If you’re like most school administrators, you’ve learned to view October and March with an appropriate bit of concern.
When you review your discipline data, there’s typically an uptick of disciplinary referrals in each of those months. You may find a drop off in engagement; maybe an increase in absences.
October and March aren’t haunted or spooky on their own, at least as far as school goes. The issue with these months is their location in the journey. Traditionally, we slice school up into two neat pieces called semesters. There is enough time in between the two, usually, for them to take on their own identities.
We arrange the life of the school around that construction. Particularly in secondary schools, we tend to bring the first semester to a hard stop and then open up second semester as a new entity.
We don’t offer October and March the same honors as December and May. October and March neither begin nor end a phase of school and that’s where the problem lies.
My wife and I like to hike on occasion with our faithful canine friend, Roo. We look for trails that meet our preferences… around a mile or so long, labeled by the guide as “easy” or at the most “moderate,” and preferably near some water. We start each of these quests with excitement and enthusiasm, but it seems like somewhere along the trail, we miss a marker and a mile ends up to be three. And there’s a point where we both realize we aren’t sure where we are, but we’re as far in as we are out and we aren’t sure where the trail is supposed to go and where the end may be.
That’s what October is. You’re in halfway but can’t see your way out. You started with enthusiasm but now you have reached a level of discomfort and confusion. Your measure of success has changed.
These feelings can hit students and adults alike, and tend to influence the behavior of each. The time you spend in the middle of the trail, or the middle of the semester can wear you down, make you irritable, and really stall your progress.
Let’s take October back. Many of you already have scheduled some of the best responses to redirect everyone’s efforts. You schedule some time off; you host teacher-parent conferences; you do goal setting with everyone.
Reframing October is about a shift in mindset from being a long way from the beginning and not being able to see the end. It’s about short-term goals. It’s about generating enthusiasm for the work. It’s about narrowing the focus into the specific next steps that adults and students should take on their journey for a successful year.
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