Last weekend, I was replying to a Twitter comment from Marguerite Botting, when I noticed this question by Lauren Kombol in the midst of our discussion. I donβt always reply to these requests for advice, but this one had me interested. Little did I know that I was about to make a wonderful mistake.
Loved reading your blog. Yes leaving a school where you invested so much is difficult. New adventures await. Did you choose to leave or are you part of the Ford cutbacks? What about your dear partner?
— Marguerite Botting (@jrkbmaggie) June 10, 2019
No, I chose to leave as did my partner. New adventures. New opportunities. Scary. Exciting. It's a bit of everything. Change is good though (I really believe that), and this will provide some good new learning. And we are going to the same school, which is wonderful!!
— πΌπ«ππ«π πΏπͺπ£π¨ππππ§ (@avivaloca) June 10, 2019
Hi, I am a college student going into elementary education. We do twitter chats for my class and I found yours. Do you have any tips or tricks as teachers to pass down to a soon to be teacher.
— LAUREN KOMBOL (@KombolLauren) June 10, 2019
Here are my two biggest tips: 1) Get to know your learners. Connect with them. Build relationships first. Kids respond differently when they know that you truly care about them. 2) Know the curriculum. That's what you really need to read. Then you see learning in everything.
— πΌπ«ππ«π πΏπͺπ£π¨ππππ§ (@avivaloca) June 10, 2019
Minutes after replying, I noticed people responding to my advice. I was intrigued, as I thought that I had just replied to Lauren, so how were so many others seeing my words? Thatβs when I realized that I forgot to mention Lauren in my response. I corrected the error by composing a new tweet to her, but I did not delete my original message.
Sorry @KombolLauren! I realize that I forgot to include you (somehow) on this tweet. https://t.co/xvOUvo7BdS
— πΌπ«ππ«π πΏπͺπ£π¨ππππ§ (@avivaloca) June 10, 2019
A week later, Iβm still getting retweets, likes, and comments on my oops-of-a-tweet. Iβm happy to hear that others agree with my advice, but I wonder, what other advice might you give? If you could give up to three tips for teachers (new, old (or experienced, as I like to think of it π ), or in between), what might you say? I hope that some parents, administrators, other educators, students, and support staff also weigh in on this discussion. We cannot forget about the value of diverse voices. Thanks Lauren for inadvertently starting the discussion that inspired this post, and hopefully leads to many more contributions to your query.
Aviva
I love your tips! Your first would be my first. My second would be: be patient with everyone around you and theyβll be more likely to have patience for you when you need it. Kids need us to be patient. So do our colleagues. Itβs harder some days than others. Do it anyway.
Thanks for your comment, Lisa! I love your word, βpatient.β Like relationships, I see the Self-Reg connection to this word. At times, in order to be patient, we also need to reframe and see the behaviour of the kids or adults differently. Somehow viewing this behaviour through a different lens β maybe even with stressors in mind β makes things easier, I think. Curious what others think and what other words they might add to their lists.
Aviva