Category: Quick Thoughts

Quick Thoughts

Things I Wonder

14 years in.

I wonder if I can do this the next 20 years.

Middle. School. Social. Studies. Teacher.

My goodness.

I often wonder if I’m doing things in the best way…

  • Am I challenging students enough?
  • Am I meeting everyone’s needs?
  • Do my policies fall in line with school-wide policies?
  • Is it a bad practice that I accept work anytime without a late penalty?
  • Is it bad practice that I let a certain student sleep in class because they need to?
  • Is it bad practice that I don’t keep track of tardies and simply say, “Glad you’re here?”
  • Is it wrong that I hand out candy just because I want to? Should I only save it for a reward?
  • Is it bad practice that I refuse to use a textbook and hodgepodge my own stuff together?
  • Should I fall in line and lecture more? Use more worksheets? Use a more structured way of teaching?
  • I wonder if I’m too far outside the norm, or if the norm just isn’t what’s best for kids.
  • I wonder if I should care more about test scores or if the real success lies in the moments when a kid says, “That actually makes sense now.”
  • I wonder if the things I let slide—like a kid putting their head down because they didn’t sleep the night before—are the things they’ll remember most about my class.
  • I wonder if my flexibility in deadlines is preparing them for the real world or if I’m just making their lives a little easier because I know life is already hard enough.
  • I wonder if some of the things I do that aren’t “best practice” are actually the best practices for the kids in my room.I wonder if the lesson I spent hours planning will even land the way I hope it will—or if the thing they’ll remember is the random conversation about history that had nothing to do with my slides.
  • I wonder if I should stop worrying so much about whether what I do fits into a neat little box and just keep focusing on what works.

Because at the end of the day, I wonder if the real question isn’t “Am I doing this the right way?” but instead “Am I doing right by my students?”

And as long as the answer is yes, I think I’ll keep going.

Quick Thoughts

When Learning Feels Like a Heavy Lift

Sometimes, I get so caught up in trying to create the best learning experience possible that I hit a wall. My brain just shuts down, or I avoid the process altogether because the thought of planning one more lesson feels like too much.

But today, I had a thought.

I often turn on CBS Sunday Morning or scroll through random YouTube videos, not because I have to, but because I genuinely enjoy learning. Some topics pull me in, while others? Not so much. And that’s okay.

It reminded me that learning experiences don’t always have to be grand. Not every lesson needs to be a game-changer. Not every student will be interested in every topic. And that’s normal.

What matters is that we create opportunities for curiosity—moments where students can choose to engage, explore, and connect with ideas. Some days, it might be an elaborate activity. Other days, it might just be introducing a thought, a question, or a story and letting it sit.

Big or small, learning still happens.