Physical Education Lesson Plans

Last school year I discovered the magic of automatic lesson plans using Google Forms.  Thanks to Matt from Ditch that Textbook! I set it up and was excited to use it but it not work with the way my schedule worked and my school was going to implement Plan Book so I tried that program. This summer my family relocated and I am now teaching K-4 Physical Education and K-8 Music at a Lutheran School and K-8 Music at a Catholic School.

I decided to try using Google Forms for my PE lesson plans and so far I am very happy with it. I followed the directions from Matt to set up the Google Form.  The only issue I am currently having is that my forms won't correctly name the file.  Other than that I am very happy with this tool for lesson planning. It is quick, easy and useful. I am still figuring out how to setup a form to use for music lesson plans. 

Lesson Plans

I Have a Choice

We just finished our fifth week of school.  The honeymoon phase is officially over. Limit testing is in full swing and I have been having conversations with my students about their choices. When I talk to a student about their behavior, one response that always bothers me is, "but Mrs. Wren, s/he _____." A bad choice is a bad choice. The circumstances behind the choice are usually not very important, at least not to me. It does not matter if a kid pushed another kid because they were mad, the bottom line is that they pushed someone and that behavior is wrong. 

As a teacher and parent, it is easy to look at a student or Kiddo 1 and tell them that their behavior was wrong regardless of the circumstances, but man is it hard to look in the mirror and say the same thing. I have gotten really good at making excuses for my anger and yelling. I can convince myself my behavior is justified.  The justification almost always revolves around sleep deprivation. Kiddo 1 was up late or Kiddo 2 was up multiple times to eat.

I know sleep deprivation is a really issue and we are trying to deal with the sleep issues but in the mean time, I have a choice to make. I can continue to let it control my behavior or I can work to control my behavior regardless of how much sleep I got or did not get the night before.  My softball coach in college used to always say we can control two things: our effort and our attitude. Once again those lessons on the field are relevant in the real world. I can control my attitude or I can let sleep deprivation control it for me.

The same is true in classroom. I can let my frustrations control my attitude or I can be the type of teacher/person I want to be regardless of what is going on around me. This is no easy task! Joshua Medcalf and Jamie Gilbert of Train2BClutch have an entire business entity around the philosophy of treating others well and doing your best regardless of your circumstances.

I am tired! I am also tired of behaving in the same ways and it is time to change my behavior and control my attitude. Sleep deprivation is a convenient excuse, but it does not limit the damage that yelling and being rude can have on my family and my own mental health.

We make thousands of choices every day.  Are you going to let your circumstance influence your behavior or are you going to act lovingly and respectful regardless of your circumstance? As my principal says at the closing of daily announcements, have a good day or a bad day, the choice is yours.

A New Way to Do Things

Since I became a Mom three years ago, I have struggled with feeling like I can't do everything at the level I would like.  If I am the teacher I want to be, I feel like I am failing my family and when I am spending time with my family, I feel like I am failing my students.  There are simply not enough hours in a day. The other night I tweeted out a question: Can I be a good teaching only working 7:30-4?  I have only been a mom for three years which means I still remember being able to stay at school late most nights and going in on weekends.  During the no kid time in my life, that schedule was manageable, but it is no longer is possible. 

A few people responded to my tweet and the overall consensus was that I worked too much before kids and it is possible to still be a good teacher and not work crazy hours. One person did say that it is not possible to be a good teacher without working crazy hours. I know work life balance is a struggle for many people.

I have come to the conclusion that I cannot be the teacher I was before I had kids.  I have time to dedicate towards working on school projects that is not taken up by family. I am trying to find ways to be more efficient with my time and to spend my time doing truly valuable projects. One issue that compounds the lack of time for me, is lack of sleep.  I have young children, who do not always sleep when I want them to.  Lack of sleep and lack of uninterrupted time makes getting work done more difficult. 

This school year I am focusing on creating systems to help me get work done more efficiently and to make time for myself, so can be the best for those around me. I may not be able to stay after school until late, but I can use the time I do have more effectively by having an organized list of tasks to accomplish. I am also learning to prioritize tasks for when my kids are awake and when they are sleeping. It is a work in progress. 

How do you balance life and work?

Third Grade Computers

This spring I volunteered to organize curriculum for Third Grade Computers.  My district does not have a computer teacher at the elementary level and the new schedule setup includes greater computer lab time for each class. I taught computers at a previous school and I enjoy building websites, so I volunteered to set everything up for the classroom teachers.  

In May, my husband accepted a new position which requires our family to relocate this summer. I did not want to go back on my word, so I made time to start building a website for 3rd Grade Computers.  It is not completely done yet, but I had a lot of fun creating it and I hope it is something my former coworkers and other teachers find helpful. Right now I prefer Weebly for building websites.  I have used it for my personal website/blog and for my other class websites.  I know Google Sites recently came out with an update but I have not had time to explore the new setup.  I would love to hear your thoughts on the new Google Sites.

Students have computers every other day throughout the school year.  I tried to setup the website so the classroom teachers who teach the class could pick and choose and do things the way they think will work best.  The general idea is to do keyboarding and blogging on a regular basis with other projects: Digital Citizenship/Media Literacy, Google Slides, Google Sheets, Google Sites, Google Maps, Coding and Games.

Third Grade Computers

Mama, Why You Upset?

The other day while in the car I was talking to myself and fuming about something. I honestly don't even remember what I was upset up.  In the grand scheme of life it was small and inconsequential, but in the moment I made it into a life altering issue. Then a small voice from the back seat made me aware of the errors of my way.

"Mama, Why you upset?

Simple question right.  There are so many simple answers: my phone is going to die, we are late again, I'm tired, someone is being a bad driver, someone was rude, the plane is late, traffic is a mess.... My exact reason for being upset in that moment escapes me (clearly it was life altering and important). 

"Mama, Why you upset?

In that moment I realized that I did not want to admit to my three year old (or to myself really) why I was upset.  I have clean drinking water, I am safe, I live in a land of freedoms and opportunities, I have a caring family, I have healthy children who are growing and learning, I have a supportive husband who puts up with me, I have wonderful friends who are always there, I have access to books/YouTube and endless learning opportunities and I have my faith.  In the grand scheme of things, those are far more important than my phone battery being dead or my computer not working quickly enough or Kiddo 1 not going to bed when I when I want her to.

Lately I've been an emotional mess. Sleep deprivation has really taken its toll. Having two young kids who do not always sleep well has really messed with my schedule. For the first time in a year, my husband and I went golfing. It was four hours away from my kids and although I truly love them it was amazing! I left the house that morning cranky because once again we were running late (which I feel we always are), but I came home from the course smiling and a good mood. 

What changed? I didn't get anymore sleep. I had some free time which helped me relax, but at the core, nothing was really different.  My outlook changed.  My perspective changed. One speaker I listened to lately made a great point when he explained how reality is the story we tell ourselves. What we perceive becomes our reality, but we can change what we see and the stories we tell ourselves.

Emotions can be fickle. I've heard many speakers say you should not live based on how you feel in a given moment. The theory seems sound but it can be such a struggle. When I feel angry I want to be angry. I don't want to remind myself that everything is okay and I just need to relax. It's so easy to get sucked into that emotional place and live in the emotion of the moment. Today was a great reminder that living life this way is not the most beneficial. No one wants to have a boss who is only nice when the business is doing well, or a spouse who is only kind when they are happy or a person who is only kind when things are going well. The same is true for our emotions.  I will not always feel like doing something or being a certain way, but being controlled by my feelings and emotions is not a stable way to live a life.

"Mama, Why you upset?

I don't want to answer this question from my three year old with because my phone is dead.  My energy is better used for beneficial outcomes. 

Remembering Mrs. Northcutt

Last summer one of my coworkers passed away after battling cancer.  I had the pleasure of working with Mrs. Northcutt for one year.  Her smile filled a room and she was a great balance of positive energy while still staying real.  She cared deeply for her students, coworkers and family and her decisions always focused back to those groups of people.  In the year since her passing, it has become even more evident that she left a huge impact on those around her. The memorials and activities in her memory show her lasting legacy.

One thing that she wanted was a Buddy Bench for the playground.  This spring a Buddy Bench and a rock with her name were installed at the Dillon Playground.  The morning of the dedication was rainy, but many people braved the weather to remember Mrs. Northcutt.  One of my favorite stories from the dedication was one told by our principal.  The bench and rock had been installed a week prior to the dedication and some students had started placing dandelions on the rock. At first a few teachers thought the students were being disrespectful, but soon we all realized that this was the way these students were paying respect to their former teacher.

I have heard many Life Coaches say you should write your own obituary.  What do you want people to say?  What do you want people to remember.  These are the things we should be focusing on everyday. These are the things that really matter. Mrs. Northcutt was and is a great reminder that relationships are what matter.  That is her legacy.

No More Band-Aids

Over Spring Break this year I planned a night away at a hotel for my husband and I.  It was partly a graduation present to him for finishing his masters, but selfishly it was also a present for myself.  I needed sleep! (I still need sleep!) Since Kiddo 2 was born last August, it has been a jumble of night feedings, late nights and early mornings.  If Eight Hours of Sleep were on my To Do List, it has not been checked off in months.  I never realized how important sleep is until I was not getting quality or quantity sleep. I now understand why sleep deprivation is a torture technique.

For one night we got to be childless.  Kids were safely dropped off at my parents house.  We got to go out to eat at non-child friendly places.  I got to eat my food hot (I never realized how big of a deal this is until I had kids) and I did not have to leave to take a toddler for a break. Plus, the best part... I got to sleep.  8+ glorious hours.  I didn't have to wake up for crying and there was no toddler crawling into my bed at 3 AM.  It was wonderful! 

These two days away were great, but I realized after being back in my "real" life that this trip away was just a band-aid.  It did not really fix anything.  It was necessary, it helped and I got the necessary sleep for one night, but it did not fix my problem of not getting enough sleep.  Breaks like these only fix things if they are routine and my bank account cannot afford for me to spend a night at a hotel weekly or monthly.  Like most parents with young kids, sleep is at a premium in my house.  This night of sleep was needed, but it did not fix the fact that I went back to a house with two young kids and a schedule that does not allow me much sleep.  The real solution is fixing the schedule and that is far more complicated.

I realized we/I do this in other areas of life.  How often do we put a band-aid on something instead of really taking time to fix the issue?  Changing jobs instead of fixing a relationship or breaking off a friendship instead of fixing the relationship.  The list could go on and on.  We hide from the real issue in favor of covering it up with a band-aid.  Band-aids are usually less painful and they are easier.

Truly fixing things is complex, it takes time and energy.  First you have to get a clear diagnosis of the complete problem.  In the case of my lack of sleep, it is impacted by many different issues.  Mainly the fact that my children do not routinely (or in the case of Kiddo 2 never) sleep through the night or go to bed "early".  The reasons why both of these happen are numerous and both have their own issues that impact them.  None of this is simple to figure out or fix. A night away is a quick and easy band-aid solution for the problem. It does not change the overall situation though.

Band-aids are helpful and necessary sometimes, but it is vital that we look past the quick solution and focus on the core issues.  What band-aids are in your life?  The big one in my life right now (besides sleep) is my issue with Facebook (post about my thoughts on this coming soon).  My solution at the moment is to deactivate my account.  This is a band-aid though and does not truly solve the underlying issues.