online reading & math platforms. Our specials teachers either zoom into the classrooms for the littler ones, or travel by cart to the classrooms for our every-other-day kids. We are masked and socially distancing, the latter of which is tricky given the whole nature of being educators… not to mention it’s totally in the nature of kids to come close and be near each other.

The post “I’m a Hybrid Teacher, and I’m On the Verge of Quitting” on the Marvelous Teacher Musings website nails the difficulties of this style of teaching in so many ways.

Now that I have been in hybrid-style school for a month, entering our fifth week, I’m still finding it exhausting. We are the frontline workers. We are going in daily into what feels like a hot zone.

Daily, there’s a degree of “gearing up” to “go back in there” that I face—when getting out of bed as well as getting out of the car in my school parking lot. Lots of deep breaths and some internal monaloges of “you can do this.” (Sometimes they are interspersed with other soliloquies about hating life.) In some ways, It is getting easier. Often times, it still just as hard as it was on day one. It is just hard, and hard for everyone. I can see the struggle is real for all of my colleagues, who are buckling in and doing the best they can midst all of these crazy times. As the elementary school technology integrator, I have had lessons that have felt like my worst teaching experiences ever as I wrestled with keeping my in class kids engaged while I’ve wrestled (almost individually) with my at-homers. I’ve also had lesson sessions where it actually almost felt like “the good ole days!” I’ve also noticed that the students are completely remarkable—patient and perhaps even grateful, realizing how it feels to be back in school after 6 months at home given both our spring remote learning season and a long socially distanced summer afterwards.

The more I am living this hybrid learning model, the more I'm noticing that it is going to be "the marathon" versus "the sprint." The spring remote learning was the sprint. Everyone was in the mindset of “just get to the end.” It’s definitely a different race here and now. The end, from this vantage point of start of October, is a long way away. From this place, we are in a marathon. We need endurance, stamina, and longevity to make it to May or June. We can't keep going at an unsustainable pace. Pace—steady and slow--is the only thing that will win the race of the 2020-2021 school year.

Likewise, it reminds me of the flight prep on a plane that we get from the attendants: in case of emergency, put your own oxygen mask on first. Teachers, by nature, are planners, and there’s really nothing you can plan or control midst a pandemic. It’s a lot of uncertainty and flexibility, and adapting as things change around us. That’s tough for a lot of us to grapple with… and it is exactly why we need to put on our own mask first. (A near pun, in today’s times.) We do that through going easy on ourselves and making sure we providing space for us to catch our breath, sleep, and heal from the exhaustion of these times. The definition of resilience is having the capacity to recover from difficulties. It’s about mental toughness and adapting to the adversity that surrounds us. It is gleaned in part through self care. Those two pieces are the only thing that's going to get teachers through this time—perhaps our most memorable year as educators.

Teachers notoriously are terrible about self-care. There’s always lessons to plan, papers to grade, parents to email or call. Their own life, families, friends, and other responsibilities get smushed around all of that. But now, more than ever, we need to make sure to find the time for it. Our sanity and ultimate health need us to do just that. Here’s a list of resources that I hope you find helpful, so that these crazy times can begin to feel just a little bit more bearable and ultimately sustainable.

• Vicki Davis' 10 Minute Teacher Podcast: "Don't Fall Out of the Boat" Episode 700
• The Counseling Teacher's 50 Self-Care Ideas for Teachers (I absolutely love this printable list in either color or black and white for you to "zen color" yourself)
  
• The Counseling Teacher's 20 Self Care Quotes for Teachers
  
• The Resilient Educator's COVID-19: Resilient Educator Toolkit
• Walden University's article "The Resilient Educator: Recognizing the Signs of Teacher Burnout"
• The Atlantic's article "Our Students Are Depending on Us: Teaching Through Covid-19

Last but not least, here are the 2020 Teachers of the Year and their thoughts & self-care coping strategies. 




Images from https://marvelousteachermusings.com/2020/09/12/hi-im-a-hybrid-teacher-and-im-on-the-verge-of-quitting/, https://imgflip.com/i/2l7kzh, https://www.popupbusinessschool.co.uk/uploads/1/0/5/2/10525779/charlotte-3_orig.jpg, https://akchristianwomensministry.com/2019/09/10/put-your-oxygen-mask-on-first.html,

Video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3pdoe1hfuE

Back to School Stats

School, hybrid style, started on Wednesday. 

Stats felt like the way to start reflecting back over the week: 

• 28,218 step, mostly at school, 2 days of which were over 10K (and this is from a girl who wrestled with a raging new case of sciatica this August, on top of 2 bad knees)

• Wednesday I taught sixteen 15-minute tech lessons to 8 classes (8 in the morning to the hybrid half that came, 8 in the afternoon to the other half) covering how to find our "hybrid home-day" zoom links (which for us are on Bitmoji Boards) and also how to login to Clever (a single sign on platform that allows for "1 stop shopping").

• Thursday, I taught ten 35-minute tech lessons to our 1st-- 5th graders with computers so they could practice logging into Clever, their Zoom links, and either Seesaw or our learning management system which we are newly using for upper elementary. Add in wiping 5-9 computers between each session to thoroughly disinfect.

• Friday, I repeated my Thursday schedule for the other half of the children in this hybrid situation.

• Total number of lessons taught in 3 days: 36

• Parent Zooms for new remote-only parents: 1 (approx. 1 hour in length)

• Number of emails to the tech help desk (which I am a part of): Too many to count

• Number of days it took me to completely lose my voice: 3 (although, by the end of 2, it already was on the major decline toward being highly hoarse)

• Add in, our Swivls have just arrived on campus. (Goodness, at least 25 or so.) These will help bring our at home remote learners into our class alongside with the half of the class that is on campus every other day--so there's teacher training ahead too. 

In this Covid-new-reality world, sometimes it feels like a race against the clock. We are working like the dickens to try to get our students fully acclimated to all the portals and platforms so they know what they are doing for the "if/when we go remote." Hopefully it's at least after we all know which end is up and what we are doing. (Kids & teachers alike!!)

This certainly is a school year like no other. I'm certainly glad I have the 3-day weekend ahead to physically, mentally, emotionally, and vocally recover. Especially since more tech training days for students are ahead and scheduled for next week. Luckily not quite so progressively packed, but it'll make for another full week again. The joys of being a technology teacher (which I do really love, but I do sorely miss the good ole days prior to 2020 teaching)!

For all the teachers and students out there (and the parents who are navigating their children's learning as well).... Give yourself some grace this fall, and just know, we all know how hard each and everyone of you are working to do this all with masks on, with the aroma of soap and hand sanitizer in the air, trying to socially distance while also helping yourself, your students, and your colleagues in this new time of learning. 

I'm ending with an image I made for my homeroom teachers and shared with them the night before school started--was that only 4 days ago?

Images: Back to School Statistics created at www.canva.com using the graph from https://www.cleanpng.com/png-united-states-bar-chart-progress-chart-carter-comm-3903623/preview.html. First Day of School Bitmoji Board created using the Bitmoji app and Google Slides.

Let the Games Begin

Today (Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020) this week is when we "let the games begin."

All systems go.

Ready or not, here it comes.

Wednesday (today!) is the day I officially go back to school, starting my 28th year of teaching. (Man, that's a longggg time! I can still remember that first year of teaching, 28 years ago, in great detail!)

The start of school look so different to everyone this year. For us, we are going back partially--in a hybrid fashion (aka: every-other day). We will be full on "in" for our first graders and younger. We will go alternating days for our 2nd through 12th graders. Teachers will be in-house 5 days a week. All divisions have a 5-day remote learning option, if parents opt in for that. All divisions have someone (or 5+ someones) taking advantage of that remote option.

It goes without saying that this will be by far the most different--and perhaps difficult--year of teaching ever. 

In the age of Covid, we send our 18 year olds out to college, hoping that the school stays safe and healthy, responsible, and in session. We hope they can miraculously sustain the entire semester.

Yet as elementary teachers, we are uncertain when it comes times to receiving our wards via the school/school system. We see it as a tough situations with germs abounding, with the littlest ones wrestling with keeping their masks on their face and knowing what 6 weeks of social distancing even looks like. Schools are a little scary right now. But as educators, we go forth. Hoping and praying that we all stay healthy, and we all can do our best for our students.

As I head back to school, knowing teachers are uncertain of their future, we embrace hope. Sometimes, hope is all we have. It certainly beats embracing fear factor or burying our heads in the sand. As educators, what we do is take care of others. We love our students, and would do anything for them. We miss them and our classrooms--and it's been a long time (since March) for most of us  Let's hope we can get back to the business of teaching, staying sane, safe, and healthy. It certainly will be "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" ahead this school year.

In the immortal words of Moira, Johnny, David, & Alexis Rose, I found this tribute from the cast of "Schitt's Creek" (which was created for our 2020 spring graduates) highly fitting as a tribute to all teachers out there. [Schitt's Creek was my go-to binge show this summer. I "Loved me those 6 seasons" (which I maybe watched in a whopping 2 weeks)!!] The Roses make me smile every time!

Teachers, regardless of your format as you re-enter school, be strong, be tough, and be downright awesome. It's going to be a year that you won't ever forget...and a year of patience, creativity, fortitude, grit, work, compassion, innovation, intensity, and empathy. Mask up, sanitize, and don't ever forget to breathe. You can do this--we can do this--and we all will rock it!

Video from https://youtu.be/wMyK0ANuxiU,image from https://www.marketsmuse.com/equity-crowdfunding-us-gets-mojo/

Bandwidth

There's irony in the fact that "bandwidth" relates to both technology and mental capacity.... which means it is also ultimately tied to nature and the outdoors (for we all know that the latter is the cure for the former).

In this world that's already highly tech-i-fied, after a season of remote learning and multiple Zooms a day, computers make the world go 'round. Especially as coronavirus cases continue to rise in the United States. Social media, news, the TV, and more tell us that now as August arrives, we in the United States did a rather abysmal job of curtailing the Covid as our curve continues to crawl the wrong way.

From a teacher's perspective, summer is always my season to regroup, relax, and rejuvenate. It's that time we teachers soak up, tackling those home tasks we maybe haven't gotten to over the past several months. (Mine right now is overhauling the basement!) Likewise it's time to read books (for business and pleasure), search out new ideas, percolate over our classrooms and curriculum, and even have a few adventures so that we can be ready to dive into the fall school year.

School is not now, nor has it ever been, a 9 to 5 job.

Summer 2020 ... much like the rest of 2020 ... is an beast unto itself, and the normal "summer things" just aren't the same. For me, I've noticed a direct hit on my bandwidth. Literally (technologically by way of my wifi) and physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually.

It's summer, and yet I've spent approximately 12-15 hours both this week and last doing school work. Teaching professional development (PD) classes, taking other PD classes, reading, researching, wrestling with wifi, orchestrating, and organizing some real needs for my school, my teachers, and myself. Will we be in school, out of school, or somewhere in between with a hybrid model--and will it be safe? I know teachers who love their jobs who have resigned rather than go back into a classroom they do not deem safe due to their local Covid numbers. Likewise, I know others that are making sure their affairs are in order by making sure their wills are written. Just in case.

As my zoom meetings have moved from spring teaching to summer learning, it all heightens awareness. Perhaps only if we can prepare for everything! Typically, summer is a time to relax the reliance on calendars... yet this year I am religiously keeping a calendar so I can make sure to show up at the proper Zoom times. My calendar is peppered with white sticky labels as events get rescheduled or canceled due to quarantine restrictions. I've got layers and layers of labels covering up canceled commitments.

My brain feels much like that layered calendar, trying to keep track of what is and is not happening. I can't shake the feeling that the ground beneath seems to be constantly shifting. We're trying to be flexible, but there is so much uncertainty in the unknown. It makes it difficult to plan. (Teachers are big planners by the way!) Case & point: we're working on the 4th iteration of move-in days for my daughter's college. The lacrosse tournament we went to (masked) last weekend for my son was on it's 2nd or 3rd calendar date, having shifted a month or two later month than originally intended. In our house, my family is putting forth dedicated effort to follow the restrictive orders of "safer at home;"yet, after months of this it leaves us wondering why we are trying so hard to stay healthy when it's clear that others are not. Meanwhile, numbers of Covid cases and deaths grow exponentially. (Yes, there is increased testing, but the positivity rate in some states is downright scary.)

It all leaves a layer of frustration under the surface--much like my calendar sticky labels. It all piles on top, dismantling motivation along the way. Plus, social media and nightly news show us continued signs of racial injustice, peaceful protesting, reports of rioting, and stories of military-style secret police in major metropolitan areas. All the while, we carry our own concern for our own children, our own parents (some of whom we haven't seen in awhile due to all the regional restrictions), our own wallets and how the economy is affecting it....also on top of conundrums of "what's for dinner," "do we have clean laundry to wear," and a myriad of other mental calisthenics that keep us awake at night.

There's an overload in my brain.... all related to a lack of bandwidth!

The oft-used quote "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" comes to mind. But, the pile-on sometimes does more than just build character. The overload can weaken your immunity because there just are way too many things to think about. In the age of coronavirus, a weakened immune system is the last thing we need!

Now more than ever, as we enter August, teachers and students need to make sure to take the time to relax our brain. Parents and kids and the community as a whole does too. We need to schedule in more than zooms and work and planning. We need to take time breathe. To unwind. To unplug. To get outside. To get some sleep. To focus on healthy approaches like sleep and exercise. To slow down if have yet to do so. We need time to watch campy TV shows just to laugh! We need time in or near water to decompress and to soak up #bluemind to counter the non-stop, active, anxious, "red mind."

Without doing a combination of all of the above, we certainly aren't going to have the bandwidth as teachers (and parents) to make it through the upcoming school year. By all means, no matter whether we are remote, in class, or in the in-between, I sense that this will be the most memorable school year of our lives. It'll take grit and work to reconfigure the art of teaching school. Teachers are some of the hardest working people I know, and I have no doubt we will accomplish that goal. My hope is that it doesn't come at an incredible expense or loss--of our spirit, of our creativity, of our clarity, of our health, or even our lives. We love our students and give them our all... but we want everyone in our midst to be safe and stay healthy.

A wish I have for all of you!


Definition from dictionary.com; Images from https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-bandwidth-2625809, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/570709/yes-you-have-too-many-tabs-open-your-computer-and-your-brain-probably-blame, and https://psmag.com/magazine/this-is-your-brain-on-poverty

TED-ED's Series & Collections

I recently got reintroduced to TED-Ed at a one-day summer "Tech Tools" workshop I attended. In addition to being able to build lessons around a TED talk or animation, you can also use ones that others have created or customize it yourself. I like how the depth of investigation and questioning you can build in is structured around their "Watch - Think - Dig Deeper - Discuss" format.

Upon all my investigations of all TED-ED has to offer, I ran across their series, and the following are just some of their offerings--all of these have some great environmental education connections that are perfect for back to school season. I've included the number of videos in that series at the time of writing in parentheses following the series names. There are some overlaps between series.

• Ecofying Cities (10)
• Awesome Nature (220)
• You Are What You Eat (31)
• Discovering The Deep (39)
• Our Changing Climate (35)

And a fun last one--Periodic Videos, which has the periodic table as a graphic, with each element being a link to a TED-ED video.

Of course this is just a fraction of what's available over at TED-ED. For a wealth of more on a many more subjects, be sure to click their "Discover" button for both series and lessons!

Images from: "Watch - Think - Dig Deeper - Discuss" Screenshot from one of TED-ED's lessons and https://blog.ed.ted.com/2016/10/04/lead-a-ted-ed-professional-development-workshop-designed-for-teachers-by-teachers/