TL;DR: Over the course of a long career in education, there can be numerous opportunities for change. There are five lessons learned from change: (1) It can be an adventure. (2) A new perspective is important. (3) People are people. (4) We are enough. (5) It makes us stronger. I spend some time at the end of every school year … Read More
The Stages of Resilience in an Unprecedented School Year
TL;DR: This year did not go the way we anticipated and every element was constantly changing. Regardless of how unprecedented this year was, you did it. You made it to the end of this chapter. The three stages of resilience from this unpreceded year include regret, reflection, and resilience. The Stages of Resilience – Stage One: Regret This school year … Read More
How Giving up Caffeine for a Month Refocused My Teaching
TL;DR: This post shares the story of how giving up caffeine for a month shows that it is possible to reset our habits. We can give up teaching practices that we do just because we are in the habit of doing them. Then we have room to make the choice to do things because they are in the best interest … Read More
Reflecting on the Year That Was…
TL;DR: Reflecting back and remembering this year allows these challenging times to empower us in the future. View this past year with a growth mindset. Take your new skills into the next school year. A few years back, our principal bought everyone on staff the book Mindset by Carol Dweck. This book is one that many will refer to as … Read More
Reflecting at the End of the Year
TL;DR: Teaching from home has been challenging to not be able to “see” our students. There were frustrations from the perspectives of a teacher, student, and parent in the past 180 days. It is important to reflect on the past year and a half: in-class instruction cannot be replaced by virtual, students preferred to be in class, students had diverse … Read More