Running and Teaching

Long distance running is my hobby outside of work. I run more than most, which is to say that I put in 70+ miles a week. I run even more during the summer, largely because of the time on hand but also because it is time to build up for a marathon. The parallels between my hobby and my career are uncanny.

The most obvious is the amount of time needed to be successful. Long distance running is built on one's aerobic capacity, your ability to process oxygen. How do you improve that? You do it by running, and running lots of miles. Teaching is the same, both in preparation and in actual work. You really can't be effective without doing your reading, getting to know your kids, assessing to find their strengths/weaknesses, and learning new practices (amongst many other items). Shortcuts rarely work out in either of these, leaving you underprepared for a race or underserving those you are teaching.

Both of these activities require patience. A few weeks back I was struggling with a hamstring issue that was causing my hip and IT band to rock out of alignment. The frustration was consuming, if for no other reason than the fact that no one wants to run in pain. Instead of throwing in the towel I needed to continue with exercises to strengthen my quads and hamstrings as well as using a foam roller every night to roll out the knots in the muscle. Similarly, teaching requires patience in spades. Your instruction may not work out the first time. You'll need to reflect on what is going on, what isn't working (and why), and make alterations. Teaching rarely is an instant gratification career, leaving you waiting for the big leap forward.

Planning is integral to the success of both activities. If you aren't clear what you are teaching, when you plan to teach it, and how you'll know if they got it then you're in trouble. Does that mean you won't change that plan? Absolutely not. Changes happen because of student interest, success of lessons, district initiatives, and countless other issues. But it is difficult to succeed without knowing where you want to go and how you plan to get there. My preparation for Chicago (and every marathoners preparation) is similar. I can't just go out and run hard everyday, or run a bazillion (that's a lot!) miles each week. I need to know what I want to hit on race day, and where I've already been. From there I can start to tailor a plan to hopefully get me to the race, and ultimately the finish line, where I want to be.

Lastly, neither activity allows for you to rest on your laurels. Any achievement you get is fantastic, but has little bearing on your future trajectory. Why? Stopping running (injury and rest aside) brings about an almost immediate loss on fitness. Others continue to train as well, bring about new challenges to where you've been. Even trying to simply maintain where you are is difficult. In teaching you'll find that new kids will always walk through the doors with new personalities, challenges, weaknesses, and strengths. New initiatives and practices will come up that you'll need to develop fluency with. The second you stop working and learning is the second you begin to slip backwards. Just because you were a distinguished teacher in the past doesn't mean you'll continue to be that way forever. You need to keep working.

Tossing Water Balloons

Field Day came and went. Ohhh how I love Field Day. It was a childhood favorite when I was in elementary school. When I started working at an elementary school 7 years ago I was reintroduced to Field Day. I played soccer and kickball all day, and had a great time running around outdoors with the kiddos. That continued for the next 2 years then off I went to other endeavors. I went to another 1 or 2 in my after school programming days, and continued to have a blast- sack hop relays, world cup soccer (teams of 2, and 5 balls and goals), good times.

Today I got a chance to help out at Field Day yet again. This time it was back at the school where I had been student teaching. This was my second time seeing the kiddos since I ended student teaching, and it was the second time I was mobbed (re: giant magnet attracting all things with metal). They were surprised to see me, which tells me quite a bit about their memory (they knew I was coming back for it). It was great to see the kiddos, and a great time.

The funny thing about Field Day is that you need to have a vision for what you are going to do. The overall day was awesome, and very well put together. Now at my station it was rough going the first time or two through, largely because of patience and crowd control. Give a kid a water balloon and what will they do? Squeeze it, toss it, lob it, essentially anything but what you want them to do. Add to that the K-2 element, and we had a little malfunction at the start. Thereafter I was able to get my bearings, and use my teacher skills to get some order and make the station work. 10 at a time (5 pairs), everyone else in a waiting line, give water balloons AFTER doing directions.

The highlight for me had to be tossing a water balloon with a student at the end. It was the last balloon and she wanted me to be her partner (2nd grader from class). We went back and forth about 6 times, and had to be about 20-30 apart. Eventually I took it on the shoe, but it was good fun. Plus we had a constant line, and no one chucked a water balloon intentionally at their partner. Job well done! It was likely my last day seeing the kiddos, and I will admit to being a little sad. I got hugs on the way out and everyone get my customary high-five. But onward and upward....

Use Sparingly

I am 5 days from ending my student teaching. Most of the heavy lifting is over. Have I finished all my observations? Check. How about getting your final check-out meeting with your field instructor? Yep, check! You've been observed by your principal and master teacher? Most certainly. How about submitting your portfolio? Yes, although I will admit that I probably spent more time on the actual teaching than the portfolio itself, part of my field on what is the most important thing (teaching or photocopying and compiling?).

This past week also marked my 9th week of student teaching, and the beginning of my handover of responsibility. I've still taught math, writing, and science, which means I've been teaching quite a bit. But I am ok with that. The more experience the better. The only downside is having the kids seeing two very different styles/tolerances. Noise is one of those things where I am ok with a reasonably loud bubble, and my MT isn't quite as keen. You'll remember that I posted on this previously, and need to remind myself of that.

Now I have new found time! I can blog a bit more, which is great. The second thing is that I can go through my Google Reader, chalk full of 196 posts. Some of the best are...

• Brian at Learning is Messy was reflecting on his current (soon ending) 1:1 student/laptop ratio, and what that has meant for his kids and in his practice.
• The Reading Zone had a post about grading in the reading/writing workshop, as well as how to curriculum map. Both of those are things I am starting to think ahead to. Both posts have some books worth checking out (I can speak to the quality of the Strategies That Work book)
• I absolutely love seeing Dy/dan's posts come through my google reader. I think he inspires me to think about how we can use a variety of content to get kids thinking about math in real-world contexts. This looks at a music video where you can mute instruments, and what would that mean to the number of combinations that could be created. This one looked at a comparison between two very different math classes, and their interest level. I think one can read a ways into it, particularly from a class point of view and the notion of gatekeeping.
• The Doc is In had a pie graph that made me laugh, but not in the "ha ha ha ha ha!" sort of way, as I think it (sadly) ends up getting it right.
• I also read some running/sports blogs. The Science of Sport goes a little deeper into running, thinking a little (well, a lot) more critically about things. This looked at performance enhancing drugs in sport (sport being running, as they are non-US), and this looked a little deeper into pacing at the London Marathon vs the World Record. For me, it is like Dy/Dan's posts, but in a running context.

My last note comes in reflecting about an email I had with a principal friend. We were talking about the end of my student teaching, what was next, etc. Finding a job is paramount, but it will be a hurry up and wait type of situation as we had a RIF's all over the state. I mentioned how I was also running a marathon in Portland on the fourth of July. I told her I was hoping to be around 2:35, maybe a little more or less (certainly 2:30's). She was surprised I was able to manage both things- training (heavily at that) and student teaching. I hadn't thought about that. It is just what I do, and there wasn't much of a choice.

Happy Weekend

I am not sure I have ever been as excited for the weekend as I am right now. 7 weeks in to student teaching, and another full week ahead. I just needed to get through today, as today was Village. Village is like a carnival or county fair that has rolled itself out inside of a school. The only difference is that the pain is self-inflicted, as the classrooms become stores and the kids work at them.

My legs have never felt as tired as they do today, and I am at marathon runner. Standing in the same spot for 3 hours, roping kids into tasks, was a little crazy. Alas I have survived, will head out for some pizza and look forward to 2 days of sun. I'll race on Sunday too. For now though, I am happy to be at home.

There's No Whining In Teaching!

I'm a distance runner. I run marathons, and run everyday. While running isn't always enjoyable, I've learned to tolerate the act, believing that the hard work will ultimately pay off in becoming fitter (and a faster time). I put quite a bit of time in, often over 10 hours per week in running along (not counting stretching or icing), and it certainly isn't easy. I've tried going the route of running less, cutting corners a bit, but it hasn't worked for me and I just ended up irritated for my own stupidity. I could complain about the work I need to do, but it isn't worth it. I've moved myself to a place where I understand the problem before me.

Running? On an education blog? Thanks for sharing, right?! Well I see the two as highly correlated. In our learners we need to move them to a point where they are interested. If they aren't interested, we get stuck on the complaining. "But we already read that?" and "Do we have to?" are familair refrains. Moving learners to a point where they want to learn, and are engaged in the process is very important.

I think about this in the context of teacher education as well. Whether aspiring teachers (like myself), or professional development, people need to be invested in the process. Teachers need to be actively engaged in their own learning, otherwise why are we doing it? Who does it help to go through the motions or to simply "show up"? No one said teaching would be easy. We don't want to reinvent the wheel, but we do want to push the profession forward. When will the leap happen to a place of active engagement?