Category: Pep Talk

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

Change the World

Posted on 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.

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

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?  🙂

Posted in General Inspiration, Get Psyched!, Pep Talk, Perseverance

The Attitude of Edison

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

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

Dear Teacher,

Don’t give up.  That is basically all that I want to tell you this morning.  Just don’t give up.  Don’t stop.

I know that the weight of teaching is heavy.  We push and push, but the push back is often more intense.

We can see what our students need more than they can.  You know your students.  You know how close they are to understand what you are teaching them.  You know how close they are to becoming more complete self-learners.

But the resistance makes it hard to keep moving.

You are beat up.  You are tired.  You are exhausted.  You have very little left to give.

It would be easier to drop back and punt…you can try again another day.

Don’t stop.  Don’t give in.  Don’t move back.  Keep pushing.  Keep going!

You don’t see it from where you are, but you are so very close to success with your students.  You see how close they are, but guess what?  You are SO CLOSE to getting them there.  I know it is hard, but don’t stop!

Find your reserves.  You have some hidden energy and strength left.  Find it.  Use it.  You are seriously almost there.  Just give a little more.  You can do this.  I know you can because you are awesome!

Two of my favorite quotes of all time are from Thomas Edison:

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

You are on the verge of success.  A miracle is on the horizon.  Chase it.  Go for it.  You are almost there!  Push on.  Further on and further in.  You’ve got this, you amazing Teacher, you!

Take on the the attitude of Edison today.  Don’t give up.  Don’t let apparent failures stop you.  Failure never means you can’t do something, it just means you need to keep trying and find some new ways.

You don’t have to stop.  You have this.  You are close.  Keep going and keep moving forward!

Your students will watch you, they will learn to do the same thing.  They won’t give up and snatch defeat from the jaws of looming victory.  They will keep trying until they get it…just like they saw you do.

Don’t give up!

You are an amazingly awesome teacher!  You have what it takes.  You have the strength and fortitude.  Prove it today!  You will see success, so keep pushing on and keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

PS…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 (or Growth Mindset ABC’s) 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.

Posted in Challenge, General Inspiration, Pep Talk

One Thing

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

As I talked about yesterday, we have so much to do, think, and and be throughout our each day.  I am feeling the weight of the pull of the thousand things that are tugging at me today.

I am trying to take my own advice and try to make sure that my focus is on the students and what they need.  The hard part is deciding what those things are!  Even if I move my focus to students and their needs, there are still so many things to choose from.  Picking a direction and running at it is important, but knowing which direction is best each day can be a challenge.

The idea of just finding “one thing” comes to mind.  One thing, one focus, one direction is all that we need.  We just have to make a decision.  How do you do that?

Reflect.

Where did you get to yesterday in your content?  What do your students seem to be lacking from prior content?  What are the learning/thinking skills that they need most?  What strategies are they responding to the most?

Get all of this into your mind.  What is the one thing that stands out the most?  What is the biggest student need across the board?  What is the one area that needs to most work or most support?

That is your “one thing,”

Make this deficit area, thinking/processing sill, or content topic your goal and focus today.  Make everything else revolve around it.  Let the noise of all of the other thousand things be in the background as you work through this one thing that students need most.

Will you have to answer to why you made this choice?  Sure.  Might it cause conflict?  Yes.  But no matter what you choose to focus on will cause other things to fall to the wayside and cause the same kind of drama.  You just have to make sure the thing you choose is student-focused.  That is all that really matters.

Remember, when you are asked, “Why are you doing _______________?”  Your answer better have “students” at its core!

Students are our goal and focus.  Don’t be afraid to make a stand for them.  It will all come out in the end.  Students and their needs…their one thing each day…will never disappoint or let you down.  The short-run may hold conflict, but that conflict won’t outlast the joy of students learning and learning how to learn in your classroom.  That trumps all and will win the day in 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)
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)

You are awesome and amazing!  I know you know how to make “one thing” choices…don’t be afraid to!  I have your back and so do all of the other teachers out there.  Student learning is never a bad focus.  Stand firm and take a stand today with it!  Never fear it!  Keep on finding those “one things” and teach on, Teachers!

Love, Teacher

Posted in General Inspiration, Hope for Teachers, Pep Talk, Theme Song

Freedom [when you let it go]

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Great Monday morning to you!  I know, there are very few times in the thick of the school year that we view Mondays as necessarily great…we are often being pulled from every angle and feeling like we are ten seconds from being ripped into pieces.  Monday only makes it worse because we look forward to the pulling starting over fresh and new.  It doesn’t have to be this way!

How do we keep ourselves together when everything wants us to fall apart, especially on a Monday?  That is what today and this week’s theme song is all about.  The best part is that I get to share one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite artists with you, and you probably have never heard of him or the song.  Get ready to be a fan.

Click play and read on (just in case you are new and didn’t know 🙂 ).  When you are done, you might want to go back and watch the video.  It is pretty cool.

Teacher, you have so much on your plate.  You have things that need to get done.  You have expectations to meet.  You have classroom management issues to deal with.  You have parents to call.  You have plans to plan and implement.  You have profession development to go to and show evidence of using and applying.  You have test to write, give, get data from, reflect on, and plan to use to differentiate and raise student achievement.  You have books to read, papers to grade, and Common Core to implement.

You have people constantly looking over your shoulder telling you what to do and who to be as a teacher.  You have parents who don’t think you are handling their child correctly.  You have administration analyzing your every word and move in the classroom.  You have curriculum specialists giving commentary on every strategy and technique you use and giving you tips and pointers on how do do things differently.  You have ever changing district, state, and federal mandates and standards that are to be followed to the “t” with little variation.

You have a life outside of school.  You have pressures from other places.  You have family.  You have friends.  You have a life…at least you try to have one.

You have students.  Students who need you to be more than just a implementer of plans.  They need you, the person.  They need your heart, soul, and mind to help them navigate through the storms of life and education.  They need a mentor.  They need a teacher.  They need you.

Students are why you do what you do.  Students are the key to education.  Students are the ends and the means.  Without them there are no standards, tests, data, professional development, or lesson plans.

Students are the heart of it all.  Students are your heart.  Students are why you are where you are.  Students make you a teacher.

You are pulled and yanked in a thousand directions every day.  You feel that weight the most on Sunday nights and Monday mornings.  The waves of the life of a teacher are constantly trying to pull you under.  The current is strongest at the beginning of the week.

What do you do?  How do you combat this?  How do you go against the flow that wants to drag you down?  How can you make a Monday feel great and something you look forward to seeing?

One word: STUDENTS,

We have to learn to to be brave enough to run into the flames of the fight to let every decision we make be completely centered on our students.  We have to train ourselves to let things go for the sake of our students.  They need to be the answer to every question that starts with “Why did you…”  Students, their hearts, and their minds need to be key.  Few people know them like you do, and you need to stand up and say what you think will work best for them.

It is hard, though.  It is hard to let go of some of the anxiety and fear of not meeting the expectations of others.  Not meeting deadlines.  Having to answer those hard “why” questions.  I can’t tell you how to do this for you.  I can tell you, though, that it is worth it.

I have been teaching long enough to know that expectations, standards, and mandates change.  The current of education moves with the latest and greatest ideas and research, but often it is a circular pattern that always comes back to best practices that have been around for a long time.  Tap into that and you will see that it always comes back to some of the same themes.  Follow those themes and you can keep up with the changes (I will try to write about some of those themes later).

I am not saying to rebel or not follow guidelines and mandates.  I am definitely not saying that.  I am just saying that you will start to remember why you love being a teacher when the students return to being your focus for all that you do.  And if you get off from the expectations set for you, make sure that your answer has something to do with the specific needs of your students.  That is what is key and paramount.

Let go of the fear.  Let go of the anxiety.  Let the students be the reason for all that you do.  Make them the goal.  Open up your heart and mind to letting them come first.  You will start to feel the freedom that comes from that.  You will see that everything comes back around.

You may have to answer questions or be “fussed” at from time to time.  Don’t let that worry you.  One day, when a student comes back and tells you the influence you had on them and how that changed their life, what are you going to remember?  Are you going to remember the lecture you were given or are you going to remember why you became a teacher?  I think I know the answer.

Let things go and let yourself make choices in your classroom and with your time that come out of love and care for your students.  I promise, when you let it go it will come right back to you.  You will make it through and be a better teacher for it!

Don’t be afraid to let go!

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

You are awesome!  You are making such a difference in the lives of your students.  Keep going.  Don’t act out of fear but act out of love and concern for your students.  You will never regret it!  You are amazing!  Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

PS…In case you missed the announcement yesterday, I am very excited to announce the Motivational ABCs Poster/Word Wall now available in the Dear Teacher/Love Teacher TeachersPayTeachers Store!  Check it out, if you haven’t had the chance!  The image above is one of the printable posters in the set.

Posted in General Inspiration, Pep Talk, Poster/Graphic, Teacher Poem

Your Teaching Heart

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Your heart is for your students.  They don’t always see that.

You wear your heart on your sleeve.  It gets bumped and bruised.

You teach your heart out every day.  It is on the floor by the end of most days.

Your heart breaks for some of your students.  You can’t always put those pieces back together.

Some students take a little bit of your heart with them when they leave.  You gladly let them have it.

Your heart bleeds for your students each class.  They know, and they do need that from you.

Your heart aches when they don’t get it.  They feel it, too, and they keep trying for you.

You make your heart available.  The students take that to their heart.

Your heart is for your students.  Their heart will come to you.

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

Don’t give up!.  Pour your heart out.  It is worth it!  You are awesome and amazing!  Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

PS…The Pinterest winner will be announced tomorrow!

Posted in Note from Student, Pep Talk, Perseverance, Poster/Graphic

Letter from Student (that you may never get): What you never knew…

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

This is a letter that you may never get, but that does not make it any less true.  We often never know our influence.  Don’t forget that everything you do matters.  Keep not giving up!  Keep doing everything you can to reach ever student that you can.  You never know how much that they need all that you say and do…even if it just making them complete assignments or retaking a test.  It all matters, and it will come back to them…even if you never get to see it or hear about it!

You are awesome!  The difference is being made.  Keep on being relentless!  And, as always, keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)
Posted in Pep Talk, Perseverance, Poster/Graphic, Theme Song

Standing Outside the Fire

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

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

Dear Teacher,

Well, I am a day late, but it is still early in the week and I bet we could all use a theme song for it…especially those who had a day off yesterday.  So let’s get to it.  This song is going to be a “blast from the past” for a lot of us, but for some it may be the first time to hear this song.  Whether it is new to you or a reminder of more youthful days, this song is a great theme for teachers and one we should hear and think about.

Click play, get through the ad if there is one, and then read on.

Teacher, like it or not, we are heroes.  We fight battles, we run into danger, and we do the impossible.  If not literally, we all do this figuratively.  We take on the world of our students and help them through it and get them to the other side into adulthood and the future.

Not all teachers take this seriously.  Some teachers look at this as more as a job than a calling and desire.  They come in, survive the day, and put up with their students.  They tow the line.  They don’t step on toes.  They teach what and how they are told to teach.  They do little connect to students and see the student as the goal…the content is the goal and teaching it is success.

These teachers “stand outside the fire.”

That is not you, Teacher.

You dance within the flames.  You take what you do and what you are in stride and with confidence.  You know teaching is more than, well, teaching.  It is connecting.  It is getting to know your students.  It is understanding your students.  It is understanding the teaching and learning dynamic.  It is teaching skills outside of your subject area.  It is taking risks.  It is being bold.  It is being brave.  It is taking on the fight and being the hero that your students need you to be.

You are not content with the status quo.  You are not happy with just teaching your standards.  Your students need more.  You need more.

You are not afraid to step on toes when it comes to the needs of your students.  You know what they need, you know how they learn, you know what they are capable of and their potential.  You make choices for them, not for who is watching.

You get to know their families.  You help their parents and guardians know how to help them learn more at home.  You allow their family input on ways to help the student in the classroom.  You make it a team effort and don’t try to do it all on your own.

You look for help from the teachers around you.  You are not afraid to try new things in your classroom.  You look around and see what is working and not working and then seek out strategies from others for whom things are definitely workings.  You are not afraid to change.

You are also not afraid to reflect.  You take a look at students and what they seem to be learning and not learning, and then you make adjustments in you and how you are teaching.  You look at data.  You are not afraid of data.  You let data help you make instructional choices because it gives you a view of what your students need.

You are one of the great ones, Teacher!  You do not stand outside the fire.  You are in the thick of it.  You are dancing around with the flames jumping all around you, and you love every minute of it!  You are a hero.  You are a teacher.  Your students need you!

You are awesome and amazing.  Your “fire dance” is making a difference.  You are making a difference.  Keep on teaching and keep on running into the fire, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

PS …The poster/graphic this morning is one of a line of printable posters that I created and made available on the TeachersPayTeachers Store. They will be called “Motivational ABCs.”

Posted in Challenge, Pep Talk

a Word from the (kid) President…and Pinterest Contest

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Good morning, Teachers!

I hope your week is going well.  Thank you to all of you who have commented through the blog and Edmodo to let me know what the posts here mean to you.  Really!  It keeps me motivated to find the time to post.  I truly appreciate it!

Okay, so I am a little late.  Yesterday I finally saw the Kid President message to students and teachers…sad part is, I was one of the Twitter teachers constantly hounding them to do one!  It is a great little message!  I waited until this morning to share, because I figured it would make a great mid-week, Wednesday morning message.  The way I am dragging this morning, I think I made a good choice.  🙂

Without further ado…

As a science teacher, I love his science lesson!

“You’re here.  You take up space.  You MATTER.  It’s just science, man”

So awesome!

I also loved when he said:

“We can all be awful sometimes, but we can also be awesome.  It’s time to be more awesome.  And that’s what it’s time for.”

So, let’s do that today, Teachers.  Let’s be more awesome that awful.  It is time to be more awesome.  Let every one of us be more awesome today!

In other news…

I did not create this image. This image is from www.pinterest.com.
I did not create this image. This image is from http://www.pinterest.com.

Dear Teacher/Love Teacher has embraced Pinterest!  To celebrate, I am going to kick off a Pinterest contest.  I don’t have much to give, but I thought about it what I can give, I think, is kind of cool.  The winner of the Pinterest Contest will get a forever coupon for the TeachersPayTeachers Store.  Anything on there now and in the future is yours for free…and I am working on some cool things (I think).  I will keep the winner posted when something new comes on the store, and he or she just has to let me know if they want it and I will email it.  Like I said, it is not much, but it is something!

Here is how the contest will work:

  • Step One: You have to be on Pinterest.
  • Step Two: Follow the Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Pinterest page.
  • Step Three: Create a Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Board.
  • Step Four: Pick your favorite three Dear Teacher/Love Teacher posts (or more) and pin them to the Board.
  • Step Five: Fill out the form below and in the “website” section, put the URL of your Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Board.

Go back

Your message has been sent

The contest ends on Tuesday, October 15th, and I will randomly pick a winner on Wednesday, October 16th.

Go, Pinterest!

I did not create this image. This image is from www.pinterest.com.

I did not create this image. This image is from http://www.pinterest.com.

You are so awesome and amazing!  Have a great and wonderful day and rest of the week!  Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher!

Posted in General Inspiration, Get Psyched!, Pep Talk, Theme Song, Uncategorized

Wavin’ Flag (and teaching our students to do the same)

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

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

Dear Teacher,

Good Monday morning to you!  I know, Mondays can be hard, but it is a new week and time to get pumped up for it.  I think I found a good song to help you do that!

In case you are new to my Monday morning posts, click play and then read on.  It is time for your weekly theme song.  🙂

Teacher friend, we have the most amazing job in the world.  We teach.  Well, we do more than just teach, but that is all a part of what being a teacher means.

What we do can be difficult, but that makes it no less amazing.  I know that new weeks bring new challenges and stresses, but we can’t let that bring us down.  It is a new day and a new week, and we get to start over…no matter what last week or yesterday was like!  We need to find the joy in that!

It is a bright, sunny, new start!  Even if it is raining where you are.  We can lift our head up.  We can wave our flag.  We can find freedom in the newness of every day!

We need to.  We have to.  There is no way around it.  It is a part of our job as teachers!

A part of our job?  Really, DearTeacherLoveTeacher Guy?

Yes, it is a part of our job!

Why?

I am glad that you asked!  It is a part of our job because, as I said, being a teacher is more than just teaching.  A part of what we do is to model life for our students.  They look up to us.  They rely on us.  They see us as a model of how to “do life.”  If we do something, say something, or act in someway…they see it.  They absorb it.  They analyze it.  And they mirror it.

Are we helping them prepare for life as well-balanced adults?  What is the picture that we are giving them?  What is the model that we are putting in front of them to follow?  If they mimic us, what would we see?

How we react, how we act, how we cope, how we change, how we “do life” is constantly under the microscope of some of the most keen-eyed scientists in the world, our students.  They are watching.  They are waiting.  They want to see what we do and how we live.

We never truly know the environment that our students come from, and we do not know the models for life that they have at home.  They may need another way to think and react.  They may need a different view on life.  Are we showing that to our students?  Are we showing another option than what they see at home?

True, a lot of our students may get great visions of life at home…but not all of them.  Also, if they have great models at home, they are still watching you and others to see what it is like for other people.  We are being analyzed no matter what.

So, are you showing your students how to embrace each and every day as a new start with confidence and a sense of freedom?  Are we showing them how to start over?  Are we teaching them to hold up their heads and wave their flags?

I know that you are showing your students what they need to see.  I also know that if you have had some bad days with this that you will start fresh today and make some positive changes.  I know that you love and care for you students, and you will do all that you can to help them learn how to “do life” well!  You are awesome and amazing!  Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

PS…by the way, I am running a sale in my DearTeacher/LoveTeacher Store on TeachersPayTeachers.  I have two new notes available.  The picture at the top is one of them, and the picture that follows is another.  The students and teachers at my school love getting and using these notes.  You just print, cut, and write on the backs of them.  Join me in spreading encouragement and causing a positive revolution!

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