Snow Day Lesson Plan- My Thoughts

After reading The Snow Day Lesson Plan: Classroom Audit, I thought it was a nice little thought that many teachers should read and honestly think about. I especially liked the parts about “Do my grades matter?” as well as, “Am I connecting enough?” Personally, I find myself doing work to satisfy my teachers and I feel like that’s all they care about. Is that I get it done so they can slap it the grade book. It especially hurts when I know I worked hard on something and all I get is a grade with no feedback, or the teacher just doesn’t see the work put into it as much as I do. It just feels like all my work was for nothing, or so the teacher can mark off that they are doing everything required in the curriculum.

This leads me to teacher connections. I feel like teachers give less feedback now to students and parents. Mentoring in a 1st grade classroom reminded me how much encouragement and feedback students would get and even in 6th grade we got more feedback than we do now. I know high schoolers are not little kids anymore more, but we’re still young and unsure of ourselves. We value the reassurance that we are doing well, that our efforts are being recognized, and that if we’re not doing so good then someone cares. Moreover, with parents if they don’t attend the parent-teacher conferences they don’t get to know how their child is doing. I know my parents don’t have time for conferences so the last time they heard any feedback from my teachers has been a long time until a couple of weeks ago.

When Mrs. Gongwer decided to email my mother that I was doing well in her class and she described how she sees me as a student it really made my mom proud of me (and tear up because she is a sap). I also showed my dad and he loved the feedback as well. It really encouraged them to look at my website and read my work! I tell my parents all the time that I’m doing well in school and I show them with my grades because that’s teacher feedback now these days (a letter), but to actually get validation from my teacher and to be able to see me through my teachers eyes just confirmed everything my parents already knew. It made me feel great as a student to know that my teacher cares enough to write this to my parents and send it to me as well, so I could see how she felt. It made me feel like I was doing everything right. I also love all the feedback Mrs. Gongwer gives in class and on my blog because I can see that she does read every single word and it is not just another grade. :) (Other teachers should take notes.)

With that, as a student I love snow days! It is a nice day to relax and be stress free! But, I know the day after teachers are always stressed and we get that new dreaded monthly calendar that shows us how crammed and stressed with work we are all now going to be to catch up! As a future teacher, I will probably spend my snow day making that dreaded monthly calendar and getting caught up on grading. I want to take the advice I read about and reflect on my classroom and decide if it is going as good as it should be. Sending out positive feedback emails is also a great idea but can be done on non snow days too, because I will need to relax from school too! I probably wouldn’t challenge my students to do anything because I don’t want to be that teacher. You know the one that makes the kids do something on a snow day? You might as well sign your death wish! I also know that students would not do it, so why try? But if I had to challenge them, I would challenge them to read a book because reading is a great snow day activity and brain activity!