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Proactive vs. Reactive

So what does it mean to be a proactive teacher?

Let's start by defining "proactive". When you are proactive, you plan in advance. You take initiative. You make things happen. That's as opposed to being reactive, where you wait for things to happen and react.

What do the these two different mindsets look like in the classroom? Let's take planning for example. It's Sunday night...around 8 pm. You are staring at a blank plan book for your next week. You start saying to yourself, "I hate having to write plans! It's such a intrusion on my weekend!" Now you are in a bad mood and, not only still have plans to write, but will probably have the worst attitude during the process.  Are you in a proactive or reactive mindset?  Reactive of course. But I think most of us have been there at least once in our teaching career. The fact that we have waited until the last minute causes us to blame external causes.

Okay, so what does that situation look like when you are proactive? It's still Sunday night at 8pm. But instead of looking at a blank plan book you are looking at...plans! You knew you had a busy weekend ahead so last week you mapped out doing a little bit of your plans each day or during large blocks of time. All you need to do now is maybe finalize a few things and plan out your day tomorrow, or a list of copies you need to make in the morning. Is this idealistic? No, I don't think so. Is it what my life looks like every Sunday night at 8pm? No, not yet. But it's my goal, so I'm taking steps in the right direction.

You see, it's all about mindset. I can sit and stew about the fact that I have work to do over the weekend and place my annoyance about that on external factors. Or, I can take control of the situation. I spent too long being frustrated by that tired weekend feeling and an empty plan book.

Maybe you are WAY more organized than me and have been planning ahead for years. But I will write this just in case you are like me and you are juggling many work and home issues and find yourself too often having a hard time having a chance to catch your breath. If that is you, please keep reading.

It's a process to change a mindset. I've been in the process of a work mindset-sift for a couple of years now. I wanted to change my mindset about work stress and have more work-life balance. My first step in that direction was someone introducing me to Angela Watson and her resources. Her book "Awakened" and becoming a member of the 40 Hour Teacher Work Week Club were career changing for me, if not life changing. If you'd like to learn more about Angela and her resources, click here.

As I started making changes that she recommended, I began to find I had more time to breathe, and think more thoughtfully about my instruction. It's a process, and I'm still growing, but I'm excited to share some things that have helped if it will help you too.

One big change for me is unit planning as opposed to planning for a week. I have a little one at home, so big blocks of planning time are hard. But, when I can, I take my scope and sequence for a unit and plan the whole thing out. That way, my mind isn't jumping from subject to subject and I can think more "big picture" about the topic at hand.

Unit planning is just one way to be more proactive. What have you done to take more control of your lesson planning time? Please share.

Emergency Sub Plans

Well, we are in the Thrills of August!  Some of you may already be back to school. If you are like me, you are still in the midst of list making, planning and organizing. I have several projects that I have been working on this summer to be more proactive. One of them: sub plans.

Who hasn't had a middle of the night wake-up when either you or your child was sick. Rather than just attending to health needs, you are worried about having to write sub plans! I think a lot of us have a set that we can use for a one-day emergency, but I wanted to be more proactive this year. I want to be able to really rest if I'm sick, or be completely focused on my little boy if he is. So, this year, I'm going for a whole week of plans.

As I've been writing out routines and procedures for the year, I'm thinking through them in much more detail than in the past. Once they are written out, I will make a copy for my Sub Binder.

Yes, I have a Sub Binder. I found a great resource on Teacher Pay Teachers by Kellie McHaffie called "The Ultimate Substitute Teacher Binder".  It's geared towards a long term absence, like a maternity leave, so there is everything you can possibly think of. I'm using what I need and finding that through the process, it's helping me get more organized for the school year in general. It always helps to be more specific to think through things for someone else. I'll also be benefitting myself by being more organized and prepared, and thinking through things I may not have thought of otherwise. Click on the image below to check out her great resource. Thank you, Kellie!

I'm organizing plans for five days in my Sub Tub crate. I know many of you already have one of these too. If you don't, I highly recommend it. In the past I used a portable file box, but the crate has much more room. Each day will have activities for each subject. They are topics related to what we are currently covering in class but can stand alone and remain in the tub. So for example, if we are discussing map skills in social studies, I have a few map skill activities in the tub. Also, if we didn't get to an activity during class time, I add that to the tub as one of the activities. 

I always find the trickiest thing to plan for is Math. We have a workshop format and an hour block, so I really want my students engaged in meaningful activities. I plan to introduce math activities during the first few days of school that I can place in the tub for extra practice.  That way the children are working on current topics even if I'm not there.

I'm not a huge fan of worksheets. We follow a workshop model for Reading, Writing and Math which is great so students are working on works in process for the most part.

I'll post more about how the Sub Tub is being maintained throughout the year.  So what do you do for Sub Plans? I'd love for you to share.

Free Resource Friday!

Hi,Everyone! Don't miss out on this free resource at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  The Neatness Award is a quick and easy way to acknowledge your students' organizational skills. I often use it for neat desks but you could also use it to acknowledge neat partnerships during science experiments, a job well done on a group project, or anything else you can think of. The important thing is to let your students know that you are proud of them for making the effort. This little reward will go a long way in building your classroom community and your rapport with your students. Just click on the picture and it will take you to the resource. I hope it helps!

Or, click here

Welcome!

Welcome to The Proactive Teacher!

This site has been a long time in coming. My name is Carolyn and I'm so happy to finally be able to have a place where I can share my reflections and ideas with you. 

I spent a long time thinking about what to call my blog. The Proactive Teacher is what I chose because I want to be an intentional teacher. My experience is in the elementary grades. I have been teaching for almost 20 years and during that time the profession has changed so much.

I talk to so many teachers who are overwhelmed. They are trying to juggle the demands of work and home and are left feeling discouraged and exhausted. I've spent a lot of time feeling that way too. It's my hope that this will be a place where we can change that together.

When you are proactive you have a plan. Sometimes the plan works, and sometimes it doesn't. That's okay! If you are struggling with staying on top of all the demands of this critically important job, I hope you will find encouragement here and realize you are not alone in the struggle.

Thanks for visiting,

Carolyn