Dear Teacher By Amy Husband Read Aloud

[Brayan Jacobsen]

Likemany teachers, I feel like a failure on a regular basis. However, recently I have felt even more like I am failing all the people in my life. If you know me really well, you know I have a son with severe autism and severe cognitive delays. He is a 2-3 year old toddler trapped in a pubescent 13 year old boy. He brings me more joy and more frustration than I ever thought possible, and recently I have felt like the biggest failure when it comes to him.

You see, Brody was struggling to behave and control himself at school. We consulted his doctor and he was prescribed a low dosage of a new medicine that they assured us would help him. However, it had the opposite effect. It caused him to not be able to control himself.

Now, you may be thinking that I was being entirely too hard on myself and you are right. But the reality is that we usually are our own worst critics. Reflecting on these last few days made me realize that some of my readers may be feeling like failures in some aspects of their lives.

But, I also want to help you overcome this. So, we will interrupt my usual pedagogy and content-focused posts to bring you something a little different. I want to share with you my simple go-to strategies for when I am feeling like a failure in the different aspects of my life. Try them as-is or adapt them for your own unique needs and situations.

3.) If you have older teenage children, take them to the movies or their favorite restaurant for dinner. If they are more interested in their friends, take their best friend with you. I know that is not ideal but sometimes we have to take what we can get with older children. But, try for the alone time first. I bet even moody teenagers would jump at the chance if they got to pick the movie and the restaurant.

2.) Take a task off their plate for a day or a week. My husband takes the boys to school each morning since they attend a different school than I teach at. This allows me to sleep in an extra thirty minutes. However, when I feel like I am failing my spouse by not doing enough for him or with him, I find an opportunity to take the boys to school for him. He appreciates it and gets to sleep in and I get to spend extra time with the kids. Total win-win.

2.) If you feel like you are failing your students in a particular subject, make it a point to get to work 10 minutes earlier or stay 10 minutes later and focus on just that subject. Use that time to do whatever you feel is lacking in that subject area. That could be finding more engaging activities, taking the time to leave meaningful feedback on student work, or even just spending that extra time planning more thoughtfully.

3.) If you feel like you are failing a specific subset of students (shy students, students inclined to misbehave, struggling students, etc.), make a point to spend some time with those students in the next upcoming week. This could be pulling them during instruction to a small group for extra instruction or even just chatting with them at recess or transition times about their day.

Here is an example: At the beginning of the school year, I work very hard to nurture my reluctant readers and get them motivated and interested in reading. But as the year goes on and the stress of the standards hit me, I notice that I spend less and less time encouraging them and getting them excited about new books. When I start to realize that I am failing them, I scrap my guided reading lesson plans for the day and spend that time sharing books, discussing books, and just getting them excited about reading again.

3.) Take a nap. This is often impossible for me to find time to do, but I try to find time every now and then to slow down and take an hour nap when I feel stressed. I wake up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle my to-do list.

4.) Exercise or go for a walk. Sometimes, this is the most difficult for me to do. I think of all the million things I need to be doing instead of exercising. But, in most cases, this is just what I need. I usually compromise and take my sons with me and I get to spend time with them while doing something for myself.

What do you do when you feel like a failure with your job or your personal life? Do you do any of these strategies I shared above? Do you have others? I would love to hear what you do to help overcome feelings of failure.

I am such a fan of your blog. I often share your blog posts with colleagues. You see pedagogy in a very similar way to me and I resonate with your style of teaching. I often wonder how someone is able to balance all the demands of teaching, family, self-care, AND blogging. You are very talented and an inspiration to many.

Thank you so much, Colleen! My blog has become my pride and joy over the last few years and your kind words mean a lot to me! I am fortunate to be in a part-time position this year (and last), and that really helps me balance everything! ?

Thank you for your comment, Beverly! It makes it all worth it when I hear that my ideas and strategies are helping fellow teachers and their students. Together we are definitely better! Wishing you a great rest of the school year!

You are amazing! Thank you so much for your words of encouragement and tips. It is very easy to feel discouraged and feel like I am failing in everything. This post helped me refocus and feel determined again.

So someone has to point out the elephant in the room before all the peanuts are gone and you are left with thirty-year-old shells living in your basement, lacking virtue, and the skills to even make change at the local fast food joint. (exit Ghost of Homeschool Future)

Use the Weekly Planning Sheet from the Plan Your Year free mini-kit to mark off the hours dedicated to school. Use the annual calendar to pre-plan days off. Then, commit to keeping that work schedule like your husband commits to his own.

But honestly, you are cheating your own peace of mind by not having a simple plan in place that defines your minimum school day. On a day that is going horribly wrong, started badly, is filled with appointments and the unexpected what is the minimum you need to do in order to feel good about your homeschool that day? Is it Morning Time and math? Latin and phonics? A good read aloud and a historical documentary?

The minimum school day is going to vary from family to family, but if you have a plan for it and know that is your to-do list for those bad days, it does wonders for your conscience. No longer is your day defined as good by checking a long series of boxes, but instead by accomplishing two or three of your most relevant, most important subjects.

This problem, though, is more widespread than you might imagine. Homeschool moms all over the world struggle with it daily in silence when instead they could be owning up to their problem and seeking support from each other.

And so the books I chose are about dreaming. About searching and working toward something that is more than what we are. About the strength of oneself, and also the strength of community. About dreams who carry us into the world, and those that bring us to new places.

Since reading my very first Minh L book, I have never missed any of his creations. He has an incredible way of drawing us in to think about the connections we have with others and with ourselves. With every read aloud, I see kids think about who they are and what they do in their lives with others. His books are the very best invitations to be more than we are and to see others as more too.

There is never anything easy about picking the books and authors for the Global Read Aloud. How can there be when there are so many incredible books to choose from? So many different experiences waiting to be discovered?

I lose sleep. I try different configurations. I talk about it incessantly with my husband. I reach out to trusted friends to hear opinions. And yet, ultimately, it comes down to a gut feeling of what feels right for the moment we are in, for the way conversations are shaped around the globe. Having moved back to Denmark, the global part stands even more in focus. Are the books even available to me here in Denmark? Will they speak to the world I am inhibiting in the way that they will speak to kids in other places?

And so the books I chose are about hope, once again. about seeing how our own thoughts can be as visceral of an enemy as the outside world. About coming together in unlikely ways. Of not shying away from what we were but still finding space to be something more.

I have never gone a school year without reading a picture book aloud from Jacqueline Woodson. With every new book she writes, new conversations open up, new connections are made, and kids feel so seen. So we travel into her vast array of stories to select only 6.

I lose sleep. I try different configurations. I talk about it incessantly with my husband. I reach out to trusted friends to hear opinions. And yet, ultimately, it comes down to a gut feeling of what feels right for the moment we are in, for the way conversations are shaped around the globe. We are still in a pandemic, we are still navigating the continued heaviness and horror, and yet, in the middle of it all are stories of courage, of survival, of finding out how to navigate everything, and becoming your own hero.

And so I chose books that not only will hopefully allow for broader global conversations but also to personal realizations of strength, of can-do, of overcoming in a way that is unique to our experience.

Christian Robinson is an illustrator, author, animator, and designer based in Oakland, California. He was born in Los Angeles and grew up in a small one-bedroom apartment with his brother, two cousins, aunt, and grandmother. Drawing became a way to make space for himself and to create the kind of world he wanted to see. He studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts and would later work with the Sesame Workshop and Pixar Animation Studios before becoming an illustrator of books for children. The Christian Robinson for Target collection, released in August 2021, includes more than 70 items across home and apparel for kids and baby. His books include the #1 New York Times bestseller Last Stop on Market Street, written by Matt de la Pea, which was awarded a Caldecott Honor, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, and the Newbery Medal, and the #1 New York Times bestseller The Bench, written by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex. His solo projects include Another, which was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2019, and the New York Times bestseller You Matter. His latest collaboration with Matt de la Pea, Milo Imagines The World, received six starred reviews and was a #1 Indie Bestseller and a New York Times bestseller. He looks forward to one day seeing the aurora borealis.

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