My favorite Tarot Resources

Spread #5 - The Emperor

This week's spread turned out to be very personal. But I think it's important to share it with all of you. This is the following spread I created and the cards that were selected:

What is my area of weakness when it comes to classroom management? The Emperor
What is my area of strength when it comes to classroom management? The Wheel of Fortune
How can I improve my classroom management skills? The Knight of Cups

I was somewhat embarrassed that I pulled the Emperor card when it comes to my area of weakness in terms of classroom management at this time. But it's important to acknowledge this truth. I know that I used to be way too strict in the past, but this card is suggesting that maybe the pendulum has gone to far in the other direction. I know a large part of this is because I jumped right in the middle of the term in the middle of the year and I had some issues dealing with that. But ultimately, this card is suggesting that I need to step up more and regain my authority in the classroom. I'm not suggesting it is out of control or chaotic in my classroom, but I think I have been tapping into the energy of the Empress a bit too much, and I need to find a healthy balance between being too nurturing and too stern. I'm thinking of specific kids at this time who have been pushing the envelope a bit too much and instead of really putting my foot down and standing my ground, I have been a little lax with them and had tried to approach the situation from a more sweet and motherly perspective, which obviously isn't working. I pulled these cards in the morning, and I remembered it when they were goofing off while I was trying to talk again. So this time I just kept cool, but moved all three to different tables in the room and they kept quiet for the duration of my presentation. So I acknowledge that I haven't been strict enough in some cases, but now that I am more aware of it, I can do something about it!

But I do have some strengths when it comes to classroom management. I am able to take the good with the bad and I realize that when it comes to kids, expect the unexpected. So having learned that everything happens in cycles and that sometimes things are out of my control really helps me keep perspective and keep a cool and level head. The Wheel of Fortune is also not a card of passivity. So when unexpected challenges do arise, I address them and face them head on. I don't continuously let problems build and build and hope they go away.  So this card is pointing out that I am able to roll with the punches while still facing obstacles and working to overcome them.

The Knight of Card was an interesting card pop up in the "how can I improve" category. A lot of people view this card in a romantic way. However, in this particular instance it is about getting in touch with my emotions and intuition. I need to explore more in depth the feelings that arise with classroom management. How do I feel when I have to reprimand someone? How can I find a different way to make my point come across? I honestly hate having to put kids on the spot and reprimand them in front of the class. This card also represents creativity and needing to get it out of my head and heart and put it into action. So as a whole, I think this card is suggesting I evaluate the way I feel about classroom management, get in touch with my intuition and envision how I would like things to go in my classroom, and to come up with creative ways to handle situations that arise in my classroom. So I will definitely be thinking about adjustments I want to make as we end this term and prepare for the next term.

If you aren't too shy to share, I would love to hear what came up for you when you tried this spread. I also would love to know any tips you can offer, if you have any great practices for classroom management.

All my best,

Amy

The Emperor - The Card of Classroom Management

I am pretty excited for this week's post because I feel that the Emperor is a great card when it comes to teaching. Last week's post was all about nurturing and it had a real maternal quality to it, but this week it's all about the art of classroom management.

As teachers, but especially as new teachers, we often struggle with classroom management. Some of us, like me, start off overly strict and really take the saying "don't let them see you smile until June" to heart. This can lead to division in the classroom and create a "them against me" mentality. While others try to take a more relaxed approach and come off more like a friend, which can have it's own unpleasant consequences, like the first time you have to say no to a student and they feel completely betrayed by their "pal."

But whether you have a problem with classroom management or not, we can definitely learn a lot from the Emperor. First of all, this is a card that represents authority, control, and leadership. As the leaders with the ultimate authority in our classrooms, we need to make sure that we lead in a fair and balanced way. It can be very easy for your classroom to turn into a dictatorship if you are too rigid or a completely chaotic situation if you are too lax. The Emperor is here to remind you about what it means to be a good leader.

When you think about rulers from history or fairy tales, the most beloved and successful ones were the ones who loved and cared for their people and who wanted what was best for them. Being a ruler is a huge responsibility and it isn't about being the ones with all the power, but about being the one who uses that power for the good of the people. So ultimately, being a leader is about being of service to others. And in our case, we need to be of service to our students.

Since we are the ones in control, we do need to do our best to maintain order in our classrooms so that students can feel safe, secure, respected, and valued. We can't be so hostile that students are afraid to speak to us or are afraid of making a mistake for fear of being screamed at or embarrassed, yet nor can we be so permissive that it is practically a free for all and no learning is taking place.

It's all about leading with dignity. Think about the people you respect and admire that are in a position of power. The ones that come to mind for me set high expectations and make them clear. They are also willing to lend a helping hand and offer advice and guidance if I get stuck. They smile a lot and approach challenging situations with positivity and a sense of humor. They are able to think outside the box in order to solve problems. They make others feel at ease and are good listeners. They delegate tasks fairly and don't overburden others with unmanageable amounts of work. These are the attributes of a good leader.

Now take a moment to think honestly about yourself and ask yourself the following questions:
Do I assign too much homework? Too little?
Do I yell at my students or threaten them to get them to comply?
Do I let my students get away with talking while I am talking?
Do I never smile or crack a joke? Do I joke around to often almost to the point of being inappropriate?
Do I make sarcastic remarks when I am annoyed? Do I pretend not to hear or see a student saying or doing something they shouldn't?
Am I harsh when I confront students? Do I not confront at all?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it may be time to evaluate your leadership abilities. Try to set some goals for improvement and work on them until they become habits.

For example, when I first started teaching, I believed in assigning homework over breaks because that is what I had experienced as a student (even though I hated it, and if I'm honest, I usually didn't do it or a did a crappy job on it the night before it was due). Not only did I assign work, but I usually assigned them a book to read on their own with a ton of comprehension questions to answer. Then I would be totally incensed when students either didn't turn it in or turned in low-quality work. This would lead to major power struggles because they would be mad at me for assigning a ton of work when they wanted to have fun and I would be mad at them for not doing what I told them to do. This is not good leadership at all. I had to take a step back and evaluate my practices. And you may or may not agree with this, but I stopped assigning work over breaks. Why? Because I feel that everyone deserves a break - the students and me. And now that I am a parent, I see it from a new perspective. When my sons are in school, I won't want them bogged down with work over breaks because then I will have to yell at them to get work done or it will just take time away from the time I want to be spending having fun with them. So now that I don't assign work over breaks, I feel it is win win for everyone. I also stopped giving homework every night including weekends. Now I give homework 2-3 times a week and it is concise and more important MEANINGFUL. Homework shouldn't be about keeping students busy after school. It should be about having them think about the material and having them work with it independently. If people are interested, I teach ELA and I would be more than happy to share the types of homework assignments I give. Sure I still have some students that refuse to do homework, but the majority of my students complete homework for me now.

So if you want to work with the energy of the Emperor card, you really need to assess your leadership abilities and determine if you are a fair leader or not. It's not about wanting to be loved, it's about developing a classroom climate that is built on respect. The more respect and care you show for your students while maintaining order, the more they will respect you and do the work you assign. Classroom management can be one of the toughest parts of teaching besides time management, but if you can get a handle on it, it will make your life easier and you will find true joy in this profession.

All my best,

Amy

Weekly Tarot Reading for Jan 27-January 31

My journey with Tarot

Spread #4 - The Empress Spread for Teachers

So I decided to keep this week's spread short and sweet. Since I talked mostly about The Empress having to do with  being creative and nurturing in the last post, I figured it would be best to focus our spread on those two aspects. So here we go!

How can I be more creative? The Magician
How can I become more nurturing? Death

First of all, it is amazing to me how many of these spreads I've done on the blog have contained Major Arcana cards. I plan on doing a video soon about my thoughts on this.

How can I be more creative?

But it is totally unsurprising to me that the Magician would appear for our creativity category. When I look at this card I can almost transport him into a classroom and instead of seeing him holding his wand, I envision him holding a piece of chalk (or a dry erase marker). I look at him surrounded by his tools and feel inspired by his ability to make magic out of what he has in front of him. That's exactly what we are called to do. We must make magic out of our resources. We must mesmerize our students with our passion for our subject matter and by presenting that information in fun and interesting ways. When I think of the magician, I remember being a kid at a birthday party or a festival watching the magician in awe at his ability to pull a rabbit out of his hat or saw a person in half. Even last summer, I took my son to an amusement park and we went to see a magic show, and I observed the look of amazement on the faces of all the children (and even the adults) as the magician performed his tricks. I know for myself, I would love to have my students look at me with that same kind of wonder and be totally engrossed in my lessons!

When I was a rookie teacher, a veteran teacher told me that teaching was mostly acting. I was offended by this at the time because I felt like if I wanted to be an actor, I would have become an actor and gone into movies and made way more money. I didn't become a teacher so I could "perform on a stage" for my students. I just wanted to present the material and have them learn it. As I think back on that, I wish I could talk to my rookie teacher self and let her know that she had it all wrong!  As a teacher, showmanship is just as important as knowledge. What good is having the knowledge if your students aren't truly grasping the material? And when I look at the Magician, I see the ultimate showman.

So how can we be more creative? We need to get in touch with our inner showman. We need to design lessons that will catch our audience's attention. We need to take our resources - our textbooks, our white boards, our index cards, our computers, etc. - and make magic with them. So really take some time to meditate on how you can make magic in your classroom. It may require you to step out of your comfort zone, but the results will be worth it!

How can I be more nurturing?

I know that the Death card can make new readers feel uncomfortable. But I want to assure you that there is nothing negative about this card, especially in this reading. The Death card represents endings and transitions. Like our own literal deaths, our souls will transition from our physical bodies to a more ethereal plane of existence. The transitions we face with the Death card do not have to be painful and in fact, besides being necessary and unavoidable, can also be a welcome change.

What this card says to me is that in order to be more nurturing, a part of me has to die. And that part of me is limiting beliefs. This is really true because I have already been noticing my former beliefs about teaching transforming right before my eyes. So I feel this card is asking us to sit down and look very closely (and even write down) our current beliefs about teaching. Are those beliefs in alignment with the energy of the Empress? Are they in alignment with being compassionate and nurturing? If not, it's time to adjust those beliefs - thus, letting your old beliefs die out and creating a space for new ones.

For example, I know that my former teaching practices were not in alignment with compassion and nurturing. I was very rigid and had very strict beliefs about how I was the authority and the students were there to listen to me and do as I said. When students were rude or disrespectful, lazy or apathetic, unprepared and unorganized, I had no patience for any of that whatsoever. I took it personally and developed a very "them against me" mentality. Thankfully, I matured and grew and let go of those limiting beliefs and developed new ones. Now I see teaching as a partnership. I see it as my duty to guide students to be more polite, productive, and focused. It is my role to model the behaviors I want to manifest in my students. And I can see how learning from the Magician would help me to be the teacher I knew I could be. So to be more nurturing, I had to let my old ways die that kept me from truly connecting with my students and letting them feel valued and appreciated - and that is what the Death card is all about!

I would love to know what cards come up for you in this reading. So please feel free to share in the comments section below!

The Empress - Nurturing Your Students

So this week is all about The Empress. I have read many tarot books over the years and at one point I came across a great phrase to describe what this card is all about - creative abundance!

At this point in our journey, we have taken a leap of faith, gathered our materials, looked within, and now it is time to create and nurture!

The Empress is all about creation. If you look closely at the card you will see creation all around: the harvest of wheat, the green trees, and the pregnant Empress herself. Being creative is key if you want to be a successful teacher.

It is not enough to know your subject matter inside out and to have passed the teacher tests that say you qualify to be a teacher. You must have passion and creativity. Gone are the days when teachers could just stand and lecture while the students furiously wrote down what their teachers were saying so that they could regurgitate it on their next exams. Although there is debate about how effective current teaching practices are, I truly believe in the time-tested truth that if you bring passion for your subject matter and can build strong, nurturing relationships with the students, that you will be a successful teacher! This is the time to tap into the energy of The Empress.

One education practice that I think really taps into the energy of The Empress is backward design. The basic premise is that you establish your outcome learning goals first and then go back and design your lesson plans to align with those goals. Other creative educational practices include active learning, cooperative learning, and multiple intelligences. It is crucial to find creative ways to make the learning come alive for your students. It doesn't happen overnight, but you want to develop a bag of tricks that you can rely on throughout your career. Some things that have worked well in my English classes include: debates, fishbowls, jigsaws, carousel walks, body biographies, tableaux, 4 corners, and interviews. If you don't have many fun activities developed yet, I highly recommend looking up some of the strategies mentioned or Google searching active learning strategies. I garuantee that you will find the more creative and fun your lessons are, the more your students will engage with the material - thus learning even more! Feel free to message me for more active learning ideas!

The other aspect of The Empress is her role as a nurturer. I have a garden stone with a beautiful saying that goes, "teachers plant the seeds that grow forever." I feel that this saying ties in nicely with the message of The Empress. She is a mother figure and when we think of mothers we usually think of nurturers. And when you look at the card and see all of the nature imagery, it is easy to connect how our students are like little seeds and if we nurture them and provide them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed, then we will reap a harvest of wonderful young people who will grow up to do amazing things! But on top of providing them with knowledge and skills, we also offer them support and guidance as they navigate through childhood and adolescence. We are their role models for appropriate and professional behavior. They look to us to teach them how to become not just good students who will become productive workers, but also how to become good and decent people.

This card also reminds me of the impact that we have on students when we treat them with kindness and nurturing. For example, I was thinking about this post last week and it just so happens that as I was about to teach one of my classes, one of my students from last year popped her head in the door. I gave her a warm smile and asked "how's it going? Are you still here?" Because last I knew, she was going to be expelled from all of her suspensions from the previous year. She just smiled and said "yes, I'm still here and I'm doing awesome. I'm even on the honor roll!" I congratulated her and told her I knew she could do it. Then just as she was about to leave she announced to my class, "Mrs. B. is awesome. She's the only one who ever said anything nice about me."

That really caught my attention about how much of an impact we have on our students. I know it can be challenging when a student is making bad choices and getting on our last nerves, but I do think it is imperative that we always try to see the best in our students. We aren't perfect people and we would want people to see the best in us. Plus, if their parents and teachers don't see their value, how will they?

So if you really want to work with the energy of this card, keep two things in mind: be creative in your lessons and always choose love.

"People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou

All my best,

Amy