My St. Valentine’s Day Nightmare
by  Ryan Crawley

St. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. This holiday is much more than a way to make single people hate their lives. With it comes memories from my own childhood and past years of teaching. One rule I do have in all my classrooms is there is absolutely no glitter allowed. It gets on everything, and it never comes off. Next thing you know you are grocery shopping and the cashier asks if you realize that you have glitter all over your face. Anyway… you never know what will happen in elementary school classrooms, especially on this holiday. Once Cupid and hearts get involved, anything is possible.

I remember when I was in 3rd or 4th grade and I was all about cutting corners. I wanted to spend the least amount of time possible with the mundane things. One thing I hated taking time to do was filling out Valentines for my classmates. I would start with a bunch of random Valentine cards. Then I would have to sign my name on the actual Valentines, place it in an envelope, lick it close, and then write down the student’s name it was going to on the front of the envelope. I figured I could at least eliminate one step in this process. I chose to not write down any of my classmates’ names on the envelope. I was freestyling this Valentine’s Day.

As all my classmates started handing out their Valentines the next morning at school, I was still patting myself on the back from my great idea the night before. I walked around the classroom throwing out envelopes on desks like I was delivering newspapers. I was able to sit back down in my seat a full couple minutes earlier than everyone else. That is when I quickly noticed my plan was extremely flawed.

As other kids started opening their Valentines, I started getting questionable glances from around the room. I felt like all eyes were on me. Then one of my girl classmates approached me smiling in an evil sort of way. She was holding up one of my Valentines. “Ryan,” she said with no mercy, “I didn’t know that you loved me so much.” The Valentine’s card that I sent her unknowingly declared on the front that I would love her forever. I unwittingly played Valentine’s Day Russian roulette by handing out my cards without any clue of which ones went to which people.

As I slowly sunk deeper and deeper into my chair, a couple other girls came up to me giggling. Then a couple of the boys in the class were wondering what I meant exactly with the cards they had received. It was not one of my best days in school. By the time I climbed on to the bus at the end of the day, I had three new possible girlfriends and a few other classmates that didn’t want to speak to me. As a nine-year-old kid, these were all things I never wanted.

Imparting My Wisdom

Once I started teaching elementary school, ironically 3rd through 5th grades, I started sharing that story with my students a couple days before each Valentine’s Day. Since they were my target audience for this story, they really enjoyed it. They could definitely identify with it. It was sort of a Scared Straight program (without the use of prison inmates) for little kids about the possible outcome of cutting corners in life. Every year we joked around a lot after I told the story, and then later I would receive funny Valentines from most of them in return. Many of them covered in glitter. Those kids…

How to Get Back in the Swing of Things 

After Winter Break

by Ryan Crawley

Have you ever heard the phrase “it’s like trying to herd cats” when speaking about the difficulty of some task? This saying definitely relates to trying to get school children back on track after a winter break. It’s as if those last two weeks were spent erasing memories from the first half of the school year. Students enter the classroom trying to find their desk even though the seating arrangement has not been changed for the last couple months. Almost all of them forget about doing their lunch count activity so the teacher does not know who is eating hot or cold lunch. To say it can be frustrating is an understatement.

It’s hard enough for us teachers to get back on track after those two weeks off. We finally were able to get caught up on some of our shows we have been saving on our DVR for the last few months. We’ve been going to bed later, and in turn, have been waking up later as well. Also, our nights are free because we didn’t have papers to score and grades to enter. But after years of experience in education, we can snap back to our school schedule rather rapidly. Our students and their families, not so much. Expect a few days of students arriving late, forgotten lunches, and students showing up at school without winter coats even though it is ten degrees outside.

There Are Options

Of course, to get the students back on track quickly, you can shout out instructions to them over and over again like a military drill sergeant. But I’d rather not leave school with a sore throat on the very first day back. We could all use cattle prods to get them from one activity to the other, but parents tend to frown on their kids being zapped. So what can teachers do to get the students back in the swing of things after winter break?

Halfway There!

First off, keep your sanity. The great thing about winter break is that it is more or less the halfway mark for the school year. Hopefully, you only have about 18 more weeks to go before the year is over. Every school year starts with a lot of excitement as kids find out who their teacher is and teachers find out which students are going to lead them to an early grave. It is time to reinvigorate the students’ enthusiasm for the second half!

Change Things Up

Changing things up to get back in the swing of things seem counterproductive. But it works! The first half of the school year involved the students all learning certain schedules and routines. They know what is expected of them day in and day out. Now you can start adding things to it.

To add a kick to the classroom, step back and allow the students more responsibility. Let them straighten up the classroom, erase the boards, and basically organize the place. The first half you were getting to know the students, so you might have had less group work just because you weren’t sure which students could be working together without having meltdowns. By this time, you have a good read on all your students. It’s time to do some experimenting.

Collaboration

Allowing students to work collaboratively is helping to prepare them for real life situations where they have to learn to work together. It’s not always easy to listen to other opinions, just by going on social media you can notice adults that have yet to master that skill. So teaching young students to cooperate now can save everyone several headaches later on.

Very few things get students as excited as using new technology. Well, other than holiday room parties with free soda and candy. Change your classroom into a new learning environment. One that loves the internet, projectors, and computers. Change all your assignments so they include the use of some kind of technology. Book reports can now be done through Google Docs, Google Slides, or even some video app. Allow students to present more of their projects to the rest of the class by using the projector or Smartboard.

New Beginning

In essence, the best way to get the students back into the swing of things in the classroom is by adding a bit of change from the norm. Most of the uncomfortable things are over with for the school year already. Parent conferences have been completed and nobody tried to flip over your desk. The students’ winter concert is over and done and no one fainted or vomited. Most of the room parties are finished and the students didn’t take advantage of too many of the parents’ lack of classroom skills. It’s now time to concentrate on learning and preparing the students for not just the next grade level, but for the ever-changing world around them. Use cooperative learning, technology, creativity, and the students’ enthusiasm for the betterment of everyone involved!

Tech It Up!

Incorporating technology into everything is preparing the students for a 21st century education, and it enables them to take ownership of their work. If your students are like mine, this will promote such enthusiasm that they will be working on their projects at home with their parents just so they can show you and the rest of the class what they can come up with.