My mom taught elementary school for more than thirty years before retiring ten years ago. Next month, one of her friends will also retire from teaching. At her retirement reception, she told my mom that the difficult parts of her career made her all the more grateful for the good years.
For me, this was one of the difficult years. I had wonderful students. My instruction was strong, especially for units like The Crucible or Things Fall Apart where I have had several years to build meaningful learning experiences. I even achieved some of my annual classroom goals. However, the year was also rough. I’ve previously mentioned the construction in my building. To say that the effects of the construction were extraordinary would be an understatement. More than half the library is in boxes. Delays and interruptions tested classroom management, and some teachers (me included) did not have “home base” classrooms.
In previous years, I have traveled for one class–spending my mornings in one classroom and my afternoons in another. However, this year, I changed classrooms for every block. If this is your regular schedule, I applaud your fortitude. Being a traveling teacher has given me a unique perspective. Here’s the teacher truths I have learned from a year of traveling:
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Traveling to Your People
More than anything, traveling this year has made me grateful for my co-workers. Being surrounded by a strong department helped provide me with a team to fall back on when the traveling became problematic. One of my co-workers was kind enough to share her closet with me so I always had a place to store a few items and to lock my purse at the beginning of the day.
In an effort to share my gratitude for my co-workers, I did some thanksgiving. When I changed classrooms at semester, I left each teacher a thank-you card and a small box of chocolates. Chances are if you’re traveling in to someone’s room, you are displacing them. For this reason, it’s important to be thankful for their understanding. Similarly, it is also important to communicate that thanks! Even though I was short of storage space this year, I took my own advice and made sure I had a stack of blank cards handy so I could thank the people who helped me out each day.
Invest in Procedures
Because of my traveling, there were days when students arrived in the classroom before me. For this reason, it was important to have clearly defined procedures for the beginning of each class. One of my most important procedures is simply greeting students and having quick hallway conversations to get the day started on the right foot.
Similarly, traveling can be disorienting, so maintaining the same procedures and policies across classes and grades can be helpful. For this reason, even though I taught sophomores and juniors this year, I kept the same absent work, late work, and grading policies in each class. In both the sophomore and junior classes, we began with silent reading each day. This kind of consistency helped me get my head on straight at the beginning of each class switch.
Planning Ahead = Traveling Light
A year’s worth of traveling impressed upon me the importance of planning ahead. I was already pretty organized when the year began, but now I am a pro. Being ahead in my lesson planning (not ahead of the plans, but in the planning) helped me figure out what items I would need in which classroom, on which days, during which blocks. This meant I could coordinate ahead of time, moving around resources and supplies a few days in advance.
Planing ahead with my resources meant I had to know what I would need. I have a lot of teacher stuff. For example, I have some awesome props for when my students act out Shakespeare’s plays! However, with no “home base” classroom, it was impossible to keep all these props at school all year long. But by planning ahead, I knew when I needed to have the toga and foam swords at school!
One of the keys to this was was staying on top of my copying. On more than one occasion, being ahead on my copying meant I could readjust lesson plans at the drop of a hat. This was especially important when construction would force unexpected moves! It’s an unspoken rule of teaching that copiers break when you need them the most, so staying on top of copying made sure I was prepared.
Traveling Teaches
Ultimately, being a traveling teacher provided me with some of the year’s most important insights. From traveling, I learned that entropy is not destiny. I learned that perfection is the enemy of growth. And I learned that failure teaches the most enduring lessons. As my mother’s retiring friend suggested, the most difficult times can make the best times all the more powerful!
