Spring Fever

Episode Transcript

KANIKA CHADDA GUPTA [00:00:00]:
Last time on Year One, Jenna experienced state testing for the first time.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:00:05]:
No big breakdowns, no refusals. So overall, I'm really proud of my kids and, like, seeing the whole process come through fruition to the very end of it. I can now say that, like, oh, I've done it.

KANIKA CHADDA GUPTA [00:00:17]:
On this episode, Jenna discovers why the months leading up to the end of the school year are considered especially challenging for teachers. This is Year One from Carnegie Learning, a podcast that chronicles all the ups and downs of one teacher's first year in the classroom. I'm your host, Kanika Chadda Gupta. It is now the last few months of the school year, an infamously interesting time for students and teachers. As state testing is over, the summer break is close. There is still school left to be done.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:00:50]:
Every day. It's just like, we were counting down the days. I've seen all over, like, Instagram and TikTok, and I just heard from other teachers that being a teacher in May, in a battlefield with the kids, like, they just pretend that they have never learned anything and don't know anything they're supposed to do. And it's true. I think they sense that it's so close. Like, it's nice outside. They're, like, starting to get sweaty at recess again. They're ready to go and, like, enjoy the summer months.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:01:17]:
And I don't know, it's like this internal timer has just, like, gone off in their brain, and they know that it's time to go, and it's almost the end of the year. They're just so chatty. Like, I can't. I literally cannot get them to be quiet. Like, if I say we're at a zero, like, if it's silent reading time or whatever, there will at least be, like, four or five kids whispering to the people around them. No matter how many times I'm like, all right, you owe me a minute of recess for doing that. Or, like, oh, well, I'm going to move you. We're going to make a better choice.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:01:43]:
Like, they just. It's not sticking with a few of them. I've been Mrs. Grumpy Teacher the past few days. I'm constantly redirecting and constantly correcting kids. Like, I can't have fun with them as much as I can sometimes. Or, like, it's very rare these days that I'm not, like, trying to redirect a student or frustrated because a student's not listening or being disrespectful. What's nice is that my whole team feels this way.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:02:07]:
It's not just a me thing. Like every day we like come together in prep and we're like, I can't do it anymore. Like, these kids are out of control. So at least I know it's not just a me thing. It's not just a first year teacher thing.

KANIKA CHADDA GUPTA [00:02:19]:
Even though Jenna is frustrated by her students behavior, she has a few tricks up her sleeve to keep them on track.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:02:27]:
I mean, the best thing I know how to do is stop and start over. Like, whatever they're not doing well, stop, start over until they do it right. Because that's the only way that they're going to learn that they have to follow the expectation and I have to follow through with consequences. Like my class sometimes these past few days has been like not actually falling apart, but there have been moments that I've had to stop and be like, we have been doing this for how many months and now you're deciding to try to get away with things like what is happening. Like today I had them all line up for lunch like we do every single day. And when they line up, the expectation is like, they push in their chair and then they go line up in their line order. So it's like a special order. And I was like, all right, everyone line up quickly.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:03:08]:
Close your iPads, push in your chairs, line up. And they were so loud and rambunctious. And by the time I got to the door, none of them were in a straight line. They were all just standing chatting with their friends. And I was like, okay, we're going to try this again because this is not how we wind up. So I sent them back to their seats and I was like, hey, I'm going to call one section at a time. So like I have a back row, a middle row, and a front row. So I was like, hey, back section lineup, middle section, like one at a time.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:03:31]:
And they still were talking and I was like, okay, we're gonna have to do this a third time. So I sent them all back to their seats again. And then we were literally like four minutes late to lunch. And I was like, well, this is your fault. So just those things, like it's the small routine based things that they just think like it's the end of the year, they can do whatever they want. But that's literally just not the case. It feels like the beginning of the year again. But keeping to that routine and reinforcing those expectations genuinely makes a difference.

KANIKA CHADDA GUPTA [00:04:01]:
Part of that routine for the past two months has been about preparing our students for state testing. Now that it's over. She has to get creative. To fill their final weeks of school.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:04:11]:
With meaningful activities, we introduced a cursive packet. Even though cursive isn't part of our curriculum anymore, we're like, well, we have time, so we might as well. So like we're having our kids work through a cursive packet just so they can at least have written and like be familiar with like cursive writing. It's like you need that in the real world. Like you have to sign your name. If someone writes in cursive, you're going to have to read it. So just things like that. I hate to say it, but it is unfortunately either a lot of review or a lot of busy work.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:04:40]:
But still it's beneficial. It's not just busy work to be busy work. It's kind of a mix and match of things. Like since we taught almost all of our material before testing, like for math specifically, we're literally just going back and reviewing different things that we know they needed more practice on. So like last week was a whole week review over like fractions. And then this week it was a whole week review over like multi step word problems where they have to solve more than one problem to find the actual answer to the question. And then like for reading, we started a new book that technically isn't part of our curriculum, which is fun because like, we actually get to do something that like, you know, like we get the choice instead of just following the books that are in the curriculum. So we're reading a book called Night of the Twisters.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:05:23]:
It was a real life event in Nebraska where like seven tornadoes touched down in one night. So our kids are super into that because they just think that any like, historic, dramatic event is like the coolest thing ever, which is a little problematic, but like, I get it. You know what I mean? Like, it's cool, it's interesting, it's intense. So we're doing kind of like a book study on that for reading. We're not babysitting. We're still learning, but there's not really a method to the madness.

KANIKA CHADDA GUPTA [00:05:50]:
But students aren't the only ones in need of a little extra boost at the end of the school year. Thankfully, the challenges of teaching in the spring also bring Teacher Appreciation Week, a time when staff and students come together to celebrate and recognize the hard work of educators.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:06:08]:
There was like at least one thing a day that we got which was very exciting, felt very appreciated. Our administration and our PTO for our school definitely spoiled us a little bit. On Monday, they Like, decorated our whole teacher lounge area where we have lunch and stuff. They decorated it, and we had donuts, and then they also put out a water station. I saw this all over TikTok this year. So I guess it was, like, a thing that a lot of schools did. They bought a bunch of, like, syrups, flavored ones, and, like, other water packets that you can buy, like, that are different flavors. So we got, like, a cup with our school's name on it.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:06:46]:
They had different recipes up for, like, different combinations of flavors you can make. It was interesting. One of the biggest things was just out of the blue, all of us gotten an email from our pto and all of us got an Amazon gift card. And I was like, that's the best thing that I could have got. Like, we literally all just got an Amazon gift card. So that was very nice and very generous. I was not expecting that at all. I haven't done anything with it yet.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:07:09]:
I know some of my coworkers literally, like, used it that day. They were like, I'm buying a pair of shoes, and they had the shoes by that Thursday. I haven't done anything with it yet because I don't know. I'm too indecisive. They had pizza for us one day. One of the cutest things was they had a build your own bouquet station. So during lunch one day, our teacher's lounge, they had two parents in there, and there was a whole spread of flowers, and we got to build our own bouquet. And then they would, like, wrap it up super nice with, like, that fancy paper and a bow.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:07:41]:
So that was really fun and special. It definitely was a nice little boost to get us into the last few weeks of school. And then the biggest teacher appreciation gift ever that I gifted myself without even realizing was I planned a personal day on that Friday, and I had no idea that it was Teacher Appreciation Week. So I was like, oh, this is the best thing that could have happened. So taking a note for future years is a great way to end Teacher Appreciation Week.

KANIKA CHADDA GUPTA [00:08:08]:
In the end, while she had some challenges, Jenna found teaching at the end of the school year wasn't quite as chaotic as she'd heard it could be.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:08:16]:
I thought it was going to be like pulling teeth, trying to keep them occupied. But I feel like by the end of the year, you know, I have my class figured out for the most part, so it's like, I know what they might be into. So, like, I found a show on Netflix that I thought they would get into. It's a new one. It's like a Jurassic park something or other. And my kids love the whole survival theme of things. There's like a whole book series called I Survived and my kids were obsessed with it this year. So I was like, I found like a show that they like and I have some things for them, like to keep their hands busy if they're doing these, you know, dot to dots and coloring sheets and, you know, also still fitting in, like reading lessons and reviews for math and stuff.

JENNA MACNULTY [00:08:53]:
But like in the downtime, I definitely, I know how to keep my kids occupied by this point in the year.

KANIKA CHADDA GUPTA [00:09:03]:
This is Year One, an exploration of one teacher's first year in the classroom, brought to you by Carnegie Learning. Join us for the rest of the series as we follow Jenna through every moment. And be sure to follow miss.macnulty on Instagram and TikTok for additional exclusive content, free teaching resources and more. Visit yearonepodcast.com. Next time on Year One, will Jenna continue teaching?

JENNA MACNULTY [00:09:30]:
They knew and I knew. So, like, anytime I would see them in the hallway, I'd like remember that they know and then I'd be in my head about it. Definitely felt a weight lifted off my chest after I told them.