Energy is contagious. Spread the good stuff.
Kinder than Necessary
Free Space
But if we don't give ourselves the opportunity to just be, what happens to the quality of our thoughts? The quality of our educators' thoughts? The quality of kids' thoughts? If we just do and focus on the doing, can we make the world better? I'm not sure we can make the world better without questions and wondering.
We All Build Culture
Perhaps this is radical, but how we spend time with people is one of the greatest ways to change this world. How we show up for each interaction, each gathering, how we are in community with each other -it matters in a big way. We have the power to make people feel strong and special and capable which means that the opposite is true too if we aren't thoughtful.
The Magic of People
Write that tweet. Send that email. Have that conversation. Do whatever you can do share the good word.
We Do Not Have Time for This
Love the people. Try hard. Care big. Learn what you can. Sleep soundly.
Less Thinking. More Doing.
I wonder if this is what we are missing in some of our "data" meetings in schools. Do we have pictures of kids at the table? To start, they are our WHY. They are why we want to be better. That's a big part of our identity as educators. But also, setting goals for improvements is nice, but it's not the work. The work is the small moves made over time that can make a big difference. Too many data meetings sound like, "We need to get these scores up." Well, yeah. We know. But how? And because we don't know what the best strategy or step to take is, we may not take a step.
Why Not Make it Fun?
My challenge to all of us is this: let's remember how much we matter in the lives of our students and their families. Let's show them how much we care with something small. Something that gets us excited to come back to work. Something that gets kids excited about class.
Recalibrating Your Health & Wellness
Are you taking your laptop home after work only to realize that you can't bring yourself to take it back out at night? Even though you're daunted by that to-do list? Do you find yourself quietly or not so quietly judging others more frequently, blaming, and complaining about matters that didn't used to get to you as much? Are you perpetually tired? Is it difficult to get up in the morning?
An Underutilized Resource
How might we shift our school environments to become places where student talk occurs at a higher volume than educator talk? Where we as adults become more focused on learning facilitation and cultivating environments?
See for Yourself
I have never regretted visiting a teacher's classroom. Ever. Want to be filled with hope for the future? Spend time around teachers and students.
MEGHAN LAWSON 