Balancing Routines

A blog post on a Monday, what is this chaos? I apologize to my regular readers for the lack of scheduled posts lately. If you read the previous posts you know that I have been floating between two cities for the last month. On Saturday I managed to bring everything to my new place and so now I hope to start posting and sharing the things I usually do with more of a routine.

Routines, as mentioned a few weeks ago, seem to be the thing that folk look the most forward to at the beginning of the academic year. However, those who live with chronic illness or dynamic disabilities know that there really is no such thing as a real routine. So we can try to set up routines for ourselves, but there is never a guarantee. 

From a teaching and learning point of view, routines also come with a bit of expectation that absolutely can be helpful to learners as they are trying to build momentum at the beginning of the year. However, that routine can also create a sense of overt expectation for other learners, where if there's too much that can also impact learning. The move this weekend had me thinking a lot about interleaving practices, and having to use two different sets of related information (in this case in relation to two different addresses) at appropriate times. 

Sometimes routines can be in direct tension with the kinds of learning practices we encounter often. So it is interesting that we are in a time where everyone seems to be pushing "return to normal," which really is sort of a reinforcement of a kind of routine that simply does not exist in the reality of our world today. Folks want routine, because lack of daily expectations can be activating, but approaching this with an inclusive lens means realizing that for so many, this routine can never, and will never exist. 

So we create the spaces for acts (daily, weekly or otherwise) that are the most meaningful to us. Like how when I move to a new place one of the first things I do is get a public library card. I do this because the public library is a place that offers so much to so many, programming, resources, shelter, community. I went to get my public library card two weekends ago, as an act of tethering in place; this card on my key chain says I am of this place now. But I also do this recognizing that some folk don't have key chains, and some folk can never be of a place. 

I leave you with the following reflection prompt: what are some routines you take for granted, and what are some routines you assume your students have access to and may not have access to at all?