And I’m not just taking teaching materials. I mean, what if your current teaching practice isn’t working, what is worth keeping?

I like to think of myself as a reflexive teacher who adapts to the needs of my students. I follow IEPs to the letter, differentiate like a pro, and run multiple grade level programs in one room without batting an eye.

But sometimes even that doesn’t work. And lately I’ve been feeling frustrated because – no matter what I try to do, I always feel like I’m left a few kids fall through the cracks.

So I dealt with the easy – physical – stuff first. Every day I teach from my webpage. Everything the kids see in class is filed digitally online for kids and parents to access at home. This allows total transparency for my program. This is something in which I believe firmly. As a result, I haven’t accessed a bound book of black line masters in years. Most of my content I create on the fly to suit the diverse needs of my kids in a given year. So everything paper, or skill and drill, on my shelf could be recycled. Or burned.

So that cleared four shelves.

My massive collection of classroom novels could be thinned. Anything ripped beyond repair went home with individual kids. Novels too far below my grade level moved on to new teachers starting first classrooms. Everything else can was reorganized by genre and inventoried.

That emptied 3 more shelves.

But what about my “in my head” pedagogy shelves? What can I purge from there? What have I been holding on to of my practice that needs to go? Bennett strategies? Action research? Foldables? Inquiry based learning?

I have been frustrated this year, trying new things constantly and trying to evolve with my kiddoes. But I’m not sure if what I am doing is all worth keeping.

I have always focused on aiming for the future and bringing kids toward the specific goal – whether that be math fluency or writing skill or grade nine readiness. However, as the years move forward I see the gaps between my strongest and my weakest kids growing. I’m scrambling to pull kids up and working hard to keep others engaged, and I’m run thin. So what has to change?

I think I need to focus less on what strategy and which method, and focus more on where they are. I don’t need to bring every kid all the way to mastery, as long as I bring them as far as I can. In order to live this in the moment, I need to authentically represent what I value in education every single day – so here is my new teaching philosophy.

Talk to every kid every day.

Live your duty of care, everyday.

The kids are the life in your room. You need them more than you need colourful borders and posters.

Get a living creature into the kids’ hands. It grows empathy.

Have plants for kids to tend. It gives them responsibility.

Give them the responsibility of independent learning, but build in myriad supports to catch them when they fall.

Because they will fall.

Leave them better than you found them.

Proactive communication is good teaching.

Call parents, email often, and make the effort to celebrate the successes more than the struggles.

Always remember: parents relive the horrors of their own schooling when their kids go to school. You build trust when you acknowledge their fears. You exorcise demons when you teach a child well.

Have a life outside of school that forces you to learn.

Join a band.

Take a class.

Learn a new skill.

Keep connected to how it feels to struggle.

Remember that learning is hard. This will keep you humble and connected.

And most of all, when you are spent, worn, and broken, because you have given more than you have, ask for help. And let your kids see you ask other teachers for help. Model that learning. Be a student in your own room.

This is my new “future goal” for my kids and my teaching. Big ideas can include remembering why I’m teaching. Sometimes our goals have to change to meet our kids’ needs. Change is good.

And keep showing up every day. They all need you.

And you need them.

MPJ