Rally Caps

So I didn't learn about the concept of a rally cap until I was at least in college, maybe even later.  I understood what rallying behind someone meant, so I kind of understood the central point, but when I saw the baseball players turn their hats inside out and backwards, I was more than a little confused.

Once I figured it out (or was told about it by either my friend Stuart or my husband, can't remember who), I started using the phrase frequently.  I think sometimes it feels more appropriate to talk about rallying from behind rather than "never giving up."  Because sometimes, honestly, we do give up a bit.  Not altogether, hands in the air and bounce, but we tell ourselves that we will get back to that "tomorrow," which often turns into next month, or sometimes, never.  We'd all love to be the one who says they don't have to rally, but we'd also be lying to ourselves.

Teachers, I feel like, experience more trouble with losing steam and having to rally than most.  We get extended breaks from work in between school years and we rest, recuperate and dream of what we are going to do next.  We get so excited about books we've read and changes we want to make.  Some of us even daydream about a period in our "new" classes and all the magical learning that is taking place in our heads.  And we start school with a work-adrenaline that helps us ride high through the first weeks of school, in blissful ignorance of the same old responsibilities that are slowly mounting.

Then it happens.  Our shiny new strategy or activity looks duller.  We can't plan for the next one because of the meetings or paperwork, or other school functions that demand our attention.  We say we'll definitely get back to it because we think it's important.  Then we move its priority down a little bit in our list for the other things we don't enjoy as much.   And there's that week of chaos, of altered school schedules, or a particular class of students who are struggling to get through the content quickly enough.  so so tired.


The inner struggle is real.  The lull that happens in your innovative instruction is real.  Your frustration with your job and all the things you want to do but can't is real.  But it doesn't have to derail your mission. Just put on your rally cap.

Rally caps help you acknowledge that you are slipping some, that things aren't going exactly like you feel like they should be in your room.  Usually it's because of the myriad of things you have employed in your room that the time in the day doesn't allow for.  But the thing I think is important about rally caps is that they show your willingness and drive to come back from being down.  It's one thing to say "woe is me, my class isn't working the way I want it to," but it's quite another to say, "it's not okay right now, but it's going to be."  It reminds me of a conversation many of us in my district had this past Friday about teacher agency.  You are the one in your room with the power to make the changes needed to see your vision come to fruition.  So it's up to you to decide when it's rally time.


Once the cap is firmly in place, backwards and inside out, it's time to prioritize somethings.  Look at all the things you have going on in class, and the reasons why you do them.  Look at the things that conflict and how you can h
elp them conflict less.  Look for how you can decrease the frequency of things you do so that you can continue to do them all, if their "why" is important enough for you.  Look for things that may need to happen now  so your days can flow more smoothly later.  It's okay to invest time early on in something that will make life easier as you go.

The biggest thing about rally caps though, I think, is that it's a reminder, both for others and for yourself, that you aren't giving up.  What you're fighting for is too important to lose heart over or to quit.  So don't let the lack of time, or pressure of other responsibilities take you away from why you're doing it.  It's time to rally like the Cleveland Indians* in 2001, so let's get to it.

*Yes I had to look that up.  In 2001, Cleveland came back from a 12 run deficit to beat Seattle 15-14 in 11 innings.