The new school year is upon us and we are giddy with excitement and hope for the best school year yet!
For some, the first day of school is a few weeks away. For educators like the amazing people I met at my keynote today in Oklahoma, the first day of school is just a few hours away.
Regardless of when you start, we are all making sure our first day tool kits are stocked and ready to roll.
I am adding three special items to my tool kit for this school year. Three items that will be sure to help me every day, especially those very, very hard days when I am not sure I am even worthy of this noble profession. Don’t worry, I won’t keep these tools to myself. I am gifting them to you too, in a cute little basket you can reuse as a book box or a container for “to be sharpened” pencils.
Be YOU with them, share your heart and your passions. You are pretty amazing and they deserve to know that. Click To Tweet
Naïve Body Spray
Wouldn’t it be amazing to walk around all day long, every day of the school year, assuming that every single student you interact with wants good things for themselves? That, despite their prickly exterior and frustrating behavior, what they really want is to be successful and what they really need is your loving help.
Students are mind readers. They know when you are frustrated with them. They know when you don’t really like them. And, it hurts their tender hearts terribly. Even if they say they don’t care, they really do. They want to be accepted and valued, and they want to be successful.
If you approach students with a, “Here we go again…” mentality, they are more likely to approach you with a, “Let me see how far I can push this teacher who doesn’t like me anyway…” mentality.
If you instead apply your Naïve Body Spray liberally every day, you will approach students with a, “I know you want to be successful and no matter how you behave, I am going to help you.” And, in turn, students will be at first baffled by your constant positivity and then they will realize that they can trust that you will always want good things for them. And, amazing things will happen.
Bonus! Naïve Body Spray works with colleagues too! You know, that super prickly, grumpy colleague you have? Believe it or not, he wants good things for himself and others too. Slip a little Naïve Body Spray in the bathroom disguised as air freshener and watch even the grumpiest of colleagues walk out of the bathroom with a little pep in their step and a shadow of a smile on their face!
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Power Struggle Avoider
Guess who wins in a power struggle? Yup, you guessed it. No one.
If you win, the student loses. And if the student wins, we are not in charge anymore. With the fantastic Power Struggle Avoider, you will slowly back your way out of any power struggle with a student.
Saying something like, “Let’s both take a few minutes,” you buy yourself and the student some precious time. With that gift of time, your emotions can settle and you can more easily brainstorm solutions that will work for both of you.
Emotions Deflector
Have you ever had one of “those” students? The one who seems to determine the emotions of the classroom? The one who brings you and the whole class down with her when she is having a bad day? She enters the classroom with a scowl in the morning and your stomach immediately drops, knowing that it is not going to be a good day.
Well, no more. You are gifted with the incredible Emotions Deflector. When you put your Emotions Deflector on in the morning, “that” student’s negativity bounces right off you. You keep your own emotions that you work so hard to regulate, and your emotions determine the vibe of the class.
No need to worry, the Emotions Deflector does not block empathy. Even when wearing your Emotions Deflector, you can still feel with others. You can empathize with people you care about without having their feelings take over your own.
You might want to take this amazing product home at the end of the school day because, as a bonus, it works great with spouses and teenage children!
Cheers to a wonderful new school year!
May you find as much joy in your school as your students do! Be YOU with them, share your heart and your passions. You are pretty amazing and they deserve to know that. These three tools benefit both students and educators, and make it much easier to play, laugh, and have fun every day.
All three of these gifts and so much more can be found in The Path to Serendipity, available on Amazon today.
About Allyson Apsey
Allyson is passionate about celebrating the strengths in the staff and students she serves. She has been an educator for over 20 years, spending 15 of those years as a school leader. She has worked with students from preschool through high school, and is currently an elementary principal. She is transparent, vulnerable, eternally optimistic, and she doesn’t ask questions unless she is open to the answers.
Despite the fact that she never wanted to step foot in a school again after graduation, there is no where else she’d rather spend her days. You will find her dancing with students in the hallways in the mornings with her JammyPack, and in classrooms throughout the day. She doesn’t have a chair at her desk because you won’t often find her there.
Allyson’s background includes being certified in William Glasser’s Choice Theory, being a Certified Trauma-Informed Practitioner in Education, and she is the author of The Path to Serendipity. In addition, she serves on the Executive Board of Directors for the Michigan Elementary and Middle Schools Principals Association as the State and Federal Relations Coordinator.
Allyson is the author of The Path to Serendipity, released by Dave Burgess Consulting INC in May of 2018.
Official Site: www.allysonapsey.com
