It’s mid May and I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting over the last week or two. There are so many things that I want to do differently, do better next school year. I’ve been writing all my ideas down, visualizing what my classroom will look like, what my procedures will be, how I’ll deal with those inevitable conflicts. In my head, my classes will run like clockwork, with happy students who love coming to class, orchestras that sound amazing, and me doing it with ease and plenty of time to spare.
Except I know that’s not going to happen.
I’ve been doing this long enough now that I know I’m probably doomed to fail on most of my plans. Even as I plan out the coming year and visualize the perfect scenario, I feel like I’m one of those New Year’s Resolution statistics, one of those people who make goals and quit on them within two weeks. Not everything is doomed to fail. I’ve made a lot of really positive, lasting changes in my classes. I know I can do things better, but it still gets discouraging when I’ve failed so many times.
Recently I watched a YouTube video and they said something that struck me as true. They said that most people fail at their goals not because they don’t know what to do, but because they fail to execute – they don’t follow through on what they know. My first thought was “Yes! That’s my problem!” I know how to teach; I believe I’m quite good at it, actually. I know how to manage student behavior. I know how to play music and teach technique and all that stuff. It’s just that often I don’t follow through. I don’t do the things I know I should do.
So why is my execution so bad? Why don’t I follow through on what I know I should do? Why is it that in my head I know exactly what to say and do, but then in real life I fumble and fail to follow through? After thinking back on my past failures, I realized that one of the biggest reasons that I fail to follow through is because I don’t practice.
Good teaching takes practice. Lots and lots of practice.
I can determine in my head that I will not allow cell phones in my class, but when that first kid takes out his cell phone, suddenly I chicken out. When that girl tells me it’s her work calling and she really needs to take it, I give in. When I decide that I want to set up my class differently but then I’m back to doing what I’ve always done two weeks in, it’s often because what worked so well in my head doesn’t work in reality.
So what does it look like to practice teaching?
For me, the first step will always be the planning part. That time to reflect on what is working, what’s not, and what you’d like to try doing differently is crucial. If you aren’t spending some time thinking about what you’d like your teaching to look like, it’s going to take you a lot more time to make any sort of improvement.
Envisioning the ideal is not enough. That reflection and planning needs to include all the things that can go wrong. What am I going to do when that kid refuses to give you their phone? How will I keep kids focused and quiet during tuning time when half the class wanders in late? How will I respond when three kids come to me the day of the concert and say they won’t be there? If I can anticipate all of those issues in advance and make a plan, things will go better.
Once you have a plan, the next step is to try it out. This is something new I’ve been trying over the last week or so. Normally by this point in the school year I’m done try to implement change. Let’s be honest, there are only two weeks left in the school year. Nothing I do is going to change much for my kids, who are very much over school and rules and behaving. In the past, I always just gave up and said, “Oh well. Next year I’ll do [fill in the blank.] It’s too late to do anything now.” The last week or two, however, I’ve decided to just try things out for my own practice, not because it’s going to do anything for my kids, really.
For example, I don’t know the best way to deal with cell phones. I don’t want them in my classes and I strongly believe they are a huge detriment to my students in so, so many ways, but I haven’t figured out a good way to handle them. Instead of coming up with some hypothetical plan on how to deal with them next year and hoping it works, I’m trying some different solutions to see what is most effective and (more importantly), what I’ll be able to consistently follow through on. In one class I asked the students to put their phones on the table at the beginning of class in exchange for candy. In another class, if I saw a student’s phone, I put it in a paper bag and stapled it shut. In another class I just told students to put it away when they got it out. Each class period I learn a little more about how the students react and how each method affects me and my teaching.
These practice reps aren’t really changing my classroom culture or improving student behavior. In a couple of weeks those kids will be gone and I’ll be taking a break, with hopefully a fresh start in the fall. Instead of just gritting my teeth and counting down the days, however, I’m going to use this time to practice teaching. Maybe next school year I’ll be better prepared to execute on the ideal.