Episode 88: Shift what SUCKS- Make it work for YOU!

I am learning to shift the things that feel routine, monotonous or down right sucky... This particular shift was AMAZING, energizing and OH so engaging! Thanks for joining me!

Links mentioned:

• Classroom Jobs Blog
• Classroom Jobs Podcast
• Classroom Jobs Course with John Sifert
• Calm and Connected, Classroom-Ready Start FREE workshop!

On August 31st, I’m hosting a free live workshop called:
‘5 Strategies for a Calm, Connected, and Classroom-Ready Start (That Won’t Add to Your To-Do List)’ 🎉 

Whether you're already back and cruising along, or if you're about to start and the overwhelm is creeping in, I hope to see you there! Save your spot here!

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Transcript

Join Me!

Hi there. It's me, and before you listen to this amazing episode of teaching la vida loca, I wanted to ask you, are you ready for school? Are you already in school? Are you already back? Or are you like, in that state of like, oh my god, it's the impending, looming overwhelm that's coming. Whether you've already begun and you're like full in it, you're in the overwhelm, or that overwhelm is on its way and it's creeping in, I have got you. I've got you. On August 31, I'm hosting a free, live workshop called five strategies for a calm, connected and classroom-ready start that won't add to your to do list, and I'm going to share simple and powerful shifts that you can make right away to bring more peace, calm, joy and groundedness to your classroom and more connection, whether again, you're just starting or you're a couple weeks in. I'm also going to be sharing a resource toolkit full of printables and templates that you can use right away with your students, and I would absolutely love to have you. You can save your spot at Tiny url.com/the number five, CCC, loca, all lowercase, or you can just click the link in the show notes. Enjoy this next episode. Thanks for listening.

Welcome!

Well, welcome back to teaching la vida loca, the podcast you come to for short and sweet and sometimes spicy episodes full of enthusiasm, magic and tips and tricks for your classroom. I'm Annabelle, your maestra loca, and I'm here to bring you inspiration, unapologetic authenticity, and ideas to spark more joy in your teaching journey. I'm turning up the excitement and elated to have you right here with me. I'm not just your host, I'm your cheerleader, and I'm thrilled you're tuning in. So, let's do this. Let's tackle teaching la vida loca together. 

Hi. Welcome to Episode 88 of teaching la vida loca. This one's gonna be short and sweet, but I'm excited to talk to you about this. I am shifting something at the beginning of this school year that I've felt for a long time, but I never thought I could do it differently, and oh my goodness, it went so much better this year. So, I'm coming here to talk to you about shifting what sucks to make it work for you again. And the reality is, there might be something that didn't used to suck, like it's something that used to work, but it's just not working anymore, right? It's the little classroom things that we keep doing because we think we must, even though they feel draining, even though they feel monotonous, even though they might feel like it goes against our teaching philosophy. For me, that's how I was presenting class jobs. Spoiler, I did find a way to flip it and make it better, lighter, more fun, more student centered, more me.

My Slideshow…

So, I'm excited to come to you today with this. In the past, when I did classroom jobs, I It's a very important part of my system. It's a very important part of my classroom. I know that you've heard me talk about classroom jobs a million times, and the way I presented it was a slideshow. I literally would put a slideshow up and tell kids about all 35 classroom jobs, and then I would have kids apply. And while I was presenting, they would take notes, and, you know, indicate which jobs they were most interested in, and at the end, they would fill out their application. My gosh, it was the most boring thing, even with Brain Breaks sprinkled in it, just I honestly was resenting it and dreading it.

So, you may have a routine like I said, that you're resenting, that you're dreading, that you feel like, oh, well, I got to do it. It's okay to say, Okay, I've done that in the past. It's not working for me any more anymore. Let's think about how I can do it differently. 

My Shift

I shifted to a gallery walk because I was inspired by a coaching session that I did. I believe it was with Andrea, and I was giving her some ideas of how to make some of her talking about her routines and her systems and her structures in her classroom more novel and engaging. And then I'm like, wait a second. I could totally apply this to me and to classroom jobs that I hate presenting in that way, but I love classroom jobs, and I need them, right? So, I shifted to a gallery walk. I printed out those same slides, the slides with the Spanish title and a little English description of what that job was. I printed them two to a page, cut them out, taped them all up outside, and told the kids, here's a clipboard. Go, go read about the jobs. Figure out which ones you want to apply for. We were outside for 10-15, minutes, and then they came inside with four favorite jobs. They opened their Chromebook and they applied on a Google form. It was, it literally was such an energy shift. It went from draining to exciting. It went from monotonous to engaging. It went from wildly boring to super engaging and exciting and energizing. Energizing is the word I was looking for there.

Bigger Point!

So bigger point is I don't want you to have to keep doing something the same way just because it's what you've always done. Tiny tweaks can bring back joy. I didn't reinvent the wheel and rewrite all my slides. I printed the ones of the jobs that I knew I wanted, my class sizes are smaller than they've ever been, so I narrowed it down to 24 jobs, and then I let them loose, and they loved it, and we were outside. It was so nice. So, I'm leaving you with that.

What is one thing in your routine or your systems, or you’re rolling out the beginning of the year that feels heavy or dreaded or icky or monotonous. How can you flip it? How can you make it quicker? How can you make it more engaging? How can you make it more joyful? And if you do classroom jobs. Please still have your students apply for them. It's so powerful and it's so hysterical. I mean, it's such a gift to read their applications, to see middle schoolers talking about themselves in a positive way. Some of them are hysterical. In fact, I need to read you some of them. Let me pause this. Okay. Are you ready?

Brace yourself!

I'm applying for distributor, because my ability to hand out stuff is one of a kind, and I'm very experienced in the field. Why would you be a good fit for embajador de la Technologia? I'll be good at this job because last year in history, every single time people would volunteer to do morning call, which I did whenever we had our first class. Mr. Abate, usually let me do it a lot, so I'm basically good at it, and basically a pro Yes, yes. Girl, I love that. Here's another one. I am excellent at following instructions and having students comprehend quickly how brain breaks work. That's why I would be an excellent ninja for brain breaks. I also can make a brain break look fun, and I will be energetic and people like me so they're gonna like the brain break. Yes, I love this. I love this. Some of my favorites were also talking about why they would be a good secretary for me or assistant, and they specifically said it's because I'm good at listening and doing something else simultaneously, so I'll be able to take the notes for you and simultaneously continue listening like, I love that. I love that I love that they're like, intentionally thinking about why they would be a great fit for jobs. So, if you don't have them apply for jobs, I strongly encourage it. It's amazing.

Classroom Jobs

If you want to learn more about classroom jobs, I will link a podcast to my favorite jobs, a blog on how I do all the jobs. And, of course, my course with John Seifert, who does classroom jobs in high school. He's done them for like, 20 years at the high school level, and I, of course, have done them in elementary and middle and we have an amazing course that walks you through literally every job we do, all our processes, because we do them very differently. He is very type A. I am type Do I have a type? Y'all type Z, type who knows any who I'm type Annabelle and type a loca. And our course is awesome, so I'll link that too. I hope you're doing well. I am excited to continue to connect with you. I hope to see you at my workshop this Sunday, for a calm, connected classroom ready start, and I'm grateful for you. Take care. Until next time, I'll be teaching la vida loca again. I'm so happy, and I'm sure you will be too, and I hope you're happy as well. Take care. Bye, bye.