Author: Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

I am a middle school teacher who lives in the upstate of South Carolina.
Posted in Choose Positive, Hope for Teachers, You Are Awesome!!!

Celebrate the Small Stuff!

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Feel free to us this picture, but please link it back to this blog.
Feel free to us this picture, but please link it back to this blog.

Dear Teacher,

We, as teachers, are really, really, REALLY good at one thing…sweating the “small stuff”.  It is in our natures.  It is who we are.  It is a job requirement.  There are countless details, issues, and expectations that we juggle and balance ever second of every school day.  It is a part of the job, and we know this.  We take the “small stuff” seriously!  Sometimes, though, all of the little things overwhelm us and fall on us like a land slide…or at least this happens to me.

It has hit me recently, that I need to work against that happening.  I need something in place to keep that avalanche from overtaking me.  I need a retaining wall to keep my mountain of “small stuff” at bay so that it does not collapse and smother me!  And I accidentally found a way to do this…ironically, it involves using the little things to my advantage.

A stone or brick retaining wall can hold back a lot of dirt and sediments.  These walls support a hill so that it does not erode and fall apart.  The stones or bricks are stacked in a way that retain what ever is behind them…thus the name retaining wall.  🙂    However, one or a couple of bricks/stones do not do the job.  It takes a lot to have a wall.  Compared to the hill, one brick is small.  But an army of bricks can tame that hill and hold it back.

We need a retaining wall to hold back our millions of small things so that we can survive each day, especially when those things are teetering on the brink of falling down on us.  How do we do this?  We take some of our small things and build that wall that we need.  We need to celebrate the “small stuff”!!  We need to reflect and find the small things that we have succeeded will and have a mini-party and remember them throughout the day.  We need to bind a bunch of these together, see that we are making progress, and use them as motivation to keep chugging away and moving over our mountains of little things.

What can you celebrate today?

  • Find something in each of your students, or a difficult handful, that you can look at and see growth…and then tell them that you are proud of them for it.
  • Look at your to do list and be happy about the few things that you have gotten to-done.
  • Ask a colleague to tell you something that they see in you that is going well, and offer the same feedback to him or her.
  • Fix one thing you can fix today, fix it, and then let yourself smile about it.
  • Reflect and find one or two things you can be really proud of yourself for right now, and let yourself be proud…don’t let humble yourself out of a celebration.

These are just a few suggestions, can you think of more?  Please share if you come up with some cool things that me and other teachers can look to and celebrate so that we can all start building our walls!

I will practice what I preach right now.  Let me celebrate some of the “small stuff” about this blog that has happened in the three weeks since I have started:

  • There have been almost 8000 views in these three weeks!
  • Last Friday, there was almost 1000 views to the blog in one day!
  • The Homepage/Archives have been viewed over 1000 times!
  • Last Friday’s post, Friday of Awesomeness!,  had over 500 views, and most of them were that day!
  • There are 41 blog followers and 26 Twitter followers!
  • The blog and blog posts have been shared over 100 times!
  • One of my Tweets was favorited by @iamkidpresident.
  • There is now a Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Facebook Page.

I need to let myself feel good about these achievements!  And I need to thank you for making them happen.  Thank you, Teacher!  You are awesome!

Now, it is your turn!  Start celebrating your “small stuff” and build your wall!  I know you have a lot to celebrate because you are a great teacher, and you are AWESOME!  Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Oh yeah, do not forget to do your homework!

I will close with a video of a science teacher having a personal dance party…watch and enjoy…it is funny and fun even if you don’t teach science!

Love, Teacher

For more hope and encouragement: @DearTeacherLT (Twitter) and Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Facebook Page.

Posted in Facebook Page

Face to Facebook!

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Just wanted to give you a quick update…the encouragement revolution has spread to Facebook! If you are a Facebook-er, check out the page! Like it, if you’d like. 🙂

Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Facebook Page

You are awesome, and I hope you had a wonderful day!

Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

Posted in Hope for Teachers, Note to Teachers, Pep Talk

Pick Your Pep Talk

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

To quote one of my new personal heroes, Kid President, “I think we all need a pep talk.”

I was thinking about what to write this morning, I realized how tired I was and not ready for the day.  I need a pep talk.  And if I need one, you probably need one.  So, I will pep talk myself and you at the same time.

Because I do not know where you are or what you may be going through and need right now, I am going give a bunch of pep mini-talks.  Figure out which one you need, and run with it.  It is choose-your-own-pep-talk-adventure day.  🙂

Bad Week at School (there are three main possible bad kind of weeks…pick the pep talk you need):

  • Teacher, you know it does get better.  Another day is always around the corner.  Things will pick up.  You will pick things up.  You are good like that.  Why not pick things up today.  Be the change your week needs.  Control the things you can control, be awesome at them, and let everything else go.  Bad weeks are not forever.  Turn this week around and look for the good.  You can do it.  You know you can.  You are awesome, so make the rest of the week awesome.  Be the awesome.
  • Teacher, your students love you.  You know that they do.  It may not seem like it after the week you have had, but they do love you.  Be patient.  Be understanding.  Be awesome to them.  They will awesome you back.  I promise.  Pick a couple that need extra patience and care…give them that patience and care, and they may turn and influence the rest of your students!  It gets better.  It will get better.  Just wait for the better and do not give up.
  • Teacher, administration is just doing their job.  Even if things seem over the top, just do what you do best.  Focus on your kids.  Let every choice you make be traced back to what is best for your students.  Things will usually pan out in your favor if you do.  You are great at your job.  You are awesome!  Do not stress out.  Do not let the pressure make you think less of yourself.  Keep on being the best teacher you can be.  Take the criticism and let it make you better.  If it is undeserved, then find a way to move past it.  I know you can.  You are awesome.  Remember, whatever it is, it will soon pass…or at least pass eventually!  Keep teaching, Teacher.  Keep pressing on!

Issues Outside of School (pick the one you need):

  • Teacher, you have a job to do.  I know it is hard, but find a way to leave what is heavy on your mind and heart at the doorway of your classroom.  Love your kids.  Turn your stress and pressure into a motivation to show your students how much you care.  Slow down at school.  Enjoy what you love doing: teaching.  You are a teacher because you love it.  Love what you do and let that help you relieve some of that outside stress.  You can leave all of that until the afternoon.  You are awesome.  You are a professional.  Push through that personal pain and be the awesome teacher that you are!  Let your students love you through whatever it is.
  • Teacher, you are not on your own.  You are surrounded by teachers that understand.  Talk to someone you trust.  Let them help you carry your burden.  If you need some time to yourself today, find someone to help you work that out.  Your fellow teachers understand.  We have all had those times.  Do not carry this alone if you do not have to.  When life gets to be too much, you can not let that affect your relationship with your students.  Find someone to help.  Help is out there and ready.  You are not alone!

Summer Time Teacher (I can’t address everything, but hopefully you can find something to apply):

  • Teacher, you are on a break, but you are still a teacher.  Relax, but do not get lazy.  Get something ready for next year.  Work on something today.  Find something cool you can do in the coming year.  Read a book or search for one to start.  Don’t forget who you are on the inside…a teacher.  Research, talk to other teachers, brainstorm…do something!  You are awesome and I know you will think about teaching in some way…and that is one of those reasons you are a great teacher!
  • Teacher, STOP working.  Take a break.  Next year will get here soon enough.  Spend time with your friends and family.  Play with your kids, if you have them.  Spend time with your significant other, if you have one.  See some friends.  Do something that is not school related.  As a matter of fact, do not think about school at all.  You are an awesome teacher, but take a break!  You do not have to be Teacher of the Year over the summer.  Relax and recharge for next year.  Your students need you to!

Okay, I know I have not addressed everything.  I hope I wrote something that helps you!  You are awesome, Teacher!  You are believed in!  You are cared for!  Go out and do something awesome today!

Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

For more hope and encouragement: @DearTeacherLT (Twitter) and Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Facebook Page.

Posted in Challenge, Hope for Teachers

Homework of Hope

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

(c)DearTeacherLT2013

Dear Teacher,

As a fellow teacher, I would be remiss not to give you a little homework.  What is a teacher without an assignment to give?  This is, in a sense, happy homework.  I hope that you will give this challenge a try!

Let me give just a little background.  If you have been reading for the last couple of weeks, you know that this blog was born out of a project that I gave myself.  I challenged myself to write a personal note to each of my students.  As I wrote, I found myself wishing I had someone to write me some words of encouragement.  I realized that most teachers probably felt the same way, so I took on the grander challenge of trying to encourage as many teachers as I can…that can’t be hard.  Cheering up and giving hope to an entire group of people in potentially one of the most discouraging careers.  Piece of cake.  🙂

What I found though all of this, is that giving hope gives me hope.  It spurs me on to bigger and greater things.  Helping you helps me be better.  Talking about your awesomeness helps me feel a little more awesome.  This has led me to another challenge at school.  I hope to write an encouraging note to every teacher in the next two weeks before school gets out.  I want my school to have a climate of hope and encouragement.  Maybe I can be one of the catalysts for this!

That leads me to your homework assignment.  I want you to be a part of spreading the awesome around.  I want to help facilitate you as a catalyst of hope and encouragement where ever you are.  I know you can do it!  You can because you are awesome!

The Assignment:

  1.  Random Acts of Awesome: I want you to pick three fellow teachers and do something randomly great for them.  Write a note.  Bring them coffee.  Watch their students at bus holding.  Surprise them with awesome and then tell them it is because of how awesome you think they are, and then tell them to pass on the awesome.  You can do this even if you are out of school for the summer already.  Take someone to lunch.
  2. Share a Post:  I have had a lot of feedback about how this blog has encouraged people.  I want you to share this encouragement with as many people as you can.  Part two of your assignment is to pick your favorite post of this blog and share it somewhere.  Share it on Facebook with people you know need it.  Tweet it.  Share it in an Edmodo group or email it to teachers at you school.  If you were encouraged, it will probably encourage others.
  3. Tell Me About It:  The last step of your assignment is to come back here and tell me about it.  What did you do?  What was the reaction?  Did it spur on others to join the encouragement revolution?  The stories will very much encourage me and I can’t wait to read them.  If you do not want to post your story here, you can email me: dearteacher@outlook.com.

(c)DearTeacherLT2013

I was going to say that the assignment is due Friday, but take as much time as you need!  I can’t wait to hear about it!

Teacher, you are awesome.  Go out there and be awesome to others!

Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

For more hope and encouragement: @DearTeacherLT (Twitter) and Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Facebook Page.

Posted in Choose Positive, Hope for Teachers, Note to Teachers

Running on Empty

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

(c)DearTeacherLT2013
(c)DearTeacherLT2013

Dear Teacher,

How are you feeling?  Are you ready for this week?  If you are not on summer break yet, you are probably just coming off of a long weekend.  Are you ready for this week?  Are you rested and ready to go?  Are you prepared to meet this week head-on?

Several months ago, after a trip to the grocery store, I was looking at our refrigerator.  It is a wonderful feeling to have your cupboards and fridge stocked.  You know that you have enough food to last a while.  There is security and comfort in that.  You do not have to worry about having something to eat, at least not right now.  You are full and so is your kitchen.  It feels pretty good.

It does not take long for that to change.  You go back to the fridge, there is a lot less.  You look in the cabinents, and it is harder to find what you might want.  Supplies are becoming more limited.  You have food, but just not as much.  The securtiy and comfort there had decreased.

Then comes the point at which you go to get something, and there is not much left at all.  The fridge and cupboards are almost empty.  You look for what you are craving, but it is not there.  You make due with what you have, but it is by far not what you want.  Your rations are sparce.  The security and comfort is almost gone.  It is time to go back to the store and stock up all over again.  Your house is running on empty, and it is time for a fill-up.

This is the same way with our energy, enthusiasm, and excitement about teaching.  Sometimes we are full.  Sometimes we are empty.  And most of the time we are somewhere in between.

The full times are wonderful.  We are brimming to the top with ideas, patience, and love for our students.  Going the extra mile is easy becuase we have extra to give.  We are a full refrigerator ready to give out food and drink that fills other people up and gives them what they need to live and be vibrant, too.  We are roaring and ready to go.  We do not need a pep talk, we are the pep talk.  Maybe you are there right now, especially after a long weekend.  Ride out this high and enjoy it, Teacher!  Memories of these times are often what help us get though the low times.  Do good in your fullness and remember it well!

The empty times are awful.  They are, for the most part, the opposite of the full times.  You have nothing to give.  You are tired.  Patience is out of the window.  Excitement left a long time ago.  You are on the edge of burn-out or already fallen off of that cliff in to the abyss of teacher exhaustion.  You have nothing left in your tank, yet you have to keep on giving.  You are the scene in the inspirational education movie (e.i…Stand and Deliver) where the protagonist is ready to give up and call it quits.  You don’t know if you can keep doing this.  At least not this year.  Maybe you are there.  We have all been there.  Some of us get there once a school year. Teacher, don’t give up!  You can make it!  You ARE awesome and you ARE making a difference!

Then there are the highs and lows in the middle of these extremes.  You are up.  You are down.  You are all around.  We spend most of our time somewhere in the middle.  You are probably here right now.  Some days are better than others.  You get close to the top or close to the bottom, but you keep leveling out.  This is not a bad place to be.  This is where we pace ourselves as teachers.  Teaching is most definitely a marathon and not a sprint.  Keep pressing on, Teacher.

No matter where you are, remember why you are a teacher.  To make a difference in the lives of your students, both for now and their future.  If you are full, enjoy that awesome time of fullness!  If you are empty, remember you full times and find one or two students that you can focus the remaining energy on.  If you are somewhere in the middle…trudge through and press on.  Pace yourself and focus your energy where it will do the most good.  You can’t do everything!

Also, remember you students are people, too.  They are either empty, full, or somewhere in between, just like you.  You may or may not know what they have going on at home.  Try to work with them and be understanding.  Use your knowledge of them to judge whether or not you think they may be at an empty time.  If they are, use what you have to fill them up.  Teach them how to know and how to ask for help.  You are their model, and you are their grocery store.  Keep your students as full as you can!

Oh, and look out for your colleagues.  Help them through the empty times.  Glean off of them in their full times.  You are all in this together!

Teacher, thanks for reading this long post!  You are awesome!  I hope this gives you some hope and encouragement!  Pass this on to someone you think needs it the most.

You are a great and wonderful teacher, in full times and empty times.  Do what you do best!  Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

For more hope and encouragement: @DearTeacherLT (Twitter) and Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Facebook Page.

Posted in Memorial Day, Teacher

Don’t Forget to Remember

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

I realize that all of the readers of this blog are not Americans, but most are.  Today is Memorial Day here in the United States.  I know that most years, this day passes and I do not often think about the meaning of it.  It is a day off of teaching and a day to go to a barbeque and go swimming.  I do not want to do that this year.  Celebrating the nearing of summer and the warm up is great…but I do not want to let this day go by without doing what this day was set aside for: remembering.

I am inserting a video here that gives the history of Memorial Day.  It is from Whitehouse.gov.  No matter where you lie politically or philosophically, today is a day to set that aside.  We need to remember those that died for our freedom to disagree with one another.  They died for the freedom for us to think on our own, create, and to teach others.  Take a minute and check out the video.  By the way, this is kid friendly and something you could use in your classroom to make sure you students understand why they had a day off today.

Teacher, you have the freedom to teach.  You get to teach your students to learn.  You get to teach your students to think on their own.  Agree or disagree with war, people died for you to have the freedom to live your life in freedom and speak your heart and mind.  We live in an amazing country.  We need to remember those show gave their lives and gave their loved ones for those freedoms.

Thank about those who died or have lost someone.  Say a prayer for the families of those who are putting their lives on the line as you read this.  Lay some flowers as a memorial.  Thank someone who have lost a family member.  Most of all, just remember the high price of your freedom.

Enjoy your family.  Enjoy the warmth.  Enjoy the pool.  Enjoy your freedoms…but don’t forget to remember.  Teach your students to do the same.

You are awesome, as always.  Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

For more hope and encouragement: @DearTeacherLT (Twitter) and Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Facebook Page.