Tag: classroom

Posted in Challenge, Guest Post, Take Care of Yourself

The Take Care of You Challenge

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

I am happy to present Substitute Teacher Laura.  She has an awesome blog and her post here is amazing…so I will let her just speak for herself!  Enjoy!  And check out Teacher Laura’s blog!

Dear Teacher,

IT”S SUMMERTIME.  Summer is a time for rejuvenation and I am ready to be rejuvenated.  I have just experienced one of the most difficult years in my 20 year teaching career and I am so thankful it is over.   I am ready to put 2012-2013 school year behind me and look ahead to summer and I bet you are too.

It is summer and it is time to take care of YOU.  Teachers are so busy during the school year that we put off everything we need to do until the summer, like dentist and doctor appointments, cleaning and de-cluttering, reading good books, eating right and exercising and so much more.  I am here to give you a summer to do list that includes relaxing and reading.

1.  Get a Massage.  The first thing you should do when you finish the school year is get a massage. A massage is perfect way to begin to de-stress and relieve your muscles of tension.

2.  READ.  Stop at the library or bookstore and make your reading list.  This is important.  There are so many good books out there that you need to make sure to read the books that matter to you.  Be a Booksnob like me and read what YOU want, not what others tell you to read.  Summer is a time to be a little selfish since you spent the whole school year give yourself and your time to others.

I, myself am an avid reader and a book blogger for the last three years so summer reading is super important to me.  Here are some of the books on my To Be Read List this summer.

         A.  The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver.  This book will be released on June 11th and is already the talk of book bloggers.  Noa P. Singleton is a 20 year old on death row in Pennsylvania.  This is a thriller that promises to keep you turning the pages.  I’m so excited to read this.

B.  Ask the Passengers by A. S. King.  Young Adult fiction.  I have been wanting to read a book by A.S. King for a long time. This book is on my camp readalot book list.  It is about a teen named Astrid who spends hours lying on the backyard picnic table watching airplanes fly overhead. She doesn’t know the passengers inside, but they’re the only people who won’t judge her when she asks them her most personal questions

        C.  Reclaiming Youth at Risk. Our Hope for the Future.  I teach in a very diverse inner city high school.  This year our staff has joined together to form book groups to read a book that will inform our teaching practice.  I chose to read this book.  I am very excited to read it.  I have met one of the authors, Dr. Martin Brokenleg and really respect his work.

      D.  A Choice of Weapons by Gordon Parks.  Autobiography.  This is the Minneapolis One Read book this fall and all of my high school seniors will be reading this as part of one my classes.   Gordon Parks was the first African American to write, direct and score a Hollywood Film.

E.  Steal Like an Artist. 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon.  I love to be creative.  In fact I am creative but sometimes, I forget how to include creativity in my daily life.  This book is awesome, I have already started reading it and it has started to work its magic on me.  Watch out world.  My creativity is flowing.

3.  Take Naps.  Seriously your deserve it.  Catch up on your sleep.  This is so important to de-stress and rejuvenate.

4.  Go to the Beach.  Enjoy the sun, sand and water.  Soak up the vitamin D.  Play a little.  Bring a book to read.  I spend my summer birthday at the beach every year and I can hardly wait to go.  The sun has been missing from Minnesota almost all Spring, so when the sun does shine, I will be going to the beach and so should you.

5. Travel.  Visit some place new.  See the sites in your hometown or plan a trip out of town.  It doesn’t matter where you go, or what you do as long as you are having fun and experiencing life.  I love to visit places close to the Twin Cities and learn about my hometown.   Ride your bike or take a hike.  Go see that waterfall or visit one of your State Parks.

7.  Try something new:  Learn something new.  Take up ball room dancing.  Try Geocaching.  Go camping.  Take a class at ITunes U.  Watch a few Ted talks, start a new TV series and watch all of it.  The possibilities are endless.

8.  Exercise.  Believe it or not this helps get rid of stress and helps give you energy.  I try to exercise during the school year but usually other things are more important and exercising gets pushed to the back burner.  Now is the time to enjoy the weather and free time by exercising. So get out there and take walks with your dog, run, ride your bike, play your Wii or Xbox Kinect and get your body moving to the music.

It will make you feel better and it is important that you feel good.  

9.  Enjoy your summer and your time off.  You deserve it.  You worked very hard all school year.

Thanks for all your hard work.  Now go and enjoy your summer.

Love Teacher

You can find me on my book blog this summer.  Visit me at Booksnob

Thanks for letting me be a guest writer at Dear Teacher/Love Teacher.

P.S.  That is my dog Titus.  He is modeling how to chill and relax.

Posted in General Inspiration, Guest Post, Hope for Teachers

A Teacher “Prayer”

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Anonymity is popular among my Substitute Teachers.  Today’s post is from another veteran teacher, to whom I tip my hat.  You teachers who have kept at this for decades, I salute you!  I hope to be one of those “decades” teachers one day!

This message is short, sweet, and perfect for a Monday.  Please enjoy and apply!  Have a great week!

Dear Teacher,

I came across this “prayer” many years ago.  I’m not sure who the author is.

Enable me to teach with

WISDOM

for I help to shape the mind.

Equip me to teach with

TRUTH

for I help to shape the conscience.

Encourage me to teach with

VISION

for I help to shape the future.

Empower me to teach with

LOVE

for I help to shape the world.

Whatever your beliefs, Teacher, I think it’s a great reminder to us.  May we all teach with wisdom, truth, vision, and love.  The stakes are high! And not just for testing and standards. Our words and actions help to shape our students’ minds and consciences.  We help to shape the future and the world!  What an awesome job that is, Teacher!  It’s awesome in the many meanings of the word “awesome”!  It inspires awe to think of our responsibilities and potential.  But it’s also awesome and great thatwe (yes, us, Teacher!) have been given this opportunity.  How amazing is that?

Have a great day, Teacher!
Love,

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

Posted in Challenge, Guest Post, The Power of Creativity

The Imagination Box

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

The Substitute Teacher for today has also requested to stay anonymous.  This post is great.  It is a challenge.  It is encouragement.  It is a reminder to think outside a “box”…well, actually to think inside a “box”…okay, maybe you should just read it and see what I mean.  🙂

Read, enjoy, and apply it to your teaching vigorously!  Thank you for sharing this with us, Substitute Teacher!

Dear Teacher,

Today you are being given a very special item.  It may not look like much, but trust me, it’s value is truly priceless.
This unique gift is for recollecting your creativity.  Over time and frequent use your creativity box has been searched through, dug around in, and dumped all over everywhere.
It has been a well loved go to, or maybe a forgotten asset, but it is time to haul it out again.  Take advantage of the gift of your creativity.  Find things to put in your box that will inspire you, motivate you and make you laugh.  A teacher’s creativity is a vital tool.  It is what makes your lessons stand out, your activities fun and your students interact willingly.  
Stock your box with all the things you love and cherish the most.  Spend some time investing in your creativity every chance you get.  Your creativity is part of what makes you the amazingly awesome teacher you are!
Go on now, start hunting!
(c)DearTeacherLT (You may use this picture if you link back to this blog.)
(c)DearTeacherLT (You may use this picture if you link back to this blog.)
The box specially designed to expand exponentially with your imagination,
Have big fun loading it up!
Love, Substitute Teacher
For more hope and encouragement: @DearTeacherLT (Twitter) and Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Facebook Page.
Posted in Guest Post, Reason for Teaching, Teacher Testimony

Why (Did I Become a Teacher)?

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Let me introduce your Substitute Teacher for today.  I am quite excited to share his thoughts with you, because it is different than any other post I have put up so far.  It is a “teacher testimony” of sorts.  It is the back story of a teacher and why he decided to put the hard work in to become and stay a teacher through all of the ups and downs of teaching.  I think you are going to like this one!

Your teacher today is Mr. Tim Sexton.  Teacher Tim has been a teacher for the past 15 years and is currently teaching at Davidson Middle School in Crestview, Florida.  He believes that all students CAN learn and that it is our job to facilitate their learning.  He teaches students to think for themselves and be responsible citizens in the school, the community in which they live and within their own lives.

It was 6 a.m. June 3, 1994, at the end of the graveyard shift of stocking at the local grocery.  All night I was thinking of math formulas, biology vocabulary, and other items of testing interest for the second part of my day, college.  The store manager had asked me to stay later because it was the July 4th weekend, and there was still product to put out for the potentially busy weekend.  I told the manager that I was unable to stay because I had class at 8 a.m. You could see and hear the frustration as he told me to go to his office; he wanted to talk to me.  I opened the door to the office to see him standing there huffing and insisting that I stay later to help out.  I repeated, “I can’t”.  He asked, “What are you going to school for?”

I told him I was going to school to become a teacher.  As he replied while laughing, he said “you know teachers don’t make that much money, right?”  I told him without hesitation this reply, “I know, but if I can keep one student off the beaten path I was forced to walk growing up, or see the “LIGHT” come on in the eyes of a student, that is worth any amount of money you can ever pay me.”  He had nothing to say after that, and I left that office to continue my pursuit of fulfillment.

Have you forgotten your reason why you do this?  Most of us are heading into our summer break tired, run down, and ready to do nothing but re-coop.  Think about that question, “Why?”  Why do you get up early to go a place that doesn’t seem to appreciate you?  Why do you stay late trying to do a little extra for those same people that drove you crazy all day? Why do you make calls to parents who don’t care to talk to you? Why do you keep trying?  Well, we do it because we care; we do it because we are called to do so; we do it to make a difference in the lives of young ones where this may be their only chance to find that difference.  Take out those letters you have collected throughout the years from former students thanking you for being there, for teaching, for taking the time to say “HI” every day when no one else did.  Those are reminders of “WHY” we continue doing what we do.

How do you answer that question?  Whether you are a beginning teacher or 15 years into what appears on the outside a thankless profession, Look inside and remember your “WHY”.

Thank you, Teacher Tim!  I love this idea of remembering our “WHY,” especially on those tough days!

Teacher, what is your “WHY?”  Do you have a back story like this?  Do you have a reason for teaching that you can look back to?  Have you developed even stronger “WHYs” since you started teaching?  I know I have!  Please share yours with the class.  🙂  It is encouraging to hear the reasons other people teach, because it reminds you of yours.

You are awesome, Teacher Tim and every other Teacher reading this!  You are believed in.  You are amazing!  Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

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

Posted in General Inspiration, Guest Post, Pep Talk

Just Keep Moving (in the right direction)

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

When I asked people to volunteer to be Substitute Teachers while I am “off the grid,” I had a lot of great responses!  I am so grateful and honored by that!  Teachers were more than willing to pay forward the encouragement and hope that they have received from people and from this blog.  However, something interesting came from the request to for people to share, and it was a response to something that I have done with this blog that I did not think people noticed or cared about, but they did and do (you might, too).

I have made strides to try to keep this as anonymous as possible.  Why?  I want the message here to be separated from it being just a person trying to encourage other people.  I want it to be about teachers encouraging teachers.  We are in this together, and it is not about a person or personality.  This is one of the reasons I am using Substitute Teachers instead of just setting up a bunch of my own posts to go up while I am away.  This is teachers encouraging each other.  Teachers looking out and caring for their own!

I say all of this because some of the Substitutes have requested to stay anonymous, like me.  Their reasons are the same as mine.  I appreciate that, so I am honoring the request.  I will only share what I think is important about each…and today’s Sub has one thing I would like you to know about her.  She has been teaching for 26 years!  I am honored to have such a veteran post here!  We can learn so much from those teachers who have been doing this for a long time!  I love learning from people who have been doing this for a long time.  Read this morning and learn with me.  🙂

Dear Teacher,

I subscribe to Gretchen Rubin’s* Happiness Project blog and her “Moment of Happiness” daily e-mails.  Recently, this Oliver Wendell Holmes quote was the thought of the day:

“The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.”


This quote reminded me of some experiences I’ve had in teaching.  Often at the end of the year I can be discouraged or disappointed by all of the things that didn’t go as well as I’d have liked, or all the ways that I wasn’t as great a teacher as I’d have liked to have been for my students.  We teachers want so much to do awesome things for all of our students, but that task can sometimes be impossible to fully achieve.

Then I remind myself that no one is perfect, and that the important thing is wanting to be awesome and being committed to always getting better, becoming a stronger and more effective teacher. After my first, most difficult year as a teacher, I promised myself that I would always work to get better each year, and that as long as I kept that commitment, I would just have to be accept the fact that I hadn’t been the perfect teacher. As Holmes reminds us, it’s the direction we’re moving that is most important.

One of the best things about teaching is that every year there is a fresh start and a new chance to be even better and more awesome for a new group of students.  Summer is a great time for thinking about ways to hone our skills. What great ideas would you like to put in place with your next group of students?

You are awesome, Teacher.  You are committed to improving your professional practice, and that’s awesome!  High five!

Love, Substitute Teacher

** Gretchen Rubin is the author of The Happiness Project and Happier at Home.

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

Posted in Challenge, Thank You!, You Are Awesome!!!

The Joy of Thanks Giving

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

(c)DearTeacherLT 2013 (You may use this picture if you link back to this blog)
(c)DearTeacherLT 2013 (You may use this picture if you link back to this blog)

Dear Teacher,

I bet you had to look at the title twice, didn’t you?  🙂  I know it is June and not November…this post is not about the holiday.  It is about thanks…giving it and getting it.  We all need a thank you and we all have many thank-yous to give out.

I warned you that most of my posts would be about looking back at the school year this week.  This one came from reflecting (or refracting) on the school year, but it does apply to everyone in any stage of a “teacher year.”  Thankfulness is an anytime kind of subject.  We all need to increase our thinking of thank-yous most of the time.

We all hate the feeling of not getting a thank you.  We don’t do what we do for a thank you, but it is so nice to hear one once in a while.  Thank-yous help us know that what we have done is appreciated and accepted by those for whom we are helping or doing something.  They validate the effort we give.  They help encourage us to keep doing whatever we are doing.  A thank you is just, well, nice.

Teachers do not get a lot of thank-yous.  We knew it was a pretty thankless job when we signed up for this.  We don’t complain about not hearing the words, but inside we secretly wish to hear one more often.  It is not a big deal, but it would just be helpful to hear.

Think about it.  If you feel that way, who around you might feel that way?  Sure, you are not getting a thank you right now, but could you give one?  You know your fellow teachers would like to hear one.  Tell them.  Find something to thank them for, and be personal about it!  Find something they did for you are that they are doing for a student and say thank you.  Say it.  Write it.  Buy a card.  You don’t know how much it will encourage them…actually, you know exactly how much it will encourage them!  So you be the thank-er at you school!

Thank other people, too.  Find some students that are doing great things.  Thank them.  Go to your administration and thank them for everything that they do.  You think you have a thankless job?  They hear it a lot less than you do!  Go to the school receptionist, administrative assistant, custodians, school maintenance, school nurse, cafeteria workers, and any of the other many thankless people at your school and say a big THANK YOU!  You know they would love to hear it!

You may not hear thank you enough, but are you giving them enough?  Who do you need to say thank you to right now?  Go do it!  Think of three people to thank today, thank them, and then come back here and tell us all about it.  You are awesome, so be awesome to others!

Before I close this post out, I need to give a thank you.  Last night, this blog officially crossed the Over 10,000 Views mark!  I started this blog/encouragement revolution just a little more than three weeks ago, and you all have already pushed it to that benchmark.  You all are awesome!  Thank you for sharing the blog with others!  Thank you for all of the “likes” and shares to other sites!  Thank you for all of the Facebooking, Tweeting, Edmodo-ing, Pinning, and emailing of this encouragement to others!  It means a lot to have this message of hope affecting and helping others remember why they teach and that they are good teachers.  I love sending this message…thank you for passing the message on!  Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

Teacher, thank you for letting me be a part of your teaching life!  Thank you for being the awesome teacher that you are!  Thank you for just being you!  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 Challenge, Choose Positive, Hope for Teachers

The Choice

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Last night, someone shared the Positive Teacher Pledge on an Edmodo.  This really spoke to me.  I know that I need to strive to be more positive in my classroom.  There are times that we all get lured to the dark side of negativity, if we are honest with ourselves.  Though, I have seldom thought about the choice between being positive and being negative.  It is a choice, however!

Every day, every hour, every second, we make a choice between giving into the stress that weighs us down on teachers and acting out of stress or in the opposite direction of the stress.  Often times, at least for me, I let the stress make the choice and it is usually in the negative direction.  I need (we need) capture every second of the day with our students!  We don’t have many seconds with them, in the span of their lives, so we need to make each one count!  We can’t afford to have many “bad seconds” with our students.  We are setting them up for the rest of their lives!  We have to take that seriously.

Today, will you…

  • Let your exhaustion show or be upbeat (or at least pretend to be energetic)?
  • Let that crummy email or phone call show or save your frustration for later and say something nice to a student who needs it?
  • Complain about a coworker or do something to encourage him or her?
  • Gripe about administration or ask them if there is anything you can do to help them today?
  • Get irritated with a student who is driving you insane or pull him or her aside, say something positive, and give a reason to do better today?

The list could go on forever, but I think you get it.  Lets try to make positive choices today!  We are worn out, beat up, and empty…but we have to keep moving.  You can do it, Teacher!  You can be positive today!  You are awesome!  I believe in you so much!

Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

For more hope and encouragement: @DearTeacherLT