Of Dogs and Kids

I've spent the last month of my summer training and loving on the sweet puppy my husband and I recently adopted. Here's a picture, just in case you don't believe how cute he is:

 While I've been training him, I'm learning just as much as he is. It seems that almost every revelation I have about obedience training is a lesson that I've also learned about teaching kids in the classroom.

Dogs and kids:

• respond much better to praise for doing the right thing than to punishment for doing something wrong. The trainer that we're working with taught us to say "yes" every time he does something right, and I'm amazed at how he responds to that, even when I don't have a treat. He also gets praise as soon as he self-corrects any misbehavior.
• need to trust you all of the time and have fun around you much of the time. We've had our puppy for just about a month now, and we're starting to see that he trusts us and is excited to see us even more than other people he meets. I'm excited to see how our relationship builds over the course of the next year and beyond.
• thrive on a predictable, consistent routine. Just like my kids remind me when I forget that it's time for recess, my dog reminds me when it's time to go for a walk.
• learn best when you chunk big tasks into smaller tasks. Often, they need some think time to process an instruction. (I can see that he's thinking, "Sit... I know I've heard that before... What does it mean? Oh, yeah!" Pestering him by saying "Sit... sit... sit... sit!" only stresses him out.) They need to practice lots of repetitions before they master a skill. And then they need immediate feedback.
• can get themselves into lots of trouble when they're bored. You should see my living room floor right now.
• sometimes ask to go to the bathroom just because they're bored. It can be hard to tell whether or not they really need to go, but it's best to just let them go if there's any doubt.
• will do anything for food. Period. Enough said.

Teacher Talk Tuesday

Today's theme from Blog Hoppin' is Teacher Talk Tuesday. Everyone is sharing advice for new teachers. I think it's actually really hard to come up with something original for this; all of the posts that I've already read have the standard - but really good - advice of being flexible, making time for yourself, getting to know students and their families, and having fun. Instead of rehashing what's been said so often already, I'll share the one mantra that got me through my first year (and continues to get me through rough days):

If it's not going to matter six months from now, then it's not worth worrying about.

As teachers, we have so much on our plate that it's impossible to give every task the full attention it needs. I think it can be extremely difficult for first year teachers to keep from getting bogged down in all of the "little" problems that arise that seem like big problems. Whether it's a botched lesson, a negative interaction with a parent or administrator, or just an all-around bad day, these issues can bother us so much that they consume all of our waking (and sometimes sleeping) thoughts. While we can and should still take steps to make these situations better, I think it's really important to keep things in perspective.

If it's not going to matter six months from now - if it's not going to physically harm someone, if it's not going to cost me my job, if it's not going to damage a positive relationship beyond repair, if it's not going to leave me with a huge sense of regret - then it's not worth worrying about.

And because I think posts are always better with a photo, this is what I picture in my head when school stress is keeping me up at night:

 I always tell myself "This won't matter one bit to me when I'm lying on the beach this summer!"