All-day uniform

If you didn’t go to Catholic School growing up or wear a uniform to school, this won’t make sense to you. If you did, I’m about to unlock a memory you didn’t know you had.

There were days in grade-school and high school, usually in the winter, when I would come home from school and not change out of my uniform. I would keep it on, to watch TV, do homework, eat dinner with the family, and even play video games. There was something uplifting about those days. They almost made me feel accomplished.

I had a couple of those days last week. I wore my teacher’s uniform (button down and khakis) for about 14 hours, from 7:00am to 9:00pm because there just wasn’t enough time to shower and change. Just like when I was a kid, I felt productive, accomplished, and even encouraged.

I went to bed tired but relieved that the next day was Friday.

I never understood why teachers complained. How hard could it be, getting summers off?

Add up all the hours teachers work in a year and it’s equal, if not more, than a typical 9 to 5. Teachers just work 10 hour days every day, and on the weekends. You could average it to 12 hours each work day, easily. And this doesn’t even include planning and preparing in the summer.

50 weeks of work each year x 40 hours per week = 2,000 hours of work each year

180 days of work each year x 12 hour per day = 2,160 hours of work each year

The next time somebody says, “Yeah but teachers have it easy because they have off in the summer,” you have my permission to remove yourself from that conversation before your only option is to resort to violence.

First year teacher in a pandemic

I wear it like a badge of honor. It’s no formal credential but should be. I think I’ll include it under “Accomplishments” on my resume… which I’ll need to beef-up before I apply to other jobs… because there’s no way I can stay in this field. Not after seeing it like this.

I’m happy to contribute and do my best while I’m here, but the school building needs to change and I have other things to change.

Why We Make Projects – Please Read Before Class

An email sent to my biology students this morning:

Hey Team,

I hope you enjoyed your break, got some rest, and spent some time with loved ones.  I’m touching base to share a brief thought on projects.

Look.  You’re probably not going to feel inspired to create projects in December.  I get it.  There’s holiday festivities, Hallmark movies to be watched, and, of course, covid.

At the same time, this class is an opportunity.  Projects aren’t just for creating something–they’re for shaping you into who you could be.  I wish I had the chance to create projects in high school.  Looking back, it would have made a big difference in how I approached the rest of my high school and college education.

Projects help you bring something into the world that didn’t exist before.  But projects have deadlines.  8 of you didn’t submit #lightning-project-5 on time.  7 of you have yet to submit it, now almost 1 week late.

As a young professional, I’m still making projects every week.  I have a personal commitment that goes like this: “I don’t miss deadlines.”

If you tuned into the Prayer Service this morning, you saw a project I created.  That’s right, good ole Mr. Lemma made a project.  This was shared with the whole school, on a Zoom webinar.  In real time.  The deadline was 7:50am.  I didn’t miss it, because professionals don’t miss deadlines.  Here’s the link in case you didn’t catch it: https://youtu.be/9xp5sMfEgx0

Look, I made this.

Professionals do the hard work whether they feel inspired or not, whether there’s cookies to be baked or not.  Don’t let this class go to waste.  Doing these projects is more important than you think.

For real though, I’m excited to see you all tomorrow.  Enjoy your final day of rest!

Cheers,

Mr. L

Classroom Rules

There’s going to be four rules in my classroom this year. They are:

  1. Do your best
  2. Tell the Truth
  3. Move Up! and Listen
  4. Don’t compare yourself to other people

These rules are straightforward, except for number 3. Move Up! and Listen means being generous enough to allow others to speak, and then give them the praise they deserve. Moving Up means not always being the one to talk but recognizing others have something to say, too. It doesn’t mean never speaking up, but only when it’s appropriate.

Could these rules be better? Absolutely. Should there be more rules? Probably. But as I see it today, these four guidelines are enough to make a classroom good.

It’s about creating spaces where people feel encouraged to learn. I’ve been doing this my whole life. Now I get to do it from behind a different desk.

Writing and Thinking

You may think writing comes out of thinking. You think a thought, then you write it down. This is how all great works novels, articles, books, plays, poems, and songs arise.

But you’d be wrong. Writing isn’t a byproduct of thinking, but thinking happens because you write. I can’t number the times I’ve had no clue what to write an essay on, then five hours later the essay is finished and submitted. It was only written because I was writing.

Now think about what you wrote for your high school biology class. Lab reports. Boring, monotonous, regurgitated lab reports that were identical to each of your classmates. The lab report is important, but it’s not the only way to write about science.

What if science students watched a video about a hawk snatching another bird and eating it, then they journalled about it? What if they wrote stories about who the hawk was and why she was hungry? Imagine the questions that would come from writing creatively about the natural world.

If we want to solve modern problems to create a hopeful future, we have to think outside the box. To think outside the box, we have to write outside the box. If we want to write outside the box, we better have a good pen.