The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA
Education:How To
This week, I want to tell you a story about pancakes.
You might know I love to cook and bake. My instagram stories feature enough pan-banging cookie demonstrations, bread-baking Sundays, and chocolate donut dipping and sprinkling to show my secret food blogger tendencies. So of course, I have a treasured pancake recipe, and my family loves a good weekend pancake morning.
But here’s the thing, pancakes take a little bit of forever. Especially these. And I don’t always feel like making pancakes for two hours on a weekend morning, even though I do love making food.
So a couple months ago when my son asked me to make pancakes, and I just didn’t feel like I had the hours to give, I suggested that he make them. At first he was a bit stunned.
"Me? Make the pancakes?”
But I said I would teach him how to do it and make them with him, if he would learn the process so he could start making them.
So that’s what we did. I showed him the recipe, helped him find all the materials, and guided him through it. Everyone loved the pancakes, and we all showered him with compliments. A couple days later, he made them again, and I only helped with egg cracking and butter melting. More compliments. More joy for him. He started making pancakes to warm up on school mornings. He asked to make them for dinner when his grandparents were visiting, and the grandparents loved them. Soon he was cracking his own eggs, and I didn’t even need to be in the vicinity of the kitchen anymore.
So why am I telling you this? Well, for almost every teacher and parent I know, time is the great struggle. How to do it all? And sometimes that means letting things go, even if you know you’re good at them and maybe they even feel like a part of your identity.
Is it possible you could teach student volunteers to make beautiful book displays in your library each month? And that those students might actually feel really proud and pleased with the job?
Might you be able to empower student leaders on a team that you coach to plan part of practice time, give pep talks, or help set up or clean up practice equipment?
Might you be able to let go of something in your household that your children or partner might be good at too?
Maybe you want to try student-led discussion via the Harkness method, rather than trying to spearhead it every day yourself.
Every time I see my son eating the lovely pancakes he makes, I have to smile to myself. While no one is now complimenting “Mama’s pancakes,” I love to see him feeling good about what he can do and I’m happy to have the time for other things. That’s why this week, I want to highly recommend you ask yourself what kind of pancake project can you launch? (That has nothing to do with pancakes).
So I wonder, is there something you can turn into your own personal pancake project?
Go Further:
Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast.
Join our community, Creative High School English, on Facebook.
Come hang out on Instagram.
Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!
210: Creative Alternatives to the Summer Reading Essay
209: Highly Recommended: Alone
208: A New Approach to Differentiation with Kareem Farah
207: Highly Recommended: Book Clubs
206: Help Students Consider the Ethics of AI with this Free PBL Unit
205: Highly Recommended: Attendance Questions
204: Students need Diverse Texts and Choice - Here's Help
203: Highly Recommended: Name Tent One-Pagers on Day One
202: Silent Discussions Made Easy
201: Highly Recommended: Penny Kittle's "Beautiful Words" Project
200: Do THIS in July to make August Better in your ELA Classroom
199: Highly Recommended: Playing the "Whole Game"
198: Take One of These Virtual Field Trips with your ELA Students
197: Highly Recommended: Canva
196: How Caitlin's Verse Novel Book Clubs Engaged Seniors 'til the End
195: Highly Recommended: The High School Classroom Library
194: 4 Graphic Storytelling Activities from Graphic Novelist Laura Lee Gulledge
193: Highly Recommended: The Libro FM Educator Program
192: Who's on your New Pride Month Display?
191: Highly Recommended: Jason Reynolds
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
LifeBlood
Science of Reading: The Podcast
The Minimal Mom
Financial Coaching for Women: How To Budget, Manage Money, Pay Off Debt, Save Money, Paycheck Plans