Spring Renewal

At times the season can feel overwhelming. As leaders, we are inundated with budget meetings, annual reviews, teacher observations and staffing recommendations, spring fever behavior referrals and intervention progress checks. All the while we’re trying to coordinate Kindergarten and PreK registrations, moving up ceremonies and culminating experience trips. As teachers, we start to feel the pull of only having so much time left with this group of kids. We haven’t covered all this content yet … there’s no way these kids are ready for the next grade … this routine is definitely not working anymore but it’s too late to change it. Then there are the assemblies and field trips and other events that make these last few months fly by. This often shows up in our data as well. We see growth in our assessments from Fall to Winter but then Winter to Spring we see less growth or sometimes a regression.

In education, it can be easy to approach spring as an ending rather than a refresh. With summer vacation just a few short months away, it feels as though we are sliding right to the end of the year. Let’s embrace this renewal of spring and refocus on our goals for the remainder of this school year. Let’s come back from Spring Break and regroup as a classroom, building, or district around the commitments we made for this school year. What did we hope to accomplish? What progress have we made and why? Now is not the time to abandon all structure and goal work and coast into the end of the school year. Now is also not the time to set big lofty goals for a few months.

Be Intentional

We need to be intentional about refocusing on a few key things that are going to help us keep moving forward. Spring can be a time for a renewed, intentional focus on our growth. It is easy to see all the things we want to change or do differently. In this spring season, choosing one or two things to focus or refocus on can help combat overwhelm while still moving the needle. Feeling like there’s just so much content to cover still? Focus in on ELA and Math priority standards and content. Then, make sure you make time for ELA and Math instruction DAILY despite other interruptions. Worried that the new curriculum will lose momentum in the spring season? Focus walkthroughs during that instructional time and build in collaboration time for vertical planning to keep the curriculum moving.

Remember – you can’t do all of it. Focus in on the one or two priorities that will give you the biggest payoff toward your goals.

Look at your calendar

What is getting time on your calendar? As a leader and as teacher, there are always priorities competing for attention on our calendars. As your calendar fills up with meetings, it can be a challenge to find time for those priorities. When we take time to refocus on our priorities this season we look for opportunities to build this into our calendar.

If you committed to checking in on instruction during the ELA block, make a list for yourself of when each class has ELA block during the day. When you’re mapping our your week – something I liked to do on Friday afternoons for the upcoming week – look for open pockets of time that align to the ELA blocks and then schedule in those walkthroughs. Keep it simple and doable – I can commit to walkthroughs during grade 1 Foundational skills block and will leave positive notes in their mailboxes afterwards.

If you committed to more consistent morning meetings and closing circles this year, prioritize those classroom meetings on your weekly schedule. There’s an assembly first thing Tuesday morning and a field trip on Wednesday. We’ll have time for our morning meeting before we leave for the field trip if we cut out the activity and just to the greeting and share but we’ll have to push it to after the assembly on Tuesday. If you prioritized ELA and/or Math content objectives, make sure there’s time for ELA and/or Math instruction on the days when other events take time away from the school day.

Progress over Perfection

As you refocus on your goals for the remainder of the school year, remember that progress is the key measure – not perfection. There are so many things that compete for our attention. Stay the course and keep making steps in the direction of your goals.

Be clear about your focus for the next few months. Make it a priority by scheduling it – I mean actually put in on your calendar or schedule. Keep moving forward. It will be summer vacation before we know – how will you finish ?

I’d love to hear what one small thing you’re focusing on for the next few months. Leave a comment and let me know!