Day in May: Be Kind...

Twitterpated, spring-fever, unruly. Take your pick,
May is loaded with behaviours sure to cause frustration.

May in all schools, and dare I say esspecially middle school, is a tough time of the year. Students are struggling to meet behavioural and learning expectations more than they were in September. It is easy to throw myself a pity-party and look at the world around me for the greener grass. Earlier this week I found myself envying the labourers building houses in my neighbourhood. (A concept my wife, daughter of a carpenter, found laughable!)

May is alwyas tough, and the problems are always the same. Students and teachers are both tired: in this ninth month of learning the end is close enough to see but still too far away to keep focus us in the same way.
Students start to balk at the idea of learning anything new. "What's the point of all this?" becomes the rally cry of children whose brains are tired of decoding and processing new imformation and skills.
"Shut up! We don't have time

Taken from Mission Galatic Freedom
https://goo.gl/EyZWu8

 to waste!" "Don't stop now!" becomes the mantra of the teachers feeling the pressure to tie up those loose curricular ends before June comes. The temptation from both groups is to be short and even mean with one another. The difficulty of learning is further challenged by the difficulty of staying calm and patient.

"Instructions for a Bad Day" by Shane Koyczan is a good reminder to me that I can survive May. Even more so, it is a good reminder to me that I have a responsibility to role-model a way through this tough time of year. A reminder that my actions do have an impact and influence over those students who have spent 33 weeks with me are going to leave remembering the last 6 weeks more than the first 6 weeks. That my instinct to protect my self with cutting sarcasm, public scathing truth and uncompromising black and white judgement will not help my students to achieve the growth mindset.

Koyczan's poem reminds me to cling desperately to one of my goals for the year: Be vulnerable, be kind, I can take it.

This goal has made this May particularly difficult. By presenting myself as kind and leaving myself vulnerable, I have to resist the urge to feel like I'm being taken advantage of. So, I am making it a priority to remind myself that kindness during this stressful time of year is a lesson that my students need to be shown. There will be bad days (and weeks and maybe even all of May!) but kindness is a way to get passed that. I am remeinded that we all have bad days. More importantly the video below, made in colloboration with a Pink Shirt student group, remeinds me that while I mostly just need a reminder as to how to get passed these times, some students will need a guide. I have the responsibility to role-model kindness for students who may not be able yet to recipricate that kindness to me or others around them.

It is my job to maintain a high level of behavioural expectations, to tie up the loose ends of curriculum that exist in May but, above all else, I want to remind myself to approach these responsibilities with compasssion and kindness at center of my being. As the poem says, "If you believe with absolute honesty that you are doing everything you can - do more."

https://youtu.be/V7OGY1Jxp3o