Writing an inspiring blog post is sometimes like trying to capture lightning in a bottle. In other words, it’s a piece of cake. Obviously. Spending a productive day in the classroom is the same thing. It’s easy to stay inspired and find creative solutions to classroom challenges whenever they arise. People think teaching is hard, but really, it’s like a walk in the park on a sunny day in June with low humidity and the ideal companion.
Now for a little honesty. Teaching is tremendously hard work. Maintaining a wellspring of inspiration to fall back on is tricky business. Some days it would be easier to just stay in bed. Teaching your way through a typical school year, as I said when I started this blog for The Mailbox, is not a sprint, but a marathon (often grueling, often uphill, often painful, and probably in a cold drizzle). We teachers finish the marathon with our students at the end of every year and watch as they go off to bigger and (we hope) better things. Then it’s time to turn around and get ready to do it all over again. What? Are we crazy?
The best marathoners surround themselves with inspiring coaches, inspiring words, and inspiring fellow athletes. The Mailbox prides itself on being just that for teachers across the country and around the world. That’s why we come up with things like the fantastic Activity Cards for Early Finishers books, featuring 70 activity cards that require no additional supplies. These activity cards guide your students through lessons that help build skills independently. The books cover language arts, writing, and math, and will definitely make your life easier in the classroom.
For my money, I’d have to say that Math Practice Pages and Prompt, Plan, Write! are two other upper elementary resource books from The Mailbox that I’d be sure to keep handy in the classroom.
Marathoners are always going on about their running shoes and other pieces of gear that make their runs better. What are the tools you don’t want to be without when you leave the starting line and begin your marathon this school year?