The Teacher As Extreme Cleaning Specialist
“My job is communication; it happens to be in messy houses.”
In Episode 5, The Teacher As Extreme Cleaning Specialist with Matt Paxton, I was lucky enough to interview Matt about his job as an extreme cleaning specialist and its parallels to teaching. The episode is available on the podcast page on this site, as well as on most podcast platforms on 8/9. If you haven’t already, I recommend listening to the interview before reading this post. I have written it with the assumption that you have heard Matt’s stories and ideas about communication and compassion.
Trauma and Building Trust
Matt shared about his own loss and trauma, as well as the story a woman who lost her husband and son in Hurricane Katrina. Matt said that when people are dealing with severe trauma and you try to help them, sympathy and scolding won’t work.
“Rock bottom...you gotta go down there with them and hold their hand and walk out together.”
In the classroom, this means teachers can share hard times they have had and their own weaknesses and worries, to help students see that they are not alone and we are in this together. Students need to know their teacher is in their corner and will help them when things get tough.
For more details about trauma and resources for helping students suffering from trauma, make sure to read my July 5th blogpost about trauma.
Compassion and a Mask
When asked what qualities or skills an extreme cleaning specialist must have, Matt’s reply was, “Compassion and a mask.” When connecting Matt’s work to teaching, besides the fact that the mask part of this comment is very timely, this quote is succinct and powerful. Without compassion there is no patience or understanding. Without compassion there is no feeling of safety or trust. Be compassionate with your students and consider approaching your students the way Matt approaches his clients.
Matt has to “turbo bond.” He has a week to do his work, we have an entire school year. It is important to set the tone and build a classroom community that feels safe and infuses a sense of belonging for all. Compassion is shown through our ability to actively listen, be patient, and be positive. Our tone of voice, our words, and our actions will be doing overtime to make up for the lack of facial expressions we can convey when we are wearing masks. Matt reminds us that it is also important to use humor, play, and give opportunities for people to tell their stories.
“... it is more important now than ever that we listen to our students’ stories and that we empower them to tell their stories – and that we tell them on their behalf when we can. Storytelling provides a way into those difficult conversations and an opportunity to remind us of the common ground that we do share. And, when we find ourselves being asked about our students’ reality, we must be prepared to share their stories so that our greater community understands what a critical reality this is for all of us together.”
Play, Humor, and Story
In my interview with Matt Paxton, he shares his own trauma and that he worked at a camp for children who had gone through immense trauma. Matt said that play and humor helped the children get to a place where they could share their stories. The Playful Classroom by Jed Dearybury and Julie Jones, PhD, is an incredible book to investigate the benefits and pedagogy of play.
“Team-building experiences, cooperative learning opportunities, and humor-infused lessons are three specific playful methods that can build community and foster a sense of belonging.”
Two play based opportunities that I use regularly in my classroom are games and drama. In my blog post from June 28th, I wrote about my class putting on a play and students being a huge part of that planning process. Play was a big piece of this work. One example is that the students one year, were in committees to write commercials and were improvising/role playing different ideas. The feeling of community, sense of belonging and confidence this drama project brought my class surprised me. I expected the class would enjoy it and work together, but it was more powerful than that for many students and for the class as a whole.
As I was researching to write this, I found some wonderful resources on game based learning. I shared some in the resources section at the end of this post. The two videos below show how to roll out games in your classroom and manage them as your students play. I incorporate games into as many lessons as I can because the benefits are tremendous.
A classroom that plays together stays together. Humor is part of that as well and helps students let their guards down and relate to each other and their teacher. Students communicate better with each other and see each others’ strengths. They learn to problem solve together and believe in themselves as learners who can make positive change in their world. Play and humor look different at different grades obviously and there are many resources for play and humor. I shared some in the resources section of this post.
Play and humor help to make students comfortable enough to be themselves and share their stories. Every student should feel that their story has been heard and that they want to hear others’ stories. This is important work and humor and play can get your students there easier.
Organization
Matt provides some helpful hints for helping someone sift through their belongings and decide whether to keep, trash, give away, etc. I have always struggled with my own organization of the stuff a teacher accumulates throughout each year of teaching. Matt mentions to try to cull every time report cards come out to try to keep ahead of the mess. What I have done is invest in my own sanity and get help with systems that will avoid the mess throughout the year. I have been 95% better with my organization since I made this investment and I can’t recommend it enough. Disclaimer: this is not an ad and the person responsible for my turnaround in cleanliness has no idea that I am writing this. If you read about my classroom organization issues and can relate, you MUST check out Angela Watson’s Truth for Teachers podcast and her 40 Hour Teacher Work Week Club that includes membership in a priceless Facebook group! Angela’s club is worth every penny and although the time to sign up has passed, Angela has shared that she may open it up again at some point this month if people need to join due to these unprecedented times. The teachings, materials, and solidarity that come with the club are not just about organization of materials, but this is one of many elements of her club that have helped me tremendously. The club is really about getting some time back and still being a great teacher while you do it.
In the video I shared at the beginning of this post, Matt reminds us of the phrase, “Use it or lose it.” Angela helps us do this and set up systems that will help us keep a neater classroom and avoid the mountain of piles when we are in the moment, with kids. I am not perfect at it and I don’t always utilize the system which results in my organized piles, but it made me more aware and less overwhelmed about cleaning up. When I had the time, sometimes scheduling it as if it were a meeting I had to go to, cleaning up those piles was easier because I had a place for everything.
“The stuff holds us back.”
When I first learned about this way to organize, I thought it was revolutionary and I had never thought of doing it this way. I shared it with a colleague and she said, “Yes, Melissa. I have been doing that for years.” She proceeded to show me her organization system that was obviously not exactly the same, but pretty darn close. It was then that I realized how lucky I was to have found this program so that I could train myself to do things this way. I never noticed other teachers’ ability to do this naturally. I don’t think I ever would have noticed it otherwise. I was then able to be aware of how other teachers’ organize and tweak my system based on what I saw fellow teachers doing. After doing it for a few years, I can honestly say that it really helped me gain time back.
Resources
The Playful Classroom by Jed Dearybury and Julie Jones, PhD
Building Bridges Through Storytelling: What Are Your Students’ Stories? by Laura Grisso