Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

General Inspiration, Pep Talk, Theme Song

(you’re gonna hear me) Roar

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Monday again. Get pumped up. You’ve got this. Today is yours. This week is yours. You are a teacher…Mondays are your day to shine!

For that reason, you need a theme song. You need to let this week know that you are coming. It is time for the “You” show. This theme is your song and your introduction to the week.

I have your theme ready, but this week is going to be a little different. Before I let you click play, I have something for you to read first.

I knew what song I wanted to feature this morning, but when I went on a video search I came across a cover of this song, and an amazing, heart-breaking, and inspiring story. I decided that even though the music side of this version is not as powerful, the story behind this one makes this version a thousand times more inspiring, I think as teachers, this one is going to make us face the week even more courageous than we would have without reading, seeing, and hearing it.

I want you to read this before playing the song. It is the description from YouTube. It tells the story of Olivia Wise. It tells why this song was recorded and presented on YouTube. Please read and be inspired.

Olivia Wise has Brain Cancer. She came into a recording studio for her first time and recorded the Katy Perry song Roar. She couldn’t walk or stand, she didn’t have her full breath or the energy she used to, and she was managing her new pains and new limitations. While her physical condition was rapidly fading, her spirit remained untouched.

Olivia is a fighter and has gone through the fire, in fact, she was going through the fire while she recorded this song, but you wouldn’t know it, because she was dancing right through it. She is an inspiration, a champion, and my hero. This is her Roar.

To donate to the Liv Wise Fund: http://www.livwisefund.com
To donate to the Liv Wise Fund:http://my.sickkidsdonations.com/perso…
or Phone 416-813-5320

Here is a CNN story about her and her recording of the song.

I am not sure what I can say after this story. I am not sure if I need to say anything.

What worries you?

What stresses are you dreading this week?

What pressures are you feeling?

What makes you anxious?

Do these things matter in the grand scheme of things? Do they need to own your energy and patience? Do they need to master you? Do they need to break you this week?

What is most important? What matters most? What deserves your time and energy? What deserves you and your life?

Focus on what really matters. Focus on your students. Focus on your fellow teachers. Focus on your family. Focus on what helps you be there for others. Focus on you (in a good way).

After hearing what others are going through and fighting through, it really gives us perspective on ourselves. Really, what is it that truly matters?

What is the big picture? What, if we think about it, won’t matter later? Can we let those things go? Can we at least put them on the back burner?

I want to challenge you this week to let some of the stress go. I want you to think of what your students need, need of you, and need you to be. Put your energy there. Spend your time there. Let those things take your attention. If other things go, or at least make them wait. You will never regret putting your students and their learning first.

I think you will do more than not regret it, you will thank yourself for it later. So will your students. So will the future.

Focus on people this week. Be there for students, teachers, friends, and family.

Don’t let the weekly pressures choke out the space you need to have for others.

Have the eye of the tiger. Be louder than the lion. Stand firm. Let this week and the stress that comes with it hear you roar as you keep your priorities straight and you make a difference.

You are a champion. Prove it. Show it. Roar!

You are amazingly awesome! You are capable of not letting this week rule over you. You won’t let it. You will let your focus lie where it should. You are going to roar! I know you will! You are a great teacher, so of course you will! Be great and keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

General Inspiration, Pep Talk, Teaching Power, Weekend Note

As You Plan…

Posted on November 3, 2013November 3, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

A new week approaches. A new performance. A new show. A new presentation.

You do the research. You make the plans. You write the script. You learn your part. You practice, practice, practice (even if only in your mind).

You do your best to be ready for when the curtain opens.

You breathe through the Sunday night “butterflies” as the time to go “on” is only hours away.

This is the weekend for you, a teacher.

Breathe, Teacher. Breathe.

And let some of the worries go.

Let them go?

Yes.

Go.

Why?

Because you know that as soon as you step in the door on Monday, your plans will already be changed. You know that you can never really know what the week will throw at you. You will have to monitor. You will have to adjust. And just when your adjustments are adjusted, you will have to monitor again…and adjust. And monitor and adjust. Monitor and adjust. And monitor and adjust…all because you are a GREAT TEACHER.

Great teachers do not let plans and preparations rule the week. They are just what they are. Plans and preparations. The week has a plan of its own…and though you don’t let the week master you, you move and roll with it so you can master the week. Plans are not the end, they are just the means, and they can change. Your students and their needs are the end. You know the path to the end will change, and that doesn’t matter as long as you get to the end.

(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)

You, amazing teacher, know what it takes to be an amazing teacher. Not because you are trying to be amazing, but because your students matter most. This is why you need to let go of some of the stress and Sunday night anxiety. Your plans will not work the way you planned them this weekend. Your ideas for the week will change. You will be thrown curve balls on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. You will have to monitor and adjust, monitor and adjust, and monitor and adjust. But…you will make the right choices because you will think about your students above all else.

So, plan and prepare away, Teacher. We do need to plan, I am not saying we don’t. I am just saying that I think we need to let go of some of the Sunday, pre-week stress. It will all work out by Friday if we keep our students as our focus and make the needed weekly choices based on them and not the pressures that come from sources that are not our students.

I promise you, I am speaking to myself as much as I am to you…if not more!

Let’s remember our lost goal this week as we get ready for Monday…our students and their needs.

Let’s remember and breathe.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

This is going to be a great week!

You will be ready when the curtain goes up tomorrow!

You are so awesome! You are one amazing teacher! You are going to make an impact on those students of yours this week, I just know it! I believe in you because you believe in your students! Be amazing and awesome this week! I know you will be! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

PS…Just have to share! I remembered that I had some cool video editing software. I did a little experimental project. It is not great, but it is a start into adding some Dear Teacher/Love Teacher videos into the mix of encouragement. What do you think? Be nice. 🙂

Motivational ABCs: The Movie

Take a Bow…You Rocked!

Image• Posted on November 2, 2013November 3, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Change the World Challenge, General Inspiration, Pep Talk

Waitin’ on the World to Change

Posted on November 1, 2013November 1, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Last Friday, I accidentally kicked off a theme that carried through for a week. The challenge of changing the world. When I wrote it, i did not know that it would resonate with people so much…one of those people being me. It has stuck with me this week. The idea that we, especially we teachers, can change the world is a powerful idea. Not only is it powerful, it is true.

Anyone person can change the world. Teachers have a chance to multiply their change almost exponentially…only the change is done person-to-person and one student at a time. You, me, and every other teacher needs to realize this. It is really what we do. It is a part of the job, It is really part of the focus of what we do. We influence students. We help them to learn, think, and stand on their own.

Students’ personal change while they are in our class, that change that will allow them to face a world that does not yet exist, is the goal. The content is not the goal..though it is the medium through which we teach the skills they need for the world ahead of them…it is the means to the end, not the end itself. We are planting seeds for the future, and the subject and details we teach are just the outer layer of the seed.

Students. They are our “clients.” They are who we work for. They are the concentration area of our job. They are the center of the plans we make for what we do. They are the end goal of our work. They are the work we do. Pure and simple. Students are the change the world needs. We help them learn to be that change. Period. The end. Students.

So…we change the world by focusing on students.

Now what?

The hardest part. We wait. We wait for the world to change. We wait for the seeds to grow. We wait for the plant to mature. We wait for the adult plant to spread seeds of its own. It is the life cycle of plants. It is the life cycle of teaching. It is the life cycle of world change.

It is more than waiting though. When I say that we wait on the world to change, I am not talking about waiting like in the John Mayer song. It is not sitting back and waiting for something to happen. It is not waiting for the world to change itself. We, as teachers, don’t wait that way…and we should teach our students not to wait that way.

We proactively wait. We keep digging. We keep planting more seeds. We keep working on changing the world. We influence more and more people. We connect with more and more students (especially the difficult ones). We keep on going day after day after day. We never give up trying until start seeing some change in some way every where we look.

We work to cause the conditions of change. We wait for change. While we wait, we cause more conditions for change. We wait. While we wait, we…well, you get my drift here. We keep going.

The world WILL change. You are a part of it. To quote from the Kid President song I shared last week, “The world can be better, and you’ll be the cause.” Change is coming. We just have to work and wait….and “keep going, keep going, keep going.”

You an agent of change for AWESOME…because you are awesome. Keep going. Just because you don’t see change, it doesn’t mean that it is not happening. You are doing what it takes! Keep doing what you do, you amazing teacher, you! Keep going. Keep on teaching, Teacher! Oh, and keep going (did I mention that?)!

Love, Teacher

Challenge, General Inspiration, Pep Talk, Reason for Teaching, Reflection

The Lost Goal

Posted on October 31, 2013October 31, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

I am in the trenches with you! This has been a long week. I am tired. I am beat up. I am worn out. I am not broken, but I am a little battered.

Do you feel the same way? If not today, have you recently?

I talk a lot about the pressures and struggles of teaching and the difficulty in finding balance while juggling a thousand things at once. I won’t remind us of that today. We know what we have to do. We know how hard it is. We don’t need to be re-educated on those things we know oh so well.

I am in a reflective mood. In this time of reflection, I am thinking a lot about what are really the roots of my frustration right now. I really don’t think it has anything to do with the students. I don’t think it is the burden of having so many responsibilities every minute of every day. I don’t think it is the pressures form above me in the hierarchy of things. I don’t think it is the content or curriculum. I don’t think it has much to do with the job of teaching at all. I think it has everything to do with me.

I don’t think I have focus.

I am not saying that I am not focused as a teacher. I am not saying that I am not looking to the standards for direction. I am not saying that I have forgotten my heart for students. I am not saying I do not see my place in the span of things at my school. I think I have a focus on all of these things, and everything else that I should.

And therein lies the problem.

The funny thing about focus is that it is very specific and pointed. When you focus on something, everything around it is slightly more blurry, even if just an imperceptible amount. You cannot truly have more than one focus.

What you focus on is the center of what you do. Everything else gets a little less attention and energy. It has to be this way. If it is not, then you are not really focused on anything.

When you focus on more than one thing at the same time (or many, many, many things), your energy is scattered. Your mind is scattered. Your heart and your soul is scattered.

When you are scattered, you are all over the place. You cannot sustain that. It will lead to frustration, heartache, and burnout. You can not run in more than one direction. You can not have more than one main goal. It just is not possible, at least not at the level it takes to be effective and meaningful.

So, that leaves me with the question, “What do I do now, Self?”

I find the goal that matters most. The goal that I lost along the way. I make that my focus. I give that my energy. I give that my all.

And what is that goal?

I don’t even have to think about the question to answer it. My students are my goal. Their growth, maturity, and becoming learners and people that care about other people is what I personally care the most about. Their who I work for, in essence. They are my reason for all that I do as a teacher.

What does this mean, then, to what I do day-to-day?

It means I weigh decisions based on what they need. It means I get to know them so that I know what they need. I means that I make sure I am not losing them for the sake of lesser goals (like following lesson plans to a “t,” sticking to a strategy that I am told is excellent when it is not working for my students, or staying “on-pace” when my students are falling behind). It means that I work on finding strategies that work for them. It means I am willing to have more than one lesson plan for the day because some students need a little more than others. It means I differentiate, I means I encourage and affirm them. It means I write notes, make parent phone calls, and take time to just say, “Hi, how are you doing?” It means that I never give up. It means that I find a way to reach each and every one of my students. No matter what!

If I find the lost goal…if I make the old goal my new one…if I commit to keeping my focus where it matters most…I will change the world. I will change my students. I will change myself.

I don’t know if this rang true to you, but it is an open and honest reflection for me. This was needed. Thanks for reading if you made it this far! Do you need to readjust your focus, too? Join me in doing that today!

You are awesome! If you are here, it is because you are trying to be the best teacher you can be and looking for a boost of encouragement to keep up the fight. I hope you found that today. You deserve to be encouraged! You are a great, awesome, and amazing teacher! Your students are your goal. They are what really matter. Keep going. Keep fighting. Keep making that difference! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

Handwritten Note, Note from Student, Pep Talk

That One Student in Your Class

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Here is a little message you may never get, but you probably need to hear. Keep going! You are awesome! You are amazing! Keep on teaching and keep on making a difference, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

Challenge, Change the World Challenge, Reason for Teaching

The Speed of Change…One by One

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Okay, I found some time to write a post. I like writing posts more than just doing a picture message like the one I did this morning…though they are fun to do. I did not think I would find the time to write, but I finally did. And I found some really cool inspiration that goes right along with my theme this week! We, you and I, need to change the world. Teachers can do it. We need to!

I was reading through some blogs this afternoon, and I came across this message of connecting with students. It was so perfect. This teacher’s message went hand-in-hand with my challenge from last Friday. I gave us all the challenge, myself included here, to change the world by changing our own world, changing students’ worlds, changing other teachers’ worlds, and changing the worlds of those around us, outside of schools. (How have you been doing with this, by the way?) The blog post I read today hit one of these nails right on the head. To change the lives of students we have got to connect with them!

I know what you are thinking…”Duh! Everyone knows that!”

We do…but do we really? Really, really? Really, really, really?

Our actions show what we truly know…or at least believe.

We might know that we need to connect to students, but if someone were to really judge us by our actions would they think that we really and truly believe that it is vital to connect with students?

Take that honest look in the mirror. What is the answer to that question? And I am not talking connecting with some students. I mean trying to have a connection with every student you teach, at least on some teeny, tiny level?

Is that even possible? To connect with every student?

I think so. But it is hard work. You have to be purposeful. You have to try…every day. Find a way to connect. Find a way to build rapport. Find a way to earn a voice. Once you have that voice with a student, USE IT!

Talk to your students. Tell them the truth. Help them to know what they need to work on. Tell them how smart they are. Teach them how to use that smart. Help them use it. Help them build confidence until they act like they know they are smart and capable.

Change your students’ world:

Connect
Build a Bridge
Cross that Bridge
Change a Mind
Change a Life
Change the World

You can do it. You can connect with every student. You can be an agent of change. You can make a difference that lasts a lifetime. Know you can do this. Act on that knowledge. Start tomorrow (or today, depending on when you read this).

Challenge for Today (whenever you read this): Make a purposeful connection with three students today. You can do it! Will you?

You are so amazing! You are so awesome! Do it…change the world by changing your students’s world. The speed of change is slow because it is done one person at a time. Start making those changes now! You can do it! Keep on teaching and changing the world, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

Road to Awesome

Image• Posted on October 29, 2013October 29, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Challenge, Change the World Challenge, General Inspiration, Pep Talk

Change the World

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Last Friday, I gave you a (seemingly) impossible mission. I asked you to change the world. I have to say, I was overwhelmed by the response. The idea really seemed to connect to people. I know that it really connected to me. I have been thinking a lot about the idea of what it takes to change the world and how I can do so as “just one teacher.”

For this reason, the weekly theme song (and theme for the week) is going to build on the post from Friday. This week is going to be all about changing the world. Are you going to ride along with me and help me spark some change? Click play and then read on!

The world is a mess. I think we all feel it. Even the most optimistic among us have to admit that there is a lot wrong with the world at-large. We know it is that way. We know it, and our students know it.

Some of us, though, those optimistic ones I mentioned, don’t see the world as static. It is dynamic. It can change. Pardon my nerdy-ness for a moment, but we at Earth’s surface are moving at over 1000 miles per hour as the planet rotates on its axis. We are moving fast, this should remind us that the world does not stand still. It is moving, it is changing, and the society world can move and change just as quickly.

So, the world can change.

If it can change, let’s change it.

Simple, right?

Maybe.

What would we do if we could change it? Or what would we do if we could change our own little corner of it? What would we want it to be like? What changes would we like to see?

I think this would be debatable…thus politics and politicians. There are so many differing opinions on what the world should be like. Some religions are built around thoughts on what the world should “change” to be like. This one of the hard parts of change. Opinions and beliefs.

I think there is one area of agreement, for the most part, across the board. We all wish the world was better. We wish it were nicer. We wish it were more encouraging. It boils down to one thing…

Kindness.

We all wish the world, and everyone in it, were kinder. Kindness is the key. Kindness is the change that most people could come to a consensus upon. Kindness is change that most of us can agree on.

There is something cool about this. Kindness is the easiest change to bring. Kindness is a change that spreads. Kindness can be like a virus that goes from one person to the next. The change that is kindness can start with one person. Kindness is the kind of change that can start with you.

To start a revolution of kindness is simple. Be kind. I am not talking polite, well-mannered, or moral. I mean kind. Kindness that can only come from the heart. It has to be genuine and true. It has to not care about who it is aimed at. Kindness is not “payback” for kindness shown. Kindness is given freely and to everyone. It is given especially to those who are not kind to you.

What kind of kindness changes the world? How can you do it?

Show kindness to EVERYONE around you. Do small things. Say “hello” to everyone you see. “Good morning. How are you?” are two powerful phrases. High-fives and smiles can change a person’s day, and they, in turn, will help change the day for others. “Good job.” “I like your shoes.” “You are awesome.” These are just words, but they are powerful words of kindness…doubly so when they are random and barely deserved.

Kindness is a feeling that is passed through action. Kindness makes you want to be kind to others. Kindness changes your perspective. Kindness wants you to do better and be better. Kindness is an agent of change, and we so often forget it.

So…you want to change the world? Be kind. Let kindness be the world that people think of when they think of you. Let there be a drop of kindness in each of your footprints each and every day.

Your kindness will change people’s world. They will be kind and change the world of others. Those people will turn and do the same. Before you know it, you (one person) have change the world!

So, how do you feel about this, Teacher? I know that you do little acts of kindness every day. You are a teacher, it comes with the job. Can you be more intentional about it, though. Can you be purposefully kind today, tomorrow, and from now on?

Today’s Change-the-World Challenge: Give 50 high-fives.

Can you do that? Let me add to it to make it a little harder…half, 25, of these have to be random and undeserved. Oh, and make at least ten with an adult and not student. Can you do this today? I know that it sounds a little crazy, but I think you will see it causes a change in you as you try to do this, and I think you will see quite a reaction in others. Want to give it a shot?

I hope you have a great day and great week. You are so awesome! You are changing the world! You are an amazing teacher! Keep on teaching and changing the world, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

PS… The “Kindness” poster/graphic is available as a part of a set of printable posters that is available to buy. I know I keep talking about it, but I am so excited about these posters and how they can motivate students (intrinsically) to keep moving and pressing on! The Motivational ABCs Poster/Word Wall are available in the Dear Teacher/Love Teacher TeachersPayTeachers Store…check it out, if you haven’t had the chance! The image in this post is one of the printable posters in the set. Oh, and the posters are on a deep discount sale this week! You have $2 to motivate students, don’t you? 🙂