The silly season 

I grew up in the Southern Hemisphere. The end of the school year also coincided with Christmas. Despite having moved to a northern hemisphere academic year, I still find this time of year challenging.

I’m tired.

The kids are tired.

Never a good recipe. 

Tempers fray. 

Small disagreements between kids become larger ones.

The easy way out would be to go into countdown mode, knowing it is only X more days until the holidays.

Yet I have power in my class.

Spend time building culture, look again at the classroom essential agreement.

Do far less. At Christmas there are disruptions. Rather than get frustrated, I’m going to do less but do it well.

Keep the learners engaged in learning.

At the end of the year it can be easy to focus on behaviour. However, the best piece of advice I was given as a first year teacher is that if you focus on behaviour, you get more behaviour. If you focus on learning, you get more learning.