Let’s address the elephant in the room: TIME

I leave Cohort 21 F2F sessions full of ideas, full of excitement, inspired to say the least. But then when I get to my classroom each morning, I’m greeted by a large, majestic, beautiful yet extremely annoying elephant who is blocking my door way. His name is TIME.

I have become quite comfortable with him in my classroom over the years. He controls when our morning routine begins, when it is time for a brain break, when to put the Chromebooks away, when a unit should end, when to check their understanding… when it is time to come and time to go. Mr. Time, I realize you are not going anywhere anytime soon. You are an inevitable truth who will continue to control so many aspects of my life. But my question is: can you get out of my way more and give me a little more control?

A big part of my action plan this year is to practice mindfulness in the classroom. I think it is fair for me to say, I have made progress. However, it is quite mind boggling to me how difficult it can be to find 5 minutes a class to practice taking time to ourselves to be in the moment. WHAT! How? What am I doing wrong?

I am a planner, always have been. I use a day book which I custom create to my own schedule each year and get it binded on my own because this has been what works best for me. Each day, I set out in it point form notes to myself of what the learning goals are for today, a to-do list if you will. The last task of the day is mindfulness. I have set out to have mindful moments at the end of each class. We will do something a little different to recenter us in the present. But who would have thought finding 5-10 minutes at the end of each class would be such an exhausting task.

So now the question is…. How do I shrink the elephant so he is not taking up so much space? It’s possible, right? What I am SLOWLY learning is it actually is possible. It takes a mindset that is determined to make the “small” things happen, knowing that in the end, these small things like 10 deep mindful breaths at the end of class are, in fact, not small at all.

I like to think I actually have a good memory, from birthdays to exciting Olympics events. But in the hustle and bustle of NYC, of wait, I mean.. the hallways of the school, sometimes time and many other things can slip my mind. My planner sometimes doesn’t cut it. So I have now turned to my trusty new friend, technology.  I have learned that my mind also needs reminders, and it is okay to say that. Our students are encouraged daily to use technology to aid them with organization and personal management, why not take a page out of their book?

Using a timer has been key. Yes, a physical timer that dings and rings to let me know it’s time to change it up. We can get lost in the curiosity of the classroom but when the timer goes off, it signals the whole class that it is time to breathe and step back from the stress of the classroom. I used to try and use my students as timers, “Hey! Can you let me know when there is 10 minutes left in class”, but what I’ve learned, they have more going on in their heads then I do. I’ve even enlist the help of Siri sometimes to make sure this happens. We can’t make more time, or completely get rid of the elephant in the room but we can change our routines and habits (as hard as that may be).

Moral of the story:  Yes, there is an elephant in my classroom each day but I am embracing him and trying to make sure he shares the stage with me.

Citation for Image:

“The Elephant in the Classroom.” LD@School, 27 Jan. 2017, www.ldatschool.ca/the-elephant-in-the-room/.