21 Things I loved About Teaching in 2021

One of my most widely-read posts (thanks for sharing!) was 20 Things 2020 Taught Me About Teaching and Learning Online - a year-end piece where I shared and reflected on what I had learned through the halfway point of the hardest year of teaching I had experienced in my career.

Last year was a hard year to be a teacher.  Really hard.  It was a good kind of hard, however.  We knew the challenge was coming, we knew what it would take to rise to that challenge, and we knew what we had to learn.  In the end, I’m more proud of my 20-21 school year than probably any other in my career. In some ways, it changed everything for me, but challenging as it may have been, 2020 was a great year for great teachers.

Yes, last year was hard.

This year, as you may have heard, has been something else entirely.

I haven't written or posted or shared nearly as much as usual this year because, frankly, the negatives have been so front-and-center.  You've surely read about them if you haven't experienced them yourself.  Those things don't put me in a creative or sharing frame of mind, and so I've stayed pretty quiet this year.

Reflecting here at year-end, however, I want to take stock of all the good that happened, too.  Looking back, I've learned a lot and had plenty of moments that have made me smile.  To wrap up 2021 at a time when some positivity is needed, I'd like to share 21 of those.

1. Learning Loss Can Be Overcome

One of the two big challenges we did know was coming this year was learning loss.  Kids who fall behind rarely catch up, and we knew more kids than ever before would be starting this year behind.  I’ve read the research, and I was beyond scared about this going into the year.  However, I had some ideas about what to do about it, my teammate and I made some commitments to making those changes, we’ve adhered to the core advice of accelerated learning, and you know what - our kids are in pretty good shape academically as a result.  I taught most of the same kids last year, and even those who completely fell apart as online students are currently far ahead of where I thought we’d be able to get them.  It hasn’t been easy and we haven’t been able to do what we’ve always done in the past, but it has mostly worked.  With the right plan and the right priorities, learning loss can be overcome.

2. "Are You Crazy?  I love it here!"

Getting some kids reacclimated to following rules this year has been a minor nightmare.  Several kids on my team who are less-than-appreciative of my enforcement of rules will tell anyone and everyone who will listen what a tyrant I am and how much they hate being in my class and wish they could be in another one.  One of my new-this-year students was on the receiving end of one of these tirades a few months back, and I heard her respond, "are you crazy!?  I LOVE it here!  The teachers actually CARE how you're doing.  They help you when ask.  They're easy to understand.  I think this class is GREAT!"

3. Science vocabulary

This is my first year teaching life science, and the first semester's curriculum includes some body parts and processes that students, shall we say, probably haven't heard from teachers before.  Watching the horror of having to hear me use these words has been a perk that, frankly, should have been advertised in the job listing.

"The vocabulary you're teaching us is so embarrassing that we have to look away
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4. Creative Squad

You've probably heard me say over and over again for the last year and a half how creative my current squad of kids is.  For somebody who is left-brained and teaches left-brained subjects, I have the most fun when I have right-brained, creative kids, and I've never had one anywhere close to this one.  I can't take any credit - I'm really just along for the ride - but it sure is fun when I can make the space for them to go right-brain wild.

5. Creepy Foam Head

On one of my trips to Walmart to get this wonderfully creative squad supplies they wanted for developing science models, I stumbled on a life-sized, Styrofoam head in the craft section.  I wasn't sure what it was for, but I knew immediately that we needed one.  It currently sits triumphantly in the middle of the room, staring at anyone who enters the room.  In October, one of the students even brought it a Halloween mask.

6. The Smart Classroom Management Blog

I mentioned above that getting some of the kids reacclimated to following rules has been quite a project.  At some point this semester, I stumbled upon the Smart Classroom Management Blog, and the advice I've found there has been incredibly helpful, effective, and comforting.

​7. No-agenda phone calls

Last year, I got in the habit of calling two of my digital students on my drive home (hands free, of course!) each day just to check in and see how they were doing.  That practice was so rewarding, that I've continued it this year, except I call parents instead.  I make two no-agenda phone calls a day just to hear from them how their student's school year is going.  From time to time, it ends up just being a 60-second "everything's fine, thanks" call and that's it.  But more often than not, the parent will open up to me about something I wouldn't have heard if I hadn't asked, like how much they feel like he or she is thriving, something that's distracting him or her, a struggle he or she is going through, or just a situation we can laugh about together about their difficult age.  It's made me feel a lot closer to the families than I ever have before, and it makes the 20 minute drive home that would otherwise be wasted a great time of my day.
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8. Realizing the digital kids were going to be ok

Last year, I probably worked the hardest I ever have trying to make sure the kids who were home learning digitally.  Despite all that effort, I still wasn't sure it was going to work out.  I was awfully nervous to see how those students would fare this year.  It has been quite a relief to see them doing just fine from the very beginning, and it makes all that effort last year seem worth it.
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9. Uno

What a beautiful thing the card game Uno has become in my class.  One of the students just brought the game in for the class game collection (she doesn't even play!) back in August, and it has become one of the most welcoming, affirming, and positive things I've seen in a long time.  The group that plays during downtime will welcome absolutely anyone to join them and have a good time.  New students, shy students, students who are in-between friend groups - they'll accept anyone.  They laugh, they cheat like crazy, and anybody who needs a place to go has a blast for as long as they care to stay.

​10. Learning from the science textbook

During the first week of school a cart full of science textbooks was wheeled into my room.  We never used any textbooks last year, and the horror on the kids' faces when those books were delivered was priceless.  The first day that I started class with "we're going to be learning from the textbook today" really injected some palpable disappointment.  We ended up doing an activity of lifting the book as many times and as quickly as possible for several 1-minute rounds to link the effects of a fatigued muscular system to our heart rates (circulatory system) and breathing rate (respiratory system).  They aren't so afraid of the textbooks anymore.

​11. Working on the fine arts hallway

Learning from the textbook wasn't as bad as they thought it would be.

My room for the last two years is located on the fine arts hallway in my school, and boy have I ever been lucky to reside there.  The four fine arts teachers at my school will do anything for our kids.  They come to the kids' parent teacher conferences, they make appearances at our special events, and they'll even go out of their way to spend extra time with our artsy kids (remember how creative they are?).  They are top notch. 

12. The progression-regression experiment

In September, I tried something totally new - an entirely self-paced math unit based on the idea of progression and regression common in fitness training and yoga practices.  As with any new idea, the first time had its share of flaws, but the potential was awesome.  I learned a lot and I can see this becoming a mainstay of my math teaching future.

13. Our boys get along in a really special way

The boys on our team really get along with each other in a great way that's hard to describe.  They work and play well together and seem willing to accept any and everyone into either in a way that's rare in my experience.

14. Positive discipline referrals

About a month ago, our administrators gave us the option of writing "positive discipline referrals."  They'll come get the kid, bring them into their office, dial up mom or dad just like they would if the kid were in big trouble before revealing that the whole thing is good news.  The kids and parents are both incredibly proud after the scare, and I hear there are tears of joy quite a bit of the time.  Its a really, really great practice.

15. I̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶e̶a̶s̶y̶

I've stopped allowing the kids to say "it was easy" if they think they did well on a test or assignment.  "It was easy" attributes success to the ease of the assignment rather than the competence of the person who completed it.  I've mostly got them retrained to say "I feel good about it," "I knew how to do it," "I'm confident that I did well," or something similar that makes them the reason for success. 

No, it wasn't easy.  You did well on it, anyways.  Own it, and be proud of it!

16. What should you be forgetting today?

I've instituted formal retrieval practice as part of every single class this year.  It does seem to help their memory, but it has also been a nice addition to the culture of our class, too.  By framing it this way, we've made forgetting a normal, expected part of the learning process rather than something to be ashamed of.  It also leads to a lot of joking around, and it has inspired other conversations about memory, learning, and how brains work as well.

17. Leaning in

Teaching science by leaning into the science and engineering practices instead of just the content continues to be one of the most rewarding breakthroughs I've ever made as a teacher.

18. Less technology
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I made the difficult decision to really reduce the amount of technology I use in the classroom this year.  It's just too hard for too many of them to use a digital device without turning it into a tool of distraction (or worse).  I'm not exactly putting my PhD in Instructional Technology to great use this year - or the literal computer lab in my classroom​ - but I think it has made my class a more engaging place given the situation we face today.

19. The one I can make laugh now

I've got a student who is really meek, really quiet, and really serious.  I think she's spent the better part of the last year an half being a little bit scared of me.  I've broken through and figured out how to make her laugh in the past few weeks, and it totally and completely makes my day every time.

20. Practice testing

My school uses a different approach to end-of-unit testing.  Instead of giving tests and then scrambling to make re-testing happen for those who need it, we build two attempts at every test into the calendar.  My own twist on this is calling the first try a "practice test."  It shows the kids what the test will look like and gives us something to review and debrief in a targeted way the next day before taking the "real" test.  But calling it a "practice test" takes some of the pressure off of having to do well on the first try.  I won't even put a grade on the practice test unless it is over 85 - you literally can't do poorly on it.  Do well on the practice test, and you don't have to take the real one!  Didn't do well?  We're going to review the next day anyways, an then you'll be ready.  It's a great process and I'm glad to have learned it.

21. The ones who are better off

When you're a teacher, you have a few students every year who you know are better off because they ended up with you.  A lot of the ones who thrive in your class would have done so anywhere else with any other teacher, too.  But there are a few who you know are experiencing success because you were just the right fit for them. Never, ever, ever have those particular students been more rewarding.  Seeing, hearing, and celebrating that you're giving someone a transformative, best-school-year-they've-ever-had experience that will change their life is always special.  But this year - in the middle of all this - they mean even more in 2021.     

I hope this list of positive moments and things I'm grateful for helps you find and recognize some of your own amidst the challenges of this year.  As always, I also hope it gives you an idea or two to try out.  If it does either for you, please share with others you think could use a lift or would enjoy reading.  Thank you all for your time reading and sharing my ideas in 2021, and wish you all wonderful things moving into 2022!

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• ​Building A Thinking Classroom
• Leaning Into The Science and Engineering Practices
• Classroom Practices
• Classroom Stories
• Ideas and Opinions
• Pandemic-Related Issues​​