Sunday, October 29, 2017

Every Month a Milestone


Teachers Like Me

I've come the conclusion that teachers are probably some of the most taxed, stretched and pulled people on the planet.  For real.  We give, pour out, cover, protect, teach, evaluate, explain, mediate, and share.  And then many of us go home and do even more of that as caregivers to husbands, children, parents...with little room left for ourselves. I realized just this weekend that a powerful model for me is going to be a consistent goal-setting for life goals I have outside of education.  It's a given that I am eating, sleeping and breathing some of the important goals I want to accomplish in my job.   But I am not always as intentional about making sure my personal needs and goals get met.  But this, friends, is a self-care issue, and one I am now excited to say I am addressing.   So, I've decided that my theme for the rest of this school year is "BLOOM."  I'm going to bloom despite any challenges--any dung, if you will--surrounding me, and I'll take that dung and use it to help me grow.  From now until the end of the school year I will have a milestone goal I'm focused on just for me, and here are some examples:

  • February: Give a TEDx talk through my alma mater (just found out today I've been invited to share my idea with the committee! Woo hoo!)
  • March: Publish my first picture book
  • April: Publish my first book for adults
  • May: Be able to play my school's song on the guitar (a goal I'm pursuing in front of students)

These are just some examples, but they illustrate how valuable it is and will be to have things I'm pushing for in my personal life, to add balance to the press that professional life can be.  Hope this can inspire someone else to do some of the same!  
Cheers,

Monday, October 23, 2017

Crucial Conversations


I have been fascinated by the idea that you can learn to have hard conversations well, for years.  My father, an H.R. guy, first introduced me to Crucial Conversations, and I have been a fan ever since.  I confess that I have not ever finished the whole book or audio book (which I need to do soon)...but the pieces and principles I've picked up are enough to make me slightly dangerous. :-)  I am THRILLED that I will be taking the Influencer training through the Vital Smarts organization (makers of Crucial Conversations) this week...but meanwhile, they are also offering this online training that I think can help me get a good start. I've literally been saying for years that teachers are trained in curriculum, differentiation, assessment, and even trauma--but never in effective communication on behalf of children and in concert with stakeholders.  Teaching is a fabulous world! There are aha moments, breakthroughs, community-building, learning and innovation, self-esteem building and collective victories to revel in.  But there are also challenges-- lots of self-interest, teacher conflict, adult self-preservation, parent denial, lawmaker cluelessness and student apathy to wade through! I want to know to wade through the hard stuff in respect, partnership and camaradeire.  I want to know how to do it well.  I'm convinced that Crucial Conversations can help!

https://vitalsmartsausnz.lpages.co/education-webinar-october2017/


Saturday, October 14, 2017

This is Probably the Shortest Blog Post Ever, But...

I just have to share this...I subscribed to a stock photo membership, and did a search for pictures featuring "teachers collaborating."  Also tried "teachers meeting."  What I found was fascinating!  The only pictures I found were the ones below. Notice that they didn't even have a frame of reference or an image for this idea! What do you notice about the pictures they did offer?