October Blog

 In the Thick of It

We are in the thick of it, and this is my favorite time of the year in education.

The rituals and routines you spent the first few weeks teaching are becoming part of your classroom. You know your students better. You can anticipate how a lesson, a unit, or even a particular activity might go with each group. You know who needs a little encouragement to get started, who needs a check-in, and who is going to test whether the expectation you held yesterday still applies today.

Behavior has taken up plenty of your time and energy. It still does. But there is a little more predictability now. You have a better sense of what each group brings through the door, even if those one-off days can still leave you wondering what just happened.

This is where the good work happens.

We know students well enough to recognize when they need support and when they need us to let them wrestle with something. We can push them toward the stretch of their zone of proximal development, where the work is challenging and our support helps them do more than they could do alone. They need to do the thinking and the heavy lifting. Our job is to keep them engaged long enough to experience what they are capable of.

There are growing pains in that process. Students can get frustrated. They may avoid the work, push back, or try to convince us that they cannot do it. Sometimes they would much rather we lower the expectation. Holding it steady, while helping them find a way forward, takes patience and persistence.

Halfway through the trimester, it can be easy to see everything that still needs to happen. The missing work. The behavior we have addressed more than once. The student whose progress feels painfully slow. Take a moment to notice what is taking hold, too. A student starts without being prompted. Another accepts redirection and gets back to work. Someone who usually gives up stays with a difficult task a little longer. Those moments matter.

Continue to focus on the good work. Continue to show up in beautiful ways for the students who would love to slip through the cracks. Notice them. Check on them. Make it clear that their presence and their effort matter here.

Keep doing the hard work of teaching behavior and defining the lanes students are expected to stay within. Be clear, be consistent, and help them repair things when they get it wrong. Hold them to high standards and expect them to achieve. Then give them the instruction, support, and opportunities they need to get there.

I know this part of the year asks a lot of you. Thank you for the care and persistence you bring to it.

Dig in for the good fight. There is a lot of growth ahead.

Mantz

Week of  October 12th
Bus Duty: Tacke/Meehan
Monday: 
Tuesday: 
Wednesday:  Mantz/Jen out AM
Thursday: Teresa Visits
Friday: Staff Work Day/Dr. Hocker levy presentation

Week of  October 19th
Bus Duty: Hamilton/Hook
Monday: 
Tuesday:  Lock Down Drill
Wednesday: 
Thursday: Teresa Visits
Friday: Non Work Day

Week of  October 26th
Bus Duty:  Alvarez/Levy
Monday: 
Tuesday: Mantz/Jen Training PM
Wednesday:  
Thursday: Teresa Visits
Friday: Non Work Day

Week of  November 2nd
Bus Duty:  Wilson/Penske
Monday: 
Tuesday: Mantz/Jen out AM
Wednesday:  
Thursday: Teresa Visits
Friday: Staff Work Day