How do I shift my mindset and years of experience in the classroom to make remote learning work? This is a question I have spent weeks pondering on and will probably never answer. I don’t think anyone will find the best or perfect system. What I hope teachers and schools do, is try to find what works for their students, families and the community. In doing this, I asked myself what could I do to make working remotely successful for me in my situation. Here are some of the things that I find works for me at the moment:
 

1. Develop a routine: this works for me. It may not work for you. My first priority was to get a routine going. This helped me to separate work from home even when they were all in the one space. It put me on auto pilot mode and it was one less think that I had to think about
2. Make student connection a priority: our life and world has shifted and it is a challenge for everyone. No matter what you do or where you are, life is affected somehow. As adults, some of us process this and adapt quickly and some of us don’t. Some people have the skill set to shine, others are finding their lives horribly changed. Children will be in the same boat but with less life experience. Their world will have been turned upside down and they have to learn to adapt as well. For some of them, this may be a good transition. For others, this may cause extreme distress and confusion. The main goal that I set myself is to let my students know that I am here for them. I will be here when they need and I will do the best that I can to help them.
3. Document: this one will evolve over time I am sure. I make sure that I document according to the school guidelines and expectations. It shows what I do with my time and how I am contributing. I save my emails and make sure that I record who I check in with and when.
4. Follow the expectations set as a school: this one is tricky. You naturally want to go above and beyond for your students all the time. In the interests of consistency and fairness to all staff members, try to work as a team. Set guidelines that you all stick to so that there is no comparison between teachers. Strong school guidelines and clear communication expectations will help this transition run a little more smoothly. We were lucky enough in Victoria to have some time to establish these guidelines.
5. Boundaries and space: set a clear distance between home and work. At first I got caught up in work so badly I didn’t take breaks and would be answering emails at all hours. The lines between work and home blurred really quickly. I learnt pretty rapidly that if I was in this for the long haul I needed to create a barrier between the two. I pack up all of my school materials at the end of the day. They don’t come out until the next morning. 

Remember: Go slow and be strategic, do not rush into doing it all: things will develop as we move on this journey. We don’t start a new journey having achieved the end result. Things will change as no one knows how this will end or what normal will look like after this.
 
Things may be different for a long time. We just cannot predict what will happen. All I do know is that every teacher out there is enough. Whatever you are doing it is enough.
#twocreativeteachers #teachers #education

Who would have thought that we would have started our year this way? Moving into such new and unfamiliar territory. It is worrying times for teachers in Australia as we are still teaching in a dual role. That role is still ever changing. I am more than happy to help the community in times of need, but I would like to think that my safety is also of concern. Right now, it is hard to keep a classroom of students at a safe distance. It is also extremely challenging doing so without any protective gear. Another new challenge presenting is finding a balanced remote learning program. So many challenges in such a short time frame! However I have full faith that if any group will rise to the occasion and meet these challenges, it will be teachers.
 
Teachers certainly have a unique way of adapting to setbacks and problem solving on the go. We just need the community to be patient and work with us. So I am beginning to think of how I can address some of these issues and face what is coming. I started by looking at things that I can control and manage. This helped shift my mindset and I hope that you can make a coffee, sit back and do the same.
 

1. Be grateful that I have a job: it broke my heart driving to work some days watching hoards of people desperate for support. The lines at local support agencies were immense and it reminded me of how much worse my situation could be. Today, I am thankful that I have a job.
2. Remind yourself of what you have, not what you don’t: when this first happened, I must admit, I felt a little panic. The unknown, the uncertainty, the fear, my health and safety risk. I have a respiratory condition that makes me higher risk. Like so many others, my first thought was a little bit of fear. The what if’s certainly had a field day! But when things calmed, reason and logic kicked in again. I worked hard to remind myself every day what I do have. I do have a roof over my head, I do have access to help and medicine and I am not in this alone.
3. Give yourself time to adjust: it takes a while to adjust to any change. This is no different. It will take a little while to adjust but I feel like I can manage it if I just allow myself time to breathe and adjust to a new way of doing things.
4. Be kind to yourself: it is a stressful time for all. You will make mistakes and some of them may be bad mistakes. Keep asking what you would say to another person in your situation. You would reassure them and be kind to them. Treat yourself the same way.
5. Allow yourself time to switch off: I have put all devices away, turned the TV off and gone back to reading and writing to unwind. I have also been trying to walk outdoors as much as possible while I can. Try to find a time where you are just focussed on something else.
6. Don’t worry about what other people say: at first, some of the comments made on social media got under my skin. Teachers were made to seem ungrateful or complainers for wanting support with protecting themselves. It really annoyed me some of the ill informed comments made and I found myself dwelling on it. Eventually, I just become so tired of it, I stopped reading and it was the best thing that I did,
7. Stop comparing your role or school to others:  Every country, every situation and everyone’s circumstances are different. At first I fell into the trap of looking at what other countries do but as time went on, I realised that we are all unique. Before we judge, keep in mind that every school situation is unique and there is no one size fits all solution
8. You will not please everyone: I am sure that as remote learning continues there will be people screaming it’s too much, not enough, too hard or too easy. One thing I do know for certain is that no one has ever faced this situation before. Schools have not had a challenge like this. Children, like adults, need time to process, adjust and have a break. My personal belief is that connection will be the most important thing for our kids. All students are in the same boat where their schooling is effected. It may be a great time for some life skill development!

 
Every person has a story in this situation. What strikes me is the magnitude of people who lives have been changed because of this. Life as we know it, has shifted for a while and people have been impacted on so many levels. Some more than others. Teachers will have a vital role to play as this situation develops. Whoever you are and wherever you are, stay safe and I hope that you find some peace in your day. #education #teachers #twocreativeteachers

I find it fascinating to listen to people’s perceptions of a teacher’s role. Majority of answers simply involve a response to say to teach kids. When you ask people for further information, I have rarely heard the same answer twice. Some people focus on the basics of reading and writing, others want wellbeing and some simply have minimal understanding of what exactly a teacher’s role is.
 The one thing that I wrestle with recently is the role teacher’s have in cyber safety and education. To me, teachers are expected to teach cyber awareness and how to be safe online. That is a given and I am comfortable teaching this. I am more than happy to raise awareness of the positives as well as the dangers online. The actual curriculum is not the issue. I am finding the constant calls to manage out of school social media problems the most challenging part in my role.
The surge in out of school cyber issues entering the classroom is nothing short of amazing. It feels like zero to one hundred in the last few years. Majority of issues I am dealing with are comments made online through games, social media accounts or You Tube, coming into school and starting again the next morning. I really feel for this generation. They go home to switch off, like we as adults do, have an incident and it stays unresolved at night and then comes to school the next morning to have to deal with. If I had an issue at school as a kid, I could at least go home and get space from it. And had the time to process it. There were no comments via games or people raising the issue and constantly commenting. Good luck calling a house phone and making your comments to that person's parents! I got the space to process things, to be free from the drama and spend time with my family. By the next day, the issue was forgotten, more manageable and I could move on. Now kids come home and the issues and name calling continue. Now, I am finding a pattern where new issues emerge the night before school in a game or chat and then have to be addressed again when the kids see each other face to face.
When this is constantly happening, I find my role challenging. My personal opinion is that all social media accounts are technical 13 years and over or with parent consent. Therefore, if it is illegal for underage children to be on social media, then schools shouldn’t pick up the slack for that decision. Part of me would love to issue a blanket statement that says “As the legal age for social media and certain apps is 13 years or over, all matters concerning cyber issues will need to be directed to the appropriate provider or authorities”. Strong words I know. Reality yes. Help fix the problem? No. This wouldn’t help fix the problem. It would shift the responsibility but wouldn’t help address wider issues nor would it help educate families. After all, often parents need just as much support and education as teachers, service provdiers and school systems do.
So what do you think would help address these issues? At this stage, I am open to suggestions.
 
#education #cybersafety #school

I was at a professional development day the other day. I found myself sitting there and completing a task. A valuable task of recording what we want students to do and therefore what is our responsibility. Then it struck me that the expectations of a teacher in this subject would be exactly the same for all other areas. It’s what I call Teaching 101. We all want the same goal. To provide engaging and rich learning experiences that foster personal growth for all students. Whether it is social, emotional, academic or spiritual growth. Some sort of learning. It occurred to me that the same was pretty much expected from teachers at all times. So what is it that I consider my teaching 101 role?
 
One of the things that helps determine what is your teaching 101 role is answering a simple question: What do you want your students to get out of the experience or session?
List it. Brainstorm everything. For me, when I saw the list the first thing I thought was wow, that is too much! I had to change my expectations. To think every student would walk away with fifteen things each session is so unrealistic. This made me really look at the list with a more critical eye. Once I had determined the most important factors, it was then a matter of writing a matching list for my role as a facilitator.
For example: if I want students to generate rich questions then I need to provide deep content. Or if I want them to think deeply, then I need to have great questions. So two things on my list are thought provoking questions and rich content. That I can do. I suggest that you generate your own personal list of what you want students to feel like or get out of any learning experience and your role in that. Learning experiences are much easier to plan once you have your own personal little formula.
 
Once you have your list, keep it somewhere you will use it. Pin it, glue it, stick it wherever it will keep it in your mind. I have been teaching nearly 20 years and I loved doing this quick refresher. The bottom line is if you wouldn’t engage in your own lesson, why would you expect kids to? Driving my teaching at all times is how can I get these group of students to get the most from this experience. It’s my role to facilitate rich experiences as it is yours. Some sessions you can't jazz up. They will be boring and you just have to do it. However, you can look to add a teaching 101 aspect. A mindset focus, an interesting question or a time to build connections. The lesson already deepens. What’s on your teaching role 101 list? We would love to see yours!
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​Sometimes I smile at how lucky I am to be a teacher. To help in any small way shaping hearts and minds is a true gift. Other days, I could curl under a blanket and never emerge. Hide, watch Netflix or bury my head in a book for enjoyment. If anyone tells you they love every day and every moment of teaching, I would say lucky you! I love my job 99 percent of the time. It brings me joy to help with creating “wow” or “ah ha” moments. Those little one percenters however challenge me. So what pushes my buttons as an educator? Is it the same as yours?

Meetings that run over: a given. I have yet to meet a teacher who says no I love it when a meeting goes over. Or please, ask a few more questions with one minute until home time. Now the obvious one is out of the way let’s continue.

Inefficiency: productivity and effectiveness are two things that I value immensely. Teachers have so little time to spare that what time we do have is precious. Sometimes however, my idea of efficient isn’t always the same as others. There are certain things that need to be covered, I understand that. However, being as productive as possible is what every one of our kids deserves.

Too many night events: I miss my life, I miss my husband and I wish that I had more time with people at nights. I highly value work / life balance. It is something that I firmly believe in. After all, our students don’t deserve tired, run down teachers drowning themselves in coffee to survive. In the ideal world they deserve the best of us and eliminating as many night events as possible would support this. It would allow educators more rest and recovery time.

Too much talk and not enough planning: discussion is valuable. Discussion is great for sharing ideas, clarifying understandings and proposing scenarios. At the end of the day, discussion needs to happen in order to led to a best fit action, decision or outcome. I am more than happy to chat about educational content but our students need us to be prepared and ready. They need us to provide rich, targeted and engaging content. Information can often be summarised in emails and if I had to pick what was more valuable for kids, planned experiences wins every time. All of us become frustrated at times with the amount of time spent chatting as opposed to planning.

Round and round we go: it gets to a stage, as I get older, that some things have been said in the industry for years. It even gets to a point where what is said gets reinvented or renamed. The core business of educating the whole person still is the goal. Often, I find myself thinking how similar ideas, concepts and strategies are and that I have heard them all before.  

A lack of decision: there is nothing more frustrating than sitting through meetings and professional development with no action or decision. We have all been there. Time and energy has been invested and there is no end result. Nothing changes despite all of the time and resources invested. 

I often wonder if I am alone in my one percenters. Are they common or do different things push people’s buttons?
 
#education #teaching #twocreativeteachers

For teachers who have just returned to work this year, we all know that saying.
“Nothing beats the beginning of year teacher tired”. Truer words can never be spoken. In eighteen years of teaching, I have found ways to manage the tiredness factor (asleep by 7 if I am lucky) but not the amount of tasks. Productivity, in the face of holiday mode, is next to impossible. Your only job was getting up a week ago and all of a sudden having seventy tasks to do .Information comes from so many sources, you are lucky to know what  the day and date it is.
 
So what exactly have I learnt that can help calm the storm? Here are my top 5 tips for surviving the back to school blues:
 
It eventually gets done: every year I think the mountain of work in front of me is impossible. It will never get done and I will be doomed to fail miserably. Yet bit by bit, I chip away and things magically seem to fall into place and I get into a routine.
 
Let the little things go: really at the end of the day, no one really cares or notices if I don’t have that one display up or I miss trying that one strategy. Progress not perfection will be my mantra this year. Never has someone chased me because I didn’t have that display or try that strategy. (Fingers crossed this year isn’t a first). 

Pick one or two new things to try: Your head swirls with hundreds of exciting ideas. The possibilities, the new information, the fresh start, the new content and so on. Meetings are constantly full of fresh strategies and parents provide new information that you want to use to help their child. It is impossible to get it all done. I have learnt to get excited over one or two things to avoid being overwhelmed.

Know that you are not alone: take comfort in the fact that every teacher around the world goes through this stage. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Hundreds of teachers dread alarms, miss their sleep ins and wish that the meeting would end fifteen minutes early.

Don’t forget to enjoy: the one thing that I always remind people is to find the little moments and enjoy. You may not love every aspect of your grade or new school but find one little thing a day to be grateful for. Stop and enjoy that moment. Celebrate those little wins.  

So, it begins again. The speed race that is teaching. Zero to one hundred by the end of the first day! Today, I want you to know that you are not alone and someone feels your pain.
 #education #teacher #backtoschool #twocreativeteachers #teaching

​Ok, so it is finally done and dusted. I have officially changed classrooms and survived. It is a massive thing in teaching that many people underestimate. It would be like asking people to pack up and move a big room in their house. I was lucky enough to have a very patient and understanding teaching partner who made the move fifty times easier and put up with my stress. So now, looking back and sitting here enjoying a coffee, are a few tips that I would like to share:
1.     Do a small amount each day: instead of looking at it as one major move in one day, if possible start earlier and do a small amount each day. I selected one area a day to pack up, clean and cull. One shelf, one box or a few folders. Whatever it is, try to start small and the earlier the better of course.
2.     Clean as you go: this was the most obvious and easiest thing but can often get overlooked. Once you have cleared the space, clean it immediately. This helps to make the process run quicker and build momentum. It also makes you feel like you are making progress which makes the job seem a little less overwhelming.
3.     Cull before you pack: if you have the luxury of a little time or at least a spare few minutes don’t just shift things into boxes and dump it. Over the years I had accumulated so much stuff that I didn’t even realise. I found the best part was sorting and culling things before I packed. You can donate items that you will not use to the art teacher or offer them to other teachers if they are still in good condition. I looked at the condition of the items and either threw them or donated them.
4.     Box according to year level: I have been lucky enough to teach grade one to grade six so I have resources that span across all year levels. It is easier to box my resources according to the year level. I boxed up all the junior items that I won’t need for now. That doesn’t mean that I keep everything. Worksheets and little things that I could locate and find again I throw out. Books, manuals, supplies and games are the only things that I tend to keep. After all, you never know when you will get that call to move.
5.     Ask for help: if you are lucky enough to work in a team, ask for help. Whether it is shifting boxes or needing time. I was truly blessed to have understanding leaders who gave us a little extra time if we needed to move. My teaching partner was very helpful as always and of course, I had some older kids come and move smaller items of a trolley. This made the transition much quicker and smoother.
6.     Negotiate with the teacher whose room you are moving into: this is essential. Again, I had an amazing teacher on the other end who was flexible and made small amounts of space at a time for me even though he was moving himself. You can’t just go and dump all your boxes on the next teacher and leave them to work in that space. On the same token, you have a responsibility to leave the space clean for the next teacher. Think of how you would want to walk into a that space.
7.     Establish areas: I found it easier to fully clear one space and then work from there. I packed my office into boxes and used that space to leave anything that I needed to move. Then I used a spare table to make a donate pile. Finally, I just threw what I needed to each night in the bin or the dumper.
The good news is that you will survive a move and that it will get done. It is an enormous job that many people underestimate. Support is a huge key and if you are moving, I hope you get some! Good luck if you are moving year levels or classrooms this year and feel free to drop us a moving tip if you have any. #survivethemove #twocreativeteachers