Teachers: Run the Dishwasher Twice

This week on Upworthy, a woman shared some unconventional advice she’d received from her therapist. In short, the therapist asked her what felt overwhelming right now and the woman reluctantly replied that she couldn’t do the dishes. The thought of prewashing the tough stuff before loading the dishwasher was just too much, so she’d just let the dishes pile up.

Her therapist responded, “run the dishwasher twice”. Ultimately, the therapist was giving her permission to stop following the rules we put on ourselves. Of course, we should save water and maybe other people have bigger problems than dishes, but we all deserve some grace. If running the dishwasher twice helps make your life more manageable, then by all means go for it.

This got me thinking about all the places in my life where I’ve put rules on myself. Lately, that has meant letting go of when meals are supposed to happen. I’m not always hungry when I first wake up, but somebody once told me breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Since I love love love breakfast food, skipping it made me sad. Then I realized I can eat breakfast at noon. Judge if you wish, but that made my life easier. In a neverending crapfest during a global pandemic, who cares when I eat eggs?? Who cares if my Monday Message comes out at noon or at 2:30, or even on Tuesday?

Similarly, I think it’s time for teachers to run the dishwasher twice. We’ve been overworked for always, but the pandemic has amplified the issue. Trying to work, take care of family, stay alive, brush your teeth everyday, and carry the weight of all of society’s expectations has to be wearing everyone down by now. So find places to let go of rules that feel oppressive right now.

Here are a few tips for how you might do that:

  1. Cut back on grading. Think about what you’re assessing and why. You don’t need grades for everything and you don’t need tons of assignments for students to demonstrate understanding. For example, say you’re teaching kids to reduce fractions. After a lesson, some modeling, and some group practice, you give them some independent practice activities. Don’t grade those. Or grade them for completion, and then let students ask questions. Go over any particularly difficult problems in whole or small groups. Eventually, when you want to know that they’ve mastered this skill, you can give a multiple choice (or T/F, matching, etc.) quiz that can be graded electronically or at least quickly. Stop thinking that you have to provide feedback to every child on every assignment. Maybe there’s only one or two things a week that you grade closely. Maybe you keep a document of standard feedback based on trends you see in student work, and you copy/paste that as needed. Maybe you provide close attention to five of those writer’s notebooks each week, rotating which ones each week, and checking the others for completeness. Find a place to cut back and then LET IT GO.

  2. Delegate. This might vary depending on if you’re in-person or remote and what grade level you teach, but you don’t have to do everything. Your students can sharpen pencils and re-shelve books in the classroom library. They can be in charge of cleaning things and distributing hand sanitizer at crucial times. They can run their own small groups while you circulate or attend to a particular group. It’s hard to let go of control, but you can do it! I remember how amazing my math class became when I relinquished some control. I’d introduce a new topic and do some modeling and whole group instruction. Then over the next day or two, I’d split the class into 3 groups during math time. The groups were strategically selected so that there were students with strong leadership skills in each group. Those students kept track of the group’s progress and the time, using a checklist and clock. One group worked together on review pages in their workbooks. A second group played math games on the carpet. The third group met with me to continue practicing the new skills I’d introduced that week. Of course, the groups rotated so that everyone did everything. It was amazing how much pressure it took off of me knowing that I would be able to give everyone the attention they needed. (I can’t believe I’ve given two math examples in one blog post. Please verify that I have not been kidnapped.)

  3. Allow yourself to change what no longer serves you. This semester in particular, I learned that I could break rules that I’d imposed on myself. Due dates could be adjusted or exceptions could be made. I could use common sense—when a student asked for an extension on an assignment, I could logically say “I’m not grading those until Thursday, so as long as you have it in by then, I will accept it.” I could look at a tried and true assignment and say, “this is overkill and it’s stressing us all out” and either shorten or scrap it. I could behave like a human being teaching other human beings who all live in this upside down world with me and I could show them grace and compassion. You can do the same.

Here are a few resources with more ideas for making your teaching lives easier:

Keep the conversation going in the comments or in your own circles. Questions for Reflection: Where can you give yourself and your students grace? What rules can you release? How can you run the dishwasher twice this week?

Dr. MikkakaComment