I have been thinking alot about myself as a teacher lately. I have been thinking about how I got to the place that I am in right now in my teaching career. I feel like I am in a pretty good place: I love my job, adore the students I work with everyday, have made amazing connections with staff members, have very little classroom management problems, and I am always thinking about what is next. I wasn't always in this place.
Not so long ago, in my first year of teaching, this place that I am currently in didn't seem to really exist. Two years ago, I was surviving my first year of teaching. I didn't have time to read interesting articles that would improve my practice. I gave rewards and consequences. I wanted students to comply. I wanted to be in control of my classroom. I even engaged in some power struggles with students and took things very personally. I failed at alot of things in my first year of teaching. I mean, I thought and I was taught, that the reward system was a good way to motivate students in university. I gave out "Landry" bucks when students did their classroom duties (which is now laughable). In all honesty, there was a reason why I was only surviving. I had this moment with a student that I will never forget. He came in early in the morning and quickly unstacked all of the chairs in 30 seconds, maybe 28 seconds! He walked straight over to my desk and said, "Can I have my coupon?" I remember thinking, "What have I done? Did I want students to think for themselves of think for me?" I knew something had to change.
My admin recommended Diane Gossen's Restitution book to our staff and I thought it sounded interesting. I read it but I needed to know more. That is who I am, I always need to know more! It was that summer that I took my Restitution 1 training and things started to change for me. I came back that September and did a 360 in my classroom and really committed to it. We co-constructed a class belief statement, created a My Job/Your Job, learned about our needs as a class, set time aside to talk about and meet our needs, I got rid of rewards and consequences, and I taught students about intrinsic motivation. I started having real relationships with students and talking to students about their learning and what inspires them. When problems arose in my classes, I talked to students to help fix the problem. We made plans together. I really began to appreciate and understand my students' needs. I didn't feel like I had to be the person in control of my class because we worked as team to make sure we were all doing our jobs. We were all in control of the class. It was shortly after that I took my Restitution 2 training and the ideas/philosophies behind resititution have just become a part of who I am as a person. I came across a quote yesterday, on Twitter (my new personal learning network), and it said:
"You can't stop the waves but you can learn how to surf." -Jon Zabat Zinn
I couldn't help but to think about this in relation to my experience with restitution and how I have changed as an educator. In my first year of teaching...I was continuously trying to stop the waves when what I needed to do was learn how to surf. Since using restitution in my classroom, I am above water and enjoying the ride. I can actually see the sights and enjoy what is going on around me. I'm surfing.
Not so long ago, in my first year of teaching, this place that I am currently in didn't seem to really exist. Two years ago, I was surviving my first year of teaching. I didn't have time to read interesting articles that would improve my practice. I gave rewards and consequences. I wanted students to comply. I wanted to be in control of my classroom. I even engaged in some power struggles with students and took things very personally. I failed at alot of things in my first year of teaching. I mean, I thought and I was taught, that the reward system was a good way to motivate students in university. I gave out "Landry" bucks when students did their classroom duties (which is now laughable). In all honesty, there was a reason why I was only surviving. I had this moment with a student that I will never forget. He came in early in the morning and quickly unstacked all of the chairs in 30 seconds, maybe 28 seconds! He walked straight over to my desk and said, "Can I have my coupon?" I remember thinking, "What have I done? Did I want students to think for themselves of think for me?" I knew something had to change.
My admin recommended Diane Gossen's Restitution book to our staff and I thought it sounded interesting. I read it but I needed to know more. That is who I am, I always need to know more! It was that summer that I took my Restitution 1 training and things started to change for me. I came back that September and did a 360 in my classroom and really committed to it. We co-constructed a class belief statement, created a My Job/Your Job, learned about our needs as a class, set time aside to talk about and meet our needs, I got rid of rewards and consequences, and I taught students about intrinsic motivation. I started having real relationships with students and talking to students about their learning and what inspires them. When problems arose in my classes, I talked to students to help fix the problem. We made plans together. I really began to appreciate and understand my students' needs. I didn't feel like I had to be the person in control of my class because we worked as team to make sure we were all doing our jobs. We were all in control of the class. It was shortly after that I took my Restitution 2 training and the ideas/philosophies behind resititution have just become a part of who I am as a person. I came across a quote yesterday, on Twitter (my new personal learning network), and it said:
"You can't stop the waves but you can learn how to surf." -Jon Zabat Zinn
I couldn't help but to think about this in relation to my experience with restitution and how I have changed as an educator. In my first year of teaching...I was continuously trying to stop the waves when what I needed to do was learn how to surf. Since using restitution in my classroom, I am above water and enjoying the ride. I can actually see the sights and enjoy what is going on around me. I'm surfing.