Get Your Head in the Game

I was reminded this week that the perspective I have in the classroom is so important and affects everything else.

This has been a busier start to the year.  We moved from down south and then I jumped right into a different school in a different district.  There were a lot of factors that I had to deal with in this last season...  new baby in the house, finishing up a master's degree, moving details, selling our old place, adjusting to life in a new house....  Busy time!

I found myself slipping into survival mode at times, just doing what I needed to do to make it through.  But, one quickly realizes that with that perspective it is hard to really be present in all the little details of the classroom.  It is helpful to be thoughtful in the small things, paying attention to the smaller details of the classroom and needs of the students.  Instruction can go forward if you are giving your lessons well and maintaining the systems.  But, when you are able to do the little things like sit and really watch a struggling student work through some problems, you are much more able to think through the smaller things like what exactly it is that the student needs next.  It is hard to do those sort of things when you are just hanging on and maintaining through the days....  got to keep my head in the game!