AVReading Newsletter June 2025: Looking Back

 

Years ago, I had a student who told me that I should have her uncle come as a guest speaker to my class.  She gave me no prompt as to why he might be a good fit, or even what he would talk about but the class was called Sex, Drugs, and RocknRoll: a Study of the the Counter Culture of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, so I went with it.  I was comforted by the fact that  he was a teacher in Minneapolis, so I wasn’t taking a huge risk in inviting him to class.  When he showed up,  I learned that he taught theatre in a high school.  He wore glasses, but he was missing one of the stems so they sat askew on his face.  This was the 90s and  AVHS was almost exclusively white, so his first comment to me was, “Wow!  I’m in a White Palace here!” 

There is so much I remember about his talk that day.  He was a recovering addict, so he had a few stories about some of his wild adventures.  He talked about race at a time when schools weren’t really good about that.  And he talked about recovery.  The story that has stayed with me more than any other was one related to his daily routine.  As part of his commitment to sobriety, he would end every day at his desk where he wrote a letter to himself about the day, what he learned, and what he needed to do next.  He would leave it there overnight, and then he would begin the next day by reading that letter.

            For him, the process was significant to his sobriety each and every day.  In his telling of it, I recall a sense of desperation in his commitment to this exercise.  His primary goal was to unpack all of the joys and frustrations of living, many of which he had learned to suppress and ignore throughout his early life.  

As we end another year, it is a good opportunity to spend some time reflecting on how things went within our classrooms and where we are headed.  Of course, it is such a busy and chaotic time as we make the furious rush to the finish line, but before it gets too far away, it’s important to spend some time putting thoughts into print.

            For us, the stakes are not quite as high.  But the practice is still significant.  The reflections can be quick, in some cases just a bulleted list of thoughts / ideas. 

            You can begin with the generic questions like what went well, what could be improved, goals, and next steps.  But getting down to the specifics of curriculum, assessments, and classroom culture / management are also important. 

Here are some other helpful tips on end of the year reflections: 

            Give It Attention:  Again, it is easy to throw everything in a drawer and kick the door closed on your way out the school door.  However, setting aside even just fifteen minutes to bring the year to an end is helpful.  Another benefit to journaling is that it puts boundaries on problems.  Sometimes, our struggles can feel overwhelming and all consuming or even just indefinable.  Journaling offers us an opportunity to “write ourselves into understanding” to name our problems and in doing so they no longer feel limitless. We can turn those phantoms  into concrete experiences with discrete parts. 

Where to Journal:  There are a number of places where you can drop your thoughts.  In some cases, I will actually put my thoughts for the trimester in the “notes” section of the class’s slideshow.  Therefore, the next time I open it up to teach the class, I can begin by seeing my final impressions.  I also make use of an online journal.  This allows me to “tag” the journal entries and organize them.  It also is one consistent place I use, so I never have to ask “where did I put that reflection”.  Finally, a good old fashioned hard bound journal is also a great investment. 

            Check the Moment:  The upside of written reflection isn’t just to generate ideas for curriculum and classroom practices, it is also an attempt to see ourselves as we really are, our strengths alongside our areas of weakness.  This is significant.  We struggle so much not only with our internal voices of doubt and insecurity, but also broader voices from popular media that often paint teachers and schools in ways that are not consistent with what actually happens here.  Check the moment.  Check the internalized frustrations that come to us from outside sources.  Make a concerted effort to recognize both the beauty and burdens of our roles as educators.  And commit to being in the world as it really is.  

Find the full newsletter here.   

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