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In Your Corner, Teacher Learning, Thinking Frames
Fighting the October Funk
October can be a challenging month emotionally and motivationally. Some call it “slump month.” Summer seems like long ago. The end of the first grading period quickly advances. Parent-teacher conferences approach. The seasons are changing. Turning leaves, while beautiful, signal the coming of winter. Meanwhile, sunlight hours dwindle, the end of daylight savings time is eminent, and Thanksgiving break is weeks away.
The combination of these factors and others can leave you feeling tired, lethargic, and out of balance, causing our energy and enthusiasm to ebb. New initiatives and skills you committed to learn and practice can remain challenging. You may be experiencing what’s called the Implementation Dip—a time after learning something new but before feeling competent and comfortable with your new skills and practices.
The good news is that you don’t have to give in to the October funk. You can take control, shift your perspective, and take advantage of the opportunity to re-energize. Here are ten actions to counter the forces of October and take charge of your mood.
Celebrate the success of getting started. Most anxiety from the opening weeks of school typically is behind you. The routines you planned are in place, and you’re familiar with your students. Their year-long learning journey is underway. Now is a suitable time to reflect and celebrate the progress made in the opening weeks of the year.
Pause to assess what is going well, what needs adjusting, and what needs eliminating. It may be time to withdraw helpful scaffolding you provided to students to frame and focus their learning. Perchance it’s time to seek feedback from your students about how the year is going, solicit their ideas, and add diverse practices and procedures in response.
Consider scheduling exams and major assignment submissions for early in the week. Having a few days to finish grading tasks before the weekend frees up time to relax and push school responsibilities into the background.
Keep negative feedback and criticism in perspective. Negative comments and critical advice don’t define you. They represent information you can evaluate, and you can assess the worthiness and usability of what you hear. If it doesn’t fit, let it go and forget it.
Decide a time to finish your day and leave. Time constraints often help you prioritize and manage your time. They also force you to decide what must be done now and what can wait until tomorrow. Having accomplished the crucial tasks, you can better enjoy the evening.
Find time for yourself. The frenzy of starting a new year can leave you so focused on caring for others that you neglect your own needs. Perhaps reestablish sleep patterns and adjust your diet. Additionally, carve out undesignated, personal time to do nothing or do something fun.
Capture the change from daylight savings time. Perhaps start an exercise routine. Set aside time for reading or another activity in which you’ve wanted to engage but have not had the time. Use this as an opportunity to move an end-of-the-day activity to the morning when you have more energy and fewer competing activities.
Schedule time with colleagues and friends. Meeting for dinner, planning a hike, visiting the zoo, or going to the theatre provide good options. However, the time might be most refreshing if you make a “no school talk” agreement during your downtime.
Commit to making someone’s day. Share your appreciation for someone in your life. A face-to-face conversation is best. The next best thing—a written a note of gratitude. You might offer to help a colleague with a project. This also is a suitable time to encourage a student, by pointing out their strengths and noting what they do well.
Remind yourself that what you’re feeling is natural. It is common for educators to experience an “October Funk.” You can also remind yourself that this phase is temporary. You’ll soon find yourself feeling re-energized as the year unfolds, seeing progress, and looking forward to what lies ahead. With some patience, self-care, and perspective adjustment you’ll find your motivation and momentum returning and moving you forward.
In Your Corner, Student Learning, Thinking Frames
Five Things to Notice in Your Classroom That Will Make Your Week
During the morning math lesson, Jonnie notices an elaborate spider web in an upper corner of the room and asks how spiders can possibly create something so beautiful and deadly. Later in the morning, Rogan proclaims that it’s magic how the sun creates a spectrum of color in the rainbow outside the window. Then, during the math lesson, Shondell suggests that the base-10 number system was invented because combined, we have ten fingers.
Each of these comments might be considered off task and not part of the day’s academic agenda. Yet, they open possibilities for rich discussion and learning. We can ignore them, or we can seize the moment and explore with students the meanings and implications they introduce.
Unfortunately, the pace and focus of activities playing out each day in our classroom make it easy to miss some of the most delightful, amazing, and important—but not on the agenda—happenings playing out before us. We tend to see what we look for and pay attention to. If we become too focused on what we planned and want to accomplish, we can miss or even become impatient with the unexpected, unscripted, and serendipitous around us. Yet, these spontaneous incidents can offer humor, pleasure, and stress release, if we pay attention and appreciate them. They also can add to student learning and make our work more satisfying and rewarding.
Just because we didn’t notice something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Our attention and actions interpret for students what matters and what they should pay attention to. Of course, a lot happens simultaneously in classrooms. We can’t catch every comment and observation, then leverage them for learning. We also can’t always set aside the intended lesson and learning to take advantage of the unplanned. Still, recognizing teachable moments, meaningful inquiries, and surprising insights can transform the learning experiences of our students and make our teaching more significant and pleasurable.
If we want to ensure capturing these serendipitous opportunities for learning, laughter, and lifting spirits that can lie hidden in our classrooms, there are at least five places we can look:
- Watch for the off-hand comment that reveals a quiet sense of humor. Listen for the ironic observation; connections made between two seemingly unrelated statements, actions, or happenings; or a surprising twist on situations or relationships.
- Listen for the surprising answer that reveals a creative perspective worth exploring, or a comment that suggests a novel application of information. Listen for questions, such as “Is this like…?” or “Might this be…?”
- Pay attention to unanticipated questions that suggest a curious mind. We might find cues in questions, such as “Why?” “What if?” “Why not?” or “How might…?”
- Notice questions that reveal a rich imagination. We may hear statements and questions beginning with “I wonder…” and “Could it be possible that…”
- Be ready for comments regarding a detail or related issues that point to a gift for observation. Some students see what others miss or ignore. These students may not say much, but they see much.
Behavior, In Your Corner, Student Learning
In Your Corner, Student Learning, Thinking Frames
Communication, In Your Corner, Supporting Families
Communication, In Your Corner, Thinking Frames
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Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.
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