Learner. Human. Joyologist.
No judgement here. Only love. Your feelings are your feelings. But I want you to know that you deserve to feel better. You deserve to find your work meaningful, manageable, and even fun. Our students are relying on us to bring green flag energy to school. We deserve it and our students deserve it too.
So, I'm simply asking us what it would look like to spend a little less time focused on what we are doing and what other people are doing and more time genuinely interested in being. Being together. Being present with others. Being interested in people and their stories and their childhoods. Being interested in our stories and childhoods too.
If you want to inspire meaningful learning for students, inspire meaningful learning for staff. Sincere classroom learning begins with a sincere and consistent effort to trust and inspire the educators who work hard every day to make a meaningful impact on students. When we take good care of adults and their learning in schools, it allows them to take great care of kids and their learning. - Legacy of Learning
So, in our efforts to commit to systems, processes, and structures that grow academic achievement, let's not forget to create an environment that is disciplined about noticing and nourishing the good in others. As Elizabeth Gilbert says in her book, Big Magic, “The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them." Let's help people find them. And let's create an environment that helps us find the beauty in others too.
As we bring 2023 to a close, many of us will be focused on our own resolutions and that's wonderful. But I have to wonder if the way to truly create a new reality inside and outside of our schools is to start thinking about how we are going to grow and learn together. Less bounce. More super bounce.
It's book launch day for Legacy of Learning: Teaching for Lasting Impact!
Meetings can fuel our sense of connection, can expand our learning, and can move important work forward. There is some art and science to it but if we commit ourselves to growing our meeting facilitation skills, it can do wonders for how we work together, our happiness levels, and ultimately, what we achieve.
So, while we figure this out, the way to find peace and calm and joy every day in our work, let's allow ourselves to do it imperfectly. A high school student asked for help getting to class today, and I was happy to show her, so we walked together. She said, "Are you my teacher? You make me feel calm." I know there are many students out there who feel that way about many of us in schools. So, we aren't just double cheeseburger eaters and coffee drinkers. We aren't just to-do list machines. We are educators. We are calm (most of the time, ha.) and capable. We are the imperfect people who make others feel calm and capable. And I love that about us.
This work is hard. This work is important. This work is made better when we leverage the strengths of teammates and work together to design learning experiences.
Life is hard enough. The pressures of work or being a parent are hard enough. We don't need to make it harder on ourselves by setting unrealistic expectations. Thinking and moving smaller can help us achieve more in the end. It can help us feel better too. You know?
MEGHAN LAWSON 