Since it is now all about my mental health, let’s say I didn’t get a story written up for projection, like the recent story I projected as a video clip about Candy the Corn. In the past I would have busted my behind to have the story ready for the class to read when they came in no matter what. My old teach-aholic thinking, which I see as stinking now, was to be ready for the class no matter what the cost to my blood pressure and sense of balance.
Now, my new thinking born from the idea of putting my mental health first since if I am insane I can’t work, is to take the notes from the story writer on that class’ story and do either:
- dictation to the class of a shortened version of the story, then writing each sentence on the board with a marker and calling that the reading of the story. That is a time eater.
- actually write up the story when they are doing SSR. I find that I can write out a fairly lengthy story in about ten minutes, by pressing down on the keyboard – on my MacBook Air at least – on all letters needing French accents for about two full seconds at which point the accents pop up in a little “accent bar” and all I have to do is select the accent I want and go on.
- just not do the story. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, since I am learning that level 1 and 2 kids want nothing more than to do stories, now that I have figured out some things.
I don’t have to work as hard anymore. I can love and take care of myself. I don’t have to be the best teacher in the building anymore. I don’t have to destroy and trample down the garden of my life just because I think that I need to plan my teaching all the time, so they’ll like me and tell me that I’m o.k.
I don’t need to plan my teaching. Moreover, if I do that, my students will learn less. It’s because of the way language is.