I’m reading Jake Wood’s memoir “Once A Warrior” about the founding and growth of Team Rubicon, a non-profit that mobilizes military veterans to aid in clean-up & repair after natural disasters.
I sent it to my Army MP son as a Christmas present, and it’s going to be the next entry in the One-Man Book Club on here.
The leaders and volunteers apply their training in logistics, planning, medicine, and yes, security, to help communities dig out.
On the very first mission,the 2010 Haiti earthquake, before Team Rubicon was anything more than 8 guys doing what they do best, Wood relates the “after-action review” following the day’s work in Port-au-Prince. Sitting in a circle at their base with doctors and Marines and Jesuits, the group dug deep into the successes and failures of the day. Being cold-blooded about their mistakes so they could be better tomorrow.
Then Brother Jim turned the page:
“I want to ask everyone to take a moment and reflect on what happened today. We just spent ten hours in perhaps the worst situation imaginable, and the images you saw today will likely be seared into your memory for the rest of your lives. It’s important for us to talk about that. Some of you will want to share bad memories, and some of you good ones. But I’d ask that you share them.”
Teachers are definitely like that. We ruthlessly pick apart our lessons and classes at the end of the day. What worked? What bombed?
And in 2020, in Pandemic Tecahing, we are for sure looking to the human dimension of the day as well. Did my kids get what they needed from me today to thrive?
I think I nailed the relationship part (“Grace Before Grades”) during the first four months of school. And I designed all my lessons to get some type of written input from my students, whether through Quizizz or Desmos activity, a hyperdoc, a Which One Doesn’t Belong or Would You Rather warmup, a quick Brain Dump on a Google Docs so I can gauge prior knowledge before we dive into a topic, or a 3-2-1 summary at the end of class.
But my colleagues are way better than me at getting their students involved in verbal participation. My instructional coaches are outstanding at sharing ideas from the staff with the staff, and I hear my department colleagues share their successes and failures each week at our video meeting.
I don’t really care if I’m better or worse than them. I just want to be better, period.
In in-person school, a disinterested student has a tendency to be disruptive. On a Google Meet call, a distinterested student just disappears. And I don’t really have a chance to get them back.
I have no idea when we’ll be back in person. Some of the south suburban districts near mine have already committed to remote learning through the third quarter. My district won’t make a decision until early January at the soonest.
And I’m out of the predictions game when it comes to Pandemic School.
I just know that getting my kids involved in class daily is a place where I can get better.
This has been my contribution today to #MTBoSYuleBlog. I’m committing to reflecting and learning with my teacher friends online this Winter Break. Come join us?
Tweaking For No Reason 