A couple of weeks ago I shared a pep talk for teachers (and students) from the Kid President and announced a Pinterest Contest. Today I saw that the KP was “songified” (along with a new video)…and since I was to announce the Pinterest Contest today, I thought it was perfect timing.
There is some good news and some bad news with the Pinterest Contest…so let me share the Kid President video first. Then I will talk about the contest. Why get straight to the point when I can distract you first?? Maybe you will be less mad. 🙂
Sing it, Kid Pres!
Uh oh, is the distraction over? Okay.
The bad news first. There was a glitch with my email (or user error), and most of the email entries were lost the the internet ether. I do apologize! I did have a way to pick the winner, but I have no way to contact said winner.
SO…
I need everyone who entered to fill out the contact form again. I did notice that some people that followed on Pinterest and set up the board with pins never sent the form in, anyway. So I need the 41 of you who tried to enter to fill out this form again. I am sorry. I will pick a winner on Sunday night.
You are awesome! You are making the world better! Keep making it even better and teaching your students to do the same! Oh, and keep on teaching, Teacher!
Good morning! Ready or not, a new week is here. Whether you are at the beginning, middle, or end of a school year, Mondays can be rough. They are especially difficult if you are feeling the grind of the work that we do. This is why I do my Monday posts. This is why I give you a theme song for the day and week. Sometimes I have a good idea for the song I want to use and words to write to go with it, sometimes it just comes together when I go looking for a song.
This morning I had a song and words in mind, but then when the search for the song began something else happened. I found a song I have never heard that is amazing…and the message from the song is timely and needed by me, so I figure other people are in the same boat. I hope so, it is always weird when the message is just for me! Anywho, for those who know the deal, click play and read on. If you are new to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher, click play, get past the ads, and then read on.
If you have time, watch the video again after reading. It is a pretty inspirational video, at least it was for me!
Teacher, you stand out in a crowd. Not because you want to, it is more because you have to. You stand in front of a group of students every day. You are in the spotlight. You lead a group of people that need you to make choices that affect their future. It is quite overwhelming, if you think about it, but you take it in stride. It is what you are made for…it is what you do and want to do.
Embracing your role, though, doesn’t make it any easier. And it is coupled with many other aspects of your job where you have to make choices that put a bulls-eye on you. You have to fight curriculum battles. You have to work on classroom management. You have to answer to parents. You have to answer to students. You have to answer to administration. You have to answer to your department. You have to answer to your team. You have to answer to your district. You have to…well, I think you get the point. You know this. You are front and center for everything that you do and say in your classroom and beyond.
You have a lot of hats. You play a lot of roles. You do so many things, yet you have the heat of eyes staring at you constantly as you try to make the right decisions day after day after day. You are, like the video, dancing in a crowd of people who are all trying to figure out what you are doing and why.
Sometimes, with all of that, there is pressure to put on a show. There is the temptation to just do what is expected and never be outside of the box. Even when you know that your students need more, the cop-out path of just following the status quo is always in front of you. It is a way out. It is an escape. If you take that route, you can just blame the system if things do not pan out. “I was just following orders” is so much easier to say than “I took a risk, it did not work out, and I am sorry.”
Teacher, I know you. You know what is best for your students. You know what they need and how to push and challenge them to bigger and greater things. You know the risks, but you also see the rewards. You know when to step out. You know when to speak up. You know when to take a stand. You know all of these things…all you need to do is be brave and do them.
I want to see you be brave. I want you to speak the truth. I want you to make the choices that make your students better students and better people. I want you to take the risks you need to take and reap the rewards that come from them. I want to see you be brave.
Rest assured that the system usually comes around to the brave ones. There were many teachers using technology before it was the expectation. They had to defend their choices constantly, and now look at the world of education–the things that once seemed strange is the norm.
There were many “common core” teachers before Common Core was even a thing. They had to defend and stand up for the way that they were teaching. Science teachers had to defend the amount of reading and writing that they pushed. English teachers had to give an account for why they thought informational texts were as important, or even more important than novels. They fought and held their ground, and look at what the world looks like now.
Teacher, keep doing what you know is right. Keep what is best for your students in sight. Don’t be afraid to be brave. Be brave today. Be brave this week. Be brave this year. I just wanna see you be brave!
You are awesome. You are amazing. You are brave. Be these things today! Keep on teaching, 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,
Even if you are not the “most loved” teacher of the students at your school, you are awesome! You make choices that change the future of students and their lives! You just keep on doing what is right. The students may not see it now, but they will. They will see what you tried so hard to get them to do, so hard to get them to think, so hard to get them to process will click and they will see you were vital in them learning how to learn. Teacher, you are a ride of awesome. Keep on being awesome!
Keep on teaching, Teacher!
Love, Teacher
PS…This picture is available as a printable note in the Dear Teacher/Love Teacher TeachersPayTeachers Store. You can print, cut, write on the back of, and give out to your students and fellow teachers to spread encouragement around your school! These little notes are a bit hit at my school. Teachers love to use them, and students love to get them. Sorry for the commercial, but I believe in writing notes to students, and these are a fun way to do it. Only $1! 🙂
PS2…I fixed the typo on the picture. Thanks for the feedback!
(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)
Dear Teacher,
I guess you have probably figured out that my time is very limited here at the beginning of the school year. Sorry for the lack of a weekly theme song last week! I could have used one myself. Teaching is such hard work. I know you know that. I just want to let you know that there are others who feel your pain…even the guy who tries to encourage teachers!
Well, it is that time. Click play and then keep reading.
Teaching is hard work. You know it and I know it. It is tiring. It is stressful. It takes everything that we have inside of us, and then wants more.
It takes our time. It takes our energy. It takes our emotions. It takes our everything.
It is heart-breaking. It is life-changing. It is mind-boggling. It is back-breaking.
It is hard…but it is who we are. We love every difficult minute. We were made for this. We go through all of the grueling and exhausting aspects of what we do because we know we are making a difference. We are changing lives. We are affecting the future for the good.
I am not sure how you are feeling right now. I am tired. Only four weeks in, and I am so very tired. But I love it. I know that the hard work will pay off.
I do not have to let the grind get to me. I know that all of the things that it takes to start the year off right will be worth it. The students will start taking responsibility for their learning and I can do what I love to do…teach them!
Even if today and this week is going to be difficult, remember it is still a beautiful day.
You are a teacher. You love teaching. It is all worth it. Your students are worth it.
Keep going, Teacher! It is all worthwhile. Every arduous second is going to make a difference. You love your students. They may not love you yet, but they will. Keep going.
Don’t let the little stuff get to you today or this week. Let the job parts of your job be what they are. Focus on the students. Take things from administration with a grain of salt. It is all for your students!
It is a beautiful day!
Share that beautiful day with someone today. Remind them that it is beautiful. Let your beautiful attitude towards the day help spark other beautiful attitudes. Use your words well. Help your students see the beauty in every day.
When I was looking for the video to this song, I found this. I saw it at a meeting a few years ago, and it stuck with me. It is more about our words than about viewing the day as beautiful, but somehow I feel that it fits. Even if it doesn’t fit, I am sharing it anyway! 🙂
How can your words spark something beautiful today?
You are awesome, and I know that it is going to be a beautiful day for you. Let it be a beautiful day. Make it a beautiful day! You are amazing and you are making a difference. Keep on teaching, Teacher, and keep seeing each day as beautiful!
I do not know how you feel right now, but I feel like I have been in a fight. Not a fist fight, but a battle. The beginning of this school year has been a little rough. My students have been great! I am not talking about them. It has just been tough to get things going.
I have written a lot about the changes that I am striving to make this year. It is not easy to dramatically change how you do what you have been doing for a long time. This is my eighth year of teaching, so I am trying to break a lot of old habits and undo a lot of the “old ways” that I have taught. When the going gets hectic and the clearness of my schedule gets muddied, I want to fall back into what is comfortable.
Yesterday was most definitely one of those days. I had to constantly remind myself why the changes are important. I had to keep telling myself why I needed to keep going on the road that I am on. I had to look at myself and tell me that I can not give up and I can’t surrender.
It was hard. I was left feeling beat up by the battle by the end of the day. So now, at the beginning of a new day, as I sat and thought about what I might want to write for a post, I wondered what I needed to hear myself. What I came up with is that I need some motivation. Something to pump me up. So I went on a search.
I found a pretty motivating (and a little funny from the way it was set up) set of movie speeches to get me fired up and ready for the day. Have a watch and listen with me.
I love the way that was put together! Are you more ready for the day now (or tomorrow if you are seeing this at the end of the school day)? I know I am!
As I was looking for this, I found another video that was shown at a training I recently went to. This video helped me this morning, as well. It is a look at the recent past and the exponential changes we have seen in present and full of predictions for the continued changes into the future. It is a reminder that we are teaching students for who the future is unknown. There is a statistic that keeps changing (in the upward direction) of the percentage of jobs that will be available to our students when they are adults that do not exist at the moment. This is in the video. This statistic never ceases to astound me. It is eye-opening to think that our students are going to enter a world that does not exist yet, and this world is unfathomable to us at the moment. We HAVE to be on our game. We have to fight!
I probably ought to share the video. 🙂 Even if you have seen it before, it is worth another watch.
After this, I don’t have a lot to say. I need to let all of this sink in for you and let it motivate you for your “fight” today. I do want to close with a quote that goes along with the video and what this information means for us as teachers. It is from Eric Hoffer, a 20th Century American philosopher. What is amazing about this quote is that he past away in 1983…a little before the impending technology boom that has caused much of the exponential changes that we are seeing.
In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
Teacher, I hope you have a great day. I hope you have a great end to the week. I hope next week brings some of the awesome that you are working towards with your student. You are awesome and amazing! You are fighting the good fight. Keep fighting and keep on teaching!
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)
I mentioned this briefly at the end of my last two posts, but I am at a workshop this week. What I did not mention is that I am at one of the most amazing workshops EVER! Well, at least the most amazing one I have ever been to. :). I am learning so much and getting to meet some awesome teachers from around the US and this corner of the globe.
The workshop is put on and led by Eric Jensen, who is the author of the book, Teaching with Poverty in Mind, which inspired the events in my teaching that inspired this blog (see my About page for that story). The workshop is called Teaching with Poverty in Mind, and it gets into the research behind the book in depth, but it has been mostly about how to use the research and giving very real strategies and practices that allow students, brains to change for the better. Basically, it is about how poverty changes the brain and what we can do about that as teachers.
The workshop has been wonderful, as I said. Everything being taught is being modeled ad we are helping each other practice. We are being given ways to take this all back to our campuses and to help other teachers apply the principles, strategies and research and spread the fire of change at out schools. We have been shown examples of what we are being taught working at schools like ours and being challenged to prove it can work at our schools. Have to say, I am quite fired up and there are still two days left! I can’t wait to take what I am learning back to my school!
I share all of this to talk about a theme and idea that has come up over and over. I am really buying into this idea, and I hope that it will inspire you and that you buy into it to. Something has been said over and over, and I bet it will be said more over the next two days: teachers are the key to change in students. Teachers…not the students, parents, administrators, legislators, etc…TEACHERS. If we make the needed changes in how we approach what we teach (not necessarily how we teach…a lot of us our doing the “right things” but our approach, reasons, and intentions need to be adjusted and tweaked) then we will start to see changes and successes in our students, especially the harder cases.
I won’t get into details here…I will leave that to Mr. Jensen (read the book and catch the workshop if you can)…but I want to focus in on the idea of change. No matter how good we are, we can find things that we can change and do better. It does nothing to lean back and just bemoan what is going wrong. One thing that has been repeated at the workshop is that “we need to stop pointing fingers and start holding up a mirror to see what we need to change.” I know that teachers are blamed a lot….I am not saying buying into that, but I am agreeing that we all need to stop pointing fingers and start changing what we can…and that starts with us.
Mahatma Gandhi is often misquoted as having said, “Be the change you long to see in the world.” Great idea, but what he actually said is even stronger.
“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.”
What he is basically saying is that change starts with us. We, as teachers, can’t wait for our students, the environments, or the education system to change. We need to hold up a mirror to ourselves and change what we can change for the better. We can then be an agent of change by spreading the changes to others. That is kind of what this blog is about…changing the climate of negativity towards teachers to an atmosphere of encouragement. We need to make the same adjustments in our classrooms!
So how are you doing, Teacher? Are you ready to hold up a mirror and let the changes start with you? Find a deficit or weakness in your teaching, find out ways to change it, makes some plans, and then make changes. Are you ready to start this? A know that I am!
You are so awesome! I know that you are going to take this challenge in stride! I believe in you and I know that this coming year (or current one) will be the best one yet! Keep on teach, Teacher!
I don’t know you. I don’t know where you teach. I don’t know your students. What I do know is that yesterday a tragedy ravaged a small town in Oklahoma. As teachers, whose hearts are constantly focused on the good for others, our hearts break. No matter where you live, you have a broken heart for the people in Moore and surrounding areas. We want to do all that we can to help. Teachers are people marked by their compassion, and you are no exception to that rule.
Will your students have a broken heart for what happened yesterday? Many will and many won’t. If your students, like mine, have no frame of reference for what happened or even know what happened they may not know how to feel compassion for the people of Moore. What can you do today to help your students see past themselves? In the light of the horribleness that happened, how can you help your students develop a sense of compassion?
I know that we already have our lessons boxed up and ready for today. I know that my students are working on a project and we are under the pressure of time to finish. However, I feel like I really need to take a pause and find a way to work this in today. Can you do that? Can you take some time from your lessons and help the students to understand what happened and help them see there are people hurting right now?
Compassion is natural, on some level, in most human beings. However, it does need to be nurtured and developed as well. How are you doing this with your students? Will you take some time today to help the next generation learn how to love others and see past themselves? I know that I have to…it feels like something that is important to do. My heart breaks for Oklahoma right now. I want my students to feel that in some way, too.
Keep the people of Moore and all of Oklahoma, especially those who have lost loved ones, in your prayers and thoughts today. Reach out and help in what ever way you can. Help your students to want to do the same.
Keep on teaching, Teacher! You are awesome for all that you do to help your students learn and become better people!
Dear Teacher/Love Teacher 