Okay, it's not the title to a typical education-targeted blog. But, that's kind of the idea, right? Well, if you're the curious type of teacher that has decided to continue to read, then you're just who I'm looking for.
So, on to the yard work idea. It was about five years ago when my wife and I were working on fixing up our current house. We had just purchased a ranch with a terrific yard (especially for a property in the municipal limits), but it also hadn't been updated for over 25 years! That meant wall paper and pink paint inside. It also meant terribly overgrown flower beds (and randomly-placed raised flowerbeds, equally not kept up) all around the house. Now, I'm not sure about your background with this type of work, but I came in with no experience, and quickly learned it was time consuming work that required a lot of patience.
This is the point where any teacher could make the comparison of the before-mentioned yard work to our jobs; however, stating such a unremarkable "epiphany" is unnecessary. Rather, I tell this story because it was my first experience with clear-minded planning time. All those hours working on the thistle-invested flowerbeds around my new house allowed my wife and I a chance to talk about everything under the sun (often times, literally), but they also allowed for quiet time, which allowed my mind to wander and me to think up great ideas for my classroom and lessons. One such idea was a novel project menu. The idea was basic: set things up with three appetizer options - smaller projects worth fewer points - from which students had to choose. Follow those options up with a few larger, more-significant project options from which to choose, and finish off with a few smaller projects for desserts. I had done a similar options-based approach for independent reading in the past with tic-tac-toe book projects, and I still like those as an option. However, having the time to clear my mind and let he creativity run wild, all while pulling countless weeds out of flowerbeds, was a great "recipe" for success in this case.
Of course, not every teacher is "lucky" enough to buy a fixer-upper, and even if you are, eventually the big renovations will be complete. That has been the case for me, but I have still found time working around the yard beneficial - especially while on breaks or even three-day weekends. For example, the concept for my during-reading assignment that works for any novel, which I have called Flip Slips came from a period of mowing my yard and a stretch of the field behind my property. And, despite the title of this blog, the work doesn't have to be landscaping-related. The use of something I refer to as a Weekly Google Check-in (a simple three-question form with a multiple-choice question, a rating question, and a non-curriculum personality short-answer question) came about during a full-house dusting episode.
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| Flip Slips - An idea that came while mowing the yard |
As you can see, what I'm really advocating is for all teachers to find some time throughout the year, and especially the summer, to clear their minds and let them wander a bit. For me, that time has best been found when doing some basic rote task like mowing the grass, pulling weeds, or dusting furniture. For others, it might be knitting or reorganizing storage areas. Whatever is the case, don't limit your ideas; you just might find that some of your best lessons and teaching ideas come from momentary nuggets of contemplation such as these.
As always, I encourage you to share your thoughts and feedback, including any experiences you've had with clearing your mind and having great teaching ideas come the surface. Until next time, keep doing the wonderful job in your classroom that I know you are doing!
-A Teacher's Teacher
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