Shower Skills

I don't remember exactly where, or from whom, I learned about the term "shower skills" but I'm actually surprised that I haven't blogged about it yet because it's something I've returned to again and again in my teaching career.  So here goes!  A few years back, and by now it was probably quite a few, I attended a professional development where the presenter shared about this concept:

You know how you can take a great shower on Monday, and be completely, thoroughly clean? And then you might not need to shower on Tuesday?  And then, depending on how active you are, and how hot it is, you could probably go another day or two without showering as well?  But, eventually, no matter what, you know you will need to shower again?

Well, some skills/routines/procedures we teach our kiddos are the same way!  We can teach them fully and completely on Monday, and they might stick through Tuesday, and even Wednesday or Thursday, but eventually we will need to review and even reteach them.

This can be hard to remember as teachers, especially when we feel like we did a really excellent job teaching something the first time.  Of course, not every skill is a "shower skill" -- many things, if taught well, can be mastered relatively quickly and never need to be fully re-taught again.  But there are a surprising number of routines, rules, and procedures in our classrooms that can fall under the "shower skill" umbrella -- skills like sitting correctly on the carpet, putting the heading on your paper, and lining up quietly.

Yet, too often, we get frustrated and annoyed, or even angry, with our kiddos when they don't follow through with the procedures that we know we've taught them.  We get indignant that they aren't tracking the speaker and nodding along, or they aren't responding to the quiet signal the way it was taught, or they aren't answering in complete sentences.

Now, before taking out my frustration on my kiddos, or reconsidering my career choice, I've learned to ask myself -- is this something that could be shower skill?  Maybe all I need is to do is reteach, remind everyone of the expectation, and do a little follow up.  It's surprising how many times a short reteach lesson will clear up the issue without harping, yelling, or punishing.

This approach also leaves more time and energy for really teaching well those skills that require more attention and differentiation. Win:Win!

NOTE: It's much easier to think (write) about this topic during the summer, but I'm hoping that this will be a good reminder once I'm back in the school year! 😎