Another great school year down. You feel like a rock star because you rocked all of those lessons this year. Your assessments were right on point. You work great with your colleagues. You love the grade you teach. You are an expert in the content and you are just lovin’ teaching. But the end of the year brings about sudden surprises, like room changes, changes in curriculum and resources, and perhaps changes in the grade or the courses that you teach.
I got that phone call (yes, the dreaded phone call) one summer day when I was potty training my 2 and a half year old, like that wasn’t difficult enough for one morning, from the new principal in my building, saying, “Hey, you are moving to another grade.” “Another what?” I thought I misheard. “Another grade,” was the reply I was so hoping not to hear. NOOOOOOO! I admit I was in complete shock. I taught second grade for 11 years and I had more seniority than other teachers on my grade and in my school so ‘why me?’ I thought over and over. With no real rhyme or reason and with no choice in the matter, I was moving up to third grade whether I liked it or not. So after a not so brief tantrum, here’s how I made the best getting moved to a new grade without warning.
Embrace Change
Change is good for all professionals. If you stay in the same position or in the same role for your entire career, you will not nearly grow as much as someone who tried something new, learned something different, challenged yourself, or worked with different people. I didn’t realize this at the time. I certainly don’t want to be the same teacher or person that I am today 30 years from now. I am a lifelong learner and I still have a lot of learning and growing to do. I want to be able to say that this change helped me grow as a professional and as a person and as a result made me even more awesome than I am today. This positivity towards change helped me move forward.
Now I am not going to say that change is easy, it’s not. Change is very difficult for many people on all different levels. Change is also uncomfortable and scary. So I took some steps to help me embrace this change by first making a request.
Loop With Your Previous Students
Looping with your students is truly an amazing teaching experience. I absolutely loved my second grade class and to have the privilege of teaching some of them again was so exciting. They completely supported me and helped me transition to third grade seamlessly, at least in their eyes. They helped me get to a comfortable place in this uncomfortable situation. I loved seeing my students from the previous year continue to grow and learn. We grew an even stronger bond together and those are students I will never forget. The only con with looping was that I couldn’t reuse anything from second grade as far as beginning of the year activities, projects, or icebreakers with students from the previous year. I wanted to make it fresh and new and exciting for them, as it should be. So here’s what I did next.
Reach Out
I reached out to my new colleagues for fresh new activities that I could do at the beginning of the year. I proactively reached out to collaborate with others, asked a lot of questions, picked up new ideas, materials, and resources, and got right into learning the new curriculum. I was trying to work smarter not harder, but in this case, I had no choice to work harder to be prepared for this new challenge. Working like this caused my second bout of teacher burnout which I wrote about here. And we all know that teacher burnout is not pretty but I had to push on through.
Be Resourceful
I couldn’t continue to work as hard as I was without reaching my breaking point so I thought about what I could use from second grade that could be easily adaptable to third grade. What resources do I have? As teachers, we do magic with creating, modifying, and delivering lessons that could be adaptable to the grades below or the grade levels above. Being an experienced teacher, I began to work smarter and tried not to reinvent the wheel. There were so many resources out there to support me in my new venture and I had to tap into them, plus utilize the ones I already had.
Moving Forward
So even though change is difficult, change opens doors to so many new possibilities and opportunities. So if you ever get the boot to another grade or teaching assignment, chin up and persevere through. At some point in our careers, there will be a change for the better. It’s how we deal with and make the best of this change that helps us grow as professionals. “Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it,” as quoted by Charles R. Swindoll.
If change is going on in your school or workplace, encourage your administration to practice their “soft” skills” by:
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Communicating when and what kind of change will happen
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Ask for requests first of teachers interested in a grade or assignment change
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Invite the teacher in for a discussion about the change (never have this discussion over the phone)
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Explain why the teacher is considered for the change and why they would be a perfect fit for it
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Don’t tell, but ask the teacher if they would consider a change and ask how she/he would feel about the change
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Support the teacher in their changing role
Change is so much easier when one is supported and treated like a professional. Have you ever been moved to another grade, teaching assignment or position without warning? How did you make the best of it? Would love to hear about your experience.
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Christine Weis is a passionate educator, classroom management coach, wife, and mom of two busy boys. She enjoys teaching, writing, and creating resources for teachers.
I love your positive attitude and how you make the best of the situation! I am no stranger to change, being a military wife I have moved several times. Each move is followed by a new state of standards, new grade level, new administration, new colleagues, etc. I try to look at it like this, I’m gaining so much experience that some will never be able to experience. I use those experiences to better myself as an educator! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Wow…you are amazing in the way you move around and experience change in so many ways. You are a strong woman and I admire that. I agree that the change you experience is growing you as a person and as a professional in so many ways. Other educators are very fortunate to work with you. Best of luck in your next change. Thanks for reading and leaving a comment!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I love the positive views you have on change. Change is inevitable and sometimes for the better.
Thanks Emily! I agree! Sometimes it just takes a while to realize that the change was for the better.
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I will have to show this to my eldest nephew, I think he will like to read this.
That’s great…thanks for sharing! Thanks for reading Luci!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
Totally agree – you have to stay positive in the face of change. All the best with your new kids next year!
Thanks so much Amy! I’m always working on staying positive!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
This is so great! I’m not a teacher, but I’m a speech therapist in a school and can relate a bit. 🙂 Love how positive you are about this change!
Thanks Lara! Working in a school you can definitely relate to change. Schools are changing so fast these days. Thanks for your comment!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
A very interesting post. I am glad your outlook for this situation was so positive! 😀
Thanks Nina! I’m trying to find the positive in everything. Appreciate your comment!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I am a music teacher and I can relate to this post! I was teaching K-2 for a while and then got split between two schools and now I teach prek-5. It definitely was a transition and I almost forgot how different it is teaching fourth and fifth-grade students. It surely was a learning experience and hopefully next year things will go a little bit smoother!
Ah yes…the learning curve during change is quite challenging. I think next year will go a lot smoother for you. The transition part is the toughest. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
Great positive post. Loved reading it!!
Thanks so much for reading and for commenting!!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
You are so on point! Change is often a hard pill to swallow especially when you are not given a choice in the matter. I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason. The reasons you listed above regarding accepting the challenge and becoming strong because of it.
I once changed grade levels and was able to loop with many of my students. It was wonderful because at the beginning of the school year, we picked up where we left off. We accomplished so much that year!!!
Thanks Lori! I also believe that things happen for a reason whether you know it at the moment or not. Things tend to work out as life experiences have taught me. There are positives that do come out of some of the unexpected negatives. Thanks as always for reading and leaving a thoughtful comment.
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I agree change is good. My pastor would always say “the only constant in life is change.”
Absolutely…I like that. Being comfortable with uncomfortable life changes is what it is all about. Thanks for your comment!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
This is a very interesting read. I like your positive attitude towards embracing the change. Best of luck for the upcoming school year!
Thanks Mrs. T! A positive attitude towards change is not always easy but it is helpful!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
It’s so interesting to hear a teacher’s perspective on this. Since it is your job, I can imagine at the beginning of the year you feel like you’ve “restarted” to square one. Life truly is how you react to things, so staying optimistic through changes is how I like to roll (often easier said than done)! 🙂
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Thanks Sarah! Appreciate your comment! It’s never easy to just roll with it but sometimes you have no choice. Being positive definitely helps!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
What an insightful article! I am not a teacher but I am a parent and I think it’s great for us to be able to appreciate what it’s like from the other perspective. Thank you for posting.
Thank you Linda! Thanks for reading this and for leaving a thoughtful comment! It’s always interesting to learn from another perspective.
Christine at For The Love of Teachers