The Social Studies Club

If my first year teacher self could see me now… ⁣
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She would be shocked that I still can’t remember to take attendance. 😬 ⁣
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But actually, when I think about my first two weeks of teaching ever and compare them to this year, I’m so proud of myself. 💪🏻⁣
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I am so proud that I have curated and created a curriculum that I enjoy teaching and that my students find joy in learning.⁣
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I am so proud that I leave (mostly) at contract time , and that I (mostly) don’t work at home. ⁣
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I am so proud that I have found my classroom manangement style and systems that are authentic to me and my teaching style. ⁣
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I am so proud that I am happy being me. I don’t feel the need to try to do the same thing as or be just like any another teacher. I am me, and I like me. ⁣
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With every year I teach, I get more courageous to try new things, more confident in what I know, and more excited that I can do it in half the time I used to. 😅

The Saturday after the first week of school I was at crying over the copier as I finished up prep for the following Monday. I had worked a stupid amount of overtime through the week and was now feeling so guilty for working all day Saturday. Away from my baby. Again.

Soooo… I brought it up to my therapist the next week.

I am a month into school. I’ve worked hard to implement the strategies we had come up with. It’s hard. It’s required me to face a lot of internal garbage and perfectionism. It’s required me to reprioritize my life.

But, wow, it’s getting better. I’m becoming more flexible, I’m learning to manage my anxiety and stress better, and I am loving the time I am getting with my cute little nugget.

I love teaching. I have loved going back to work. I really don’t want to quit! So, I am working hard to make sure I am not just here for a good time, but a long time. ✌🏻

In honor of hitting 3 months postpartum today and going back to work on Monday, I thought I would share a little maternity leave .

Things started off pretty bumpy with an emergency c-section and a baby in the NICU for two weeks with an HEI diagnosis. And then we had the eternal winter of 2023, which meant lots of snuggles inside. But then things brightened up and we got to enjoy gatherings with the family and morning walks in the sunshine.

I’m looking forward to next school year when I’ll be part-time! Enough time in the classroom so that every day doesn’t feel like groundhog day but enough time at home to keep that SAHM vibe.

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably so freaking over it by the time it hits May. You can’t fathom creating one more thing. And your students are usually checked out and need something engaging to keep them alive.

These are three activities that have been really successful and require very little to now prep!

Let me know if you have any questions about the procedures and I will help clarify.

Also, feel free to drop any other low prep activity suggestions in the comments. I know I wouldn’t mind! 😊

I’m not back in the classroom yet, but as I was thinking about it today, there are three big things I am so glad I did before I left.

1️⃣ I though through all the stuff I do and figured out who would take care of it. Who would run NHS? Who would submit grades? Who would handle parent concerns? The point was to prevent anyone from ever having to email, text, or call me for help. So, I delegated literally everything I could to *mostly* my admin, but a few of my other teacher friends, too.

2️⃣ Before I left, I sat down with my students and had a conversation about my expectations while I was gone, and also my boundaries. I let them know I would not be available AT ALL. If there was a problem, they needed to work it out with the admin, the sub, or their counselor. I also sent out an email to parents explaining this same thing.

3️⃣ I set up an automatic out of office email. Best thing I ever did. In that email I outlined how long I would be gone, that I would not be checking or replying to emails while away, and who to contact about specific problems. Need help with your grade? Email this person. Need help submitting NHS service hours? Go see this person.

My goal with all three of these things was to prevent any need for anyone to contact me ever while I was away, but also to not leave my coworkers hanging. I like my coworkers and I really didn’t want to screw them over if I could prevent it!

I know some of you work in areas with GREAT maternity leave support and regulations. That wasn’t always true in my case, so I had to advocate A LOT to make sure I had uninterrupted time away.

When I get back into the classroom in May, I’ll update you all with how things went. 😅 But for now, ignorance is bliss, and I will be enjoying my last few weeks away!

Drop any questions you have about maternity leave below and I‘ll see if I can help!

Beginning last year, I started to notice that I was allowing my students attitudes and behaviors dictate if I had a “good” or “bad” day.

If my kids were having a bad day, then I was having a bad day and I left work hating my job, ornery, and unmotivated.

This year I am trying SO HARD to separate my day from my students.

👏🏻I can still have a good day if my students don’t like the activity we are doing.

👏🏻I can still have a good day if my students didn’t study for their test.

👏🏻I can still have a good day if a kid gives me attitude and isn’t following expectations.

Just being AWARE of when my students are influencing my mood has literally changed my perception of work. It’s insane.

Anyway, not sure if you relate to this, but it has been on my mind this year.

I remember as a first year teacher getting completely burnt out by lecturing. I didn’t know what I was talking about half the time, and as an introvert, it was sucking the life out of me. This started my journey to ditch the lecture and remove my story telling ability (which is pretty lacking some days) from the center of the classroom.

Don’t get me wrong, a quick 15-20 mini-lecture has its time and place absolutely. But I don’t rely on 45-60 minute note taking sessions anymore.

I asked in my stories what you all like to do instead of lecturing. Turns out I had an overwhelming amount of you also HATE lecturing. Who knew?!

Here are the most common strategies that were mentioned in DMs and the question box.

Did I miss anything? Drop it in the comments below and I can make a part two!

Hi 👋🏻

Hope your school year is off to a great start. Mine is mostly good, but I am feeling burnt out already. I am barely keeping my head above water with lesson planning and prepping.

I kept feeling like if I just came in sooner, stayed a little later, or used my time more wisely, maybe I could get it all done. Or maybe if I just worked harder I would be able to check all the items off my to do list.

Then I realized working harder is not the solution. I have been working my GUTS OUT. I have done everything I can do.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a solution. I think it’s just the situation or the cards we’ve been dealt as a teacher. But if you’re like me, working harder is most likely not the solution to your problems.

I think for me, one thing I could work on to make life easier is letting go of my perfectionist tendencies.

So sorry for no solutions. Just 100% solidarity with you all.

Keep on teaching on. ⭐️

SPICE analysis is going down today in World History! You can check out my stories today for how I use this acronym.

Today I learned if I print out a transcript of the crash course, my learners do a heck of a better job answering their questions. Hello, duh! 🙈

How is the first of the year shaping up for you? I can’t seem to ever just use the same lesson plans year over year and insist on doing everything from scratch. Why am I like this?

First week of school is DONE ✅ Here are some snapshots from my classroom. I really try to keep it simple. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I know I won’t be thinking about school and will need to take approximately 1000 naps to recover from the exhaustion the first week always brings. 😴

Well, it’s August. 🙃 That means a lot of us are coming out of our summer hibernation. 😭

I’ve seen a few other teachers (👋🏻 and ) share their goals for the school year.

I’ve been thinking about it this week, and here is what I am wanting to work on:

✏️ Leave school by 7:00-4:00. This is 30 minutes long than my contract time. Since I have one prep period but three classes to prep for, this is as much as I can commit to!

✏️ Cut down US History beginning of year review to 5 class periods to make time to cover more diverse and inclusive histories throughout the year. I teach US History II and always struggle to keep review short.

✏️ Include 1-on-1 conferencing with students more frequently throughout the year. I’m thinking this will happen on Fridays when they are working on their term projects.

I would love to know if you have any goals you’ve thought about for this year! 👇🏻

Okay, so basically I’ve hit this moment in my career where I am starting to feel like I don’t suck. Like, today I was freaking out because I hadn’t planned my lesson for world history on Monday and I really just wanted to go home. I decided I would just stay until the dang lesson was done so I didn’t have to work over the weekend. I opened up my Google Drive folder and I looked at what I normally teach that day and this is where the story gets crazy…

I. DIDN’T. HATE. IT.

Whaaaat?!

Yeah. I looked at it and was like, this lesson actually works really well! I’m excited to teach this on Monday! It was crazy. I made a few adjustments, sent it to the copier, and was out of there in 30 minutes.

Anyways. I know a lot of you are having the worst year ever. Mine certainly hasn’t been sunshine and roses (and hasn’t felt natural or fun in a long time). But today it was a cool moment to realize that I’ve taught my courses enough times to build up awesome stuff and that I’ve gone through some crazy growing pains over the last 5 years.

It’s sort of like I am finally figuring out how to consistently do a backhand spring without falling on my face every time. “Look, mom!! I’m doing it!!”

So, if you’re a newer teacher and hate your life right now - I get it. Oh boy, do I get it. I hate that it is this way. I guess the good news is, doing backhand springs and falling on your face doesn’t last forever. Or, at least there are just less of them. 😅