Dave Stuart Jr.

Teaching Simplified.

The #EducatorEncouragement Project: A Small Favor for Our Profession

By 29 Comments

Dear colleague,

I made a video for us.

Introducing: the #EducatorEncouragement Project.

[Video not showing? Click here.]

In it, there are just two things I'm trying to say.

  • First, this has been a hard year. At first I thought it was just me, but I found out that it wasn't.
  • Second, some specific things have helped:
    • Reaching out to colleagues who seem to be doing well and asking them what's working.
    • Clarifying my professional question of practice (so helpful for me in reframing my work right now).

In a week, I'll explain why these things matter. But first, I have a small favor to ask.

Will you make a video for us?

All I need is a video of you…

  1. Describing your initial difficulty with teaching this year. If relevant, try to emphasize how isolated/alone/un-belonging you felt and what it was like when you started to realize that you weren't the only one feeling this way.
  2. Sharing 1, 2, or 3 thing(s) that have helped create a sene, however small, of progress. You and I are sophisticated; we know that progress isn't straight. You may still be taking it all day-by-day (raises hand). But, then again, you have found some things that have helped, haven't you? What are they? What phrases do you meditate on, practices do you keep, rituals have you adopted, one-offs have you found restorative?

That's it. Pull out your phone or open up a screencast app on your laptop and click record. When you're done, upload someplace (YouTube preferred but not required) and share it with me in the comments.

Need another example?

Here's one from our colleague John Willette. (John teaches sixth grade; he's on Twitter here.)

[Video not showing? Click here.]

For real. I need your help. We need it. Next week I'll tell you why.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Pam Mulcahy says

    Hi, Dave –
    I’ll try to make a video for you, but if I don’t get to it, I just wanted you to know that your emails have been super helpful to me and many of my teaching friends. Thanks so much! Pam

    Reply

    • Julia says

      Gary – your words spoke straight to my soul. Thanks to you for the time and suggestions (just stumbled on Holiday and Stoicism last week – game changing. And thanks to Dave for making these moments possible! See you tomorrow night!

      Reply

  8. Barb says

    Here’s my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y20bSUrQ1X0

    I’m learning and stretching and growing daily. I’ve learned so much tech since March 13th! I was just in a meeting and we brainstormed a great solution for a problem we were having. We need to be celebrating all of that. And then, be patient and be okay when we are sad and miss our kids and our old lives.

    Thank you, Dave. You make us all better teachers.

    Reply

    • Cinnamon C Kern says

      Barb–I completely feel you on the silence. It starts to feel like you’re the crazy one talking to the walls on repeat, doesn’t it??

      We set up a system that had them ‘on’ for positive attendance for the first half of the 80 minute blocks [2x/week per class]…and that could mean comments in chat or email with me or work in a document or other assignment, and it officially meant cameras off if we wanted to post the video for any who were missing class. I started playing music that cheered me up when the kids were on mute…then I set up a Google Form for a daily checkin so they could let me know how they were and if they needed a side conversation. During the second half of the block, I would call individual students who let me know they needed help, and help via chat in GoGuardian (watchdog program that shows me their screens) or answered general questions in the Google Meets chat, or opened individual or small group meetings in another Google Meet for extra focused help. Our schoolwide schedule also had builtin time for office hours, so students could request to meet with me then as well.

      We’re back face2face (for what might be a very short while since cases are climbing locally) and I am trying to keep the individual help lines open which means I just left a virtual meeting with one student who was very stuck (yes, it’s really 8 PM PST, but this habit might be something we both need for the next few years). Keep the faith–communication is a primary need, and connecting about trivial things as a version of ‘proof of life’ is still academic..it meets the College & Career Readiness Standards for Speaking & Listening (http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/SL/) in that it’s practice in “prepar[ing] for and participat[ing] effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners”.

      Reply

      • Barb says

        Wow! Cinnamon. This made my day. Good to know I’m doing something productive. I am getting some better results from what I call Side Meets, where I can talk to kids individually.

        Hope you get to stay back in the face to face world for a while! I miss seeing faces so much.

        Reply

  12. Dana Martin says

    From Rookie to early career to 29-year veteran, this video features a wide perspective on surviving and thriving in the changes of “how we do things…These 6 Things.” Dave, thanks so much for your candor, your leadership, and your willingness to press-on together. Together is what makes THESE THINGS doable!
    https://youtu.be/YhmD1ElYgW4

    Reply

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