education – Page 8 – Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Challenge, Dream Big, Picture Note, The Power of Creativity

Motivational Moth

Posted on July 9, 2013July 7, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

You see lessons all around you. It is a part of the gift of teaching! You see something, hear something, smell something, feel something, or even taste something and you think of what your students can learn from it. This makes you awesome! Find a real world example to teach from today. Ideas are all around you, reach out and grab one! Find something and write a quick lesson idea using it. Your students will thank you later!

You are awesome! You are amazing! You are incredibly creative! Create something for your students today from what is around you! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

PS…While I am at a training this week, I need your help. Please share this link in your Edmodo communities and groups, share on Facebook, share on Twitter, and where ever else you can! Spread the encouragement because I can’t! Thanks! You are awesome! 🙂

Get Psyched!, Pep Talk, Theme Song

Monday Morning Motivation: Here Comes the BOOM!

Posted on July 8, 2013July 7, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

For the last two Mondays, I have really striven to give you some motivation and get you pumped up for the week ahead. I have been posting theme songs for you to play while you read, and this has been extremely popular and well-received. I have loved doing this myself, and I the theme songs have stuck with me through the week. So, I think I am going to stick with this new trend I started. I have a week of training that I am excited about; it is training about poverty and brain research that I think is going to give a new edge to my teaching next year, and this song sums up how I feel about it. Play the song before you read on. It is an awesome song and a pretty funny video (you may want to watch it after you read, if you have never seen it before). Also, it is the theme song for the movie, Here Comes the Boom, which is a movie that centers on a teacher that is committed to the needs of students (namely the Arts Program).

(Disclaimer–if you have never heard this song before, there is a lyric you may think is saying something that it is not…the line is “big S.D.” for San Diego…not what it sounds like the first time you hear it.)

Teacher, you are awesome. This week is yours to own. Don’t let this week happen to you, happen to this week! Make a plan and stick to it. Follow through. Set a goal to accomplish something big, work at it, and accomplish that goal. You can do it! Tell this week that the BOOM is coming and you are the one bringing it!

No matter what you have ahead of you, you’ve got this. You are amazing. You can get through anything. You can do anything. You can achieve anything. You can do anything and get through everything, if you set your mind to it. Set your mind to it and do it!

For those of you teaching right now:

Get your plans together…make them happen.
When things get off plan, monitor and adjust like a champ. You can make anything work. Roll with the punches that come, and punch back with your skills, experience, and abilities.
Know where you want your students to be at the end of the week and get them there. Use what ever you need to use to get them there. You are awesome and know what to do. Do it.
DO NOT let the little things get to you. Stay calm, stay patient, and stay in charge. You are a professional and you know what you are doing. Rely on the fact the that little things do not mean much in the big picture. Work around them and do not let them get you frustrated.
Love your students above all else. Knowing and caring for your students is the most important thing you do. Encourage them and tell them how much you care. Tell them how awesome they are and why they are awesome.

For those of you on summer break:

Don’t let the summer get away from you. Make a plan to accomplish something this week and then accomplish it. It can be for school or otherwise, but do something this week. Get something done.
Read one thing to help you do even better next year than the last. Find a good article on teaching/education (Edutopia is a great source, my current favorite). Read a book. Find something. Hone your craft this week, Teacher!
Come up with one new goal for next year. Find a new place you want your students next year or a new strategy to try. I gave a similar challenge yesterday. It is so important to set new expectations for yourself to rise to higher heights and become an even better teacher!
Plan a lesson or unit for next year. Don’t put it off. Plan to do something for next year this week. The more you do now, the better off you will be next year!
Make a plan for getting to know your students and other teachers next year and plan ways to spread encouragement and hope. I know a good place that you can find notes to print and write on! 🙂 Know how you will get to know people and spread the Encouragement Revolution next year!

You are so incredibly awesome! This week is yours for the taking. Take it! Make it yours! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

General Inspiration, Secret Occupations of Teachers, Weekend Note

S.O.o.T. Sunday: Flooring Specialist

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Great Sunday morning to you! I hope you are having a wonderful and amazing weekend! Today’s post is the second installment of my new weekend post series called S.O.o.T. (the Secret Occupations of Teachers) where I focus on what we do as teachers, even the stuff that a lot of people don’t realize we do, and compare it to other professions. Each week I will acknowledge those “secret” jobs of our, give encouragement for you in those roles, and the give a little challenge to you about those hidden parts of your work. Last week, the first S.O.o.T., I talked about how teachers compare to landscapers/gardeners. If you did not get a chance to read it, you should check it out. The image stuck with me, personally, and I thought about teaching and the things I needed to do in that light throughout the week. Enough of the back story, let’s get to the S.O.o.T. for today! 🙂

This past week, I got a little (minuscule, really) experience of what another profession would be like. If you read my post on Friday, you know that I spent the week working on installing a hardwood floor at my house and practicing the art of perseverance. We worked with a friend, also a teacher, who has a good bit of experience working with professional flooring installers, and we went and consulted with the professional guys to get some pointers, help, and borrow some much needed tools. Those were amazing guys that really know their stuff! We finally finished the floor, which looked pretty good, and I have had a day or so to reflect on the experience. For this reason, today’s S.O.o.T. is flooring specialist.

(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the picture if you link back to this blog.)

This is going to be a bit long in the beginning, but please read on to how it compares to teaching. I think it will be worth it!

As I said, flooring specialists are amazing people. Flooring specialists install floors (hardwoods, laminate, carpet, tile, etc…), repair said floors, and beautify the floors. I never realized before how many “moving parts” their are in installing floors! There are so many things you need to think about, know, and keep track of throughout the job. There is a ton of planning. There is a ton of prep work. There is a ton of grunt work (the actual install). And there is a ton of finishing work. When you are done, you have a completed and beautiful product, but there is SO MUCH that goes into it before you get there.

(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the picture if you link back to this blog.)

Flooring specialists have to take a look and plan out the floor before they can even start thinking about how to get the job done. It usually includes their client explaining what they would like…which is not always easy to make happen. One part of this phase of the job is explaining the reality of the “vision” to the client and what is possible/impossible, what would go into making it happen, and estimating cost. This lets the client know if they can afford to make their dream a reality. Once this is done, a preliminary plan can be thought out.

The next phase (and part of the planning phase) is getting rid of the old floor and looking at the sub-floor and seeing what needs to be done to it before installing a new floor can happen. Sometimes it means the need for ripping out old sub-floor to put more permanent and reliable sub-floors in, and it almost always need to be leveled with leveling compound so that the new floors will lay flat. Investigating and improving the sub-floor is a vital step in ensuring the longevity of a new floor.

Once the planning and sub-floor prep work is completed, then the actual installation can happen. There is measuring, cutting, gluing, stapling, nailing, tapping, moving, hammering, and a number of other things that I am leaving out. There is even some “undoing” if you make a mistake…which is time consuming and stressful because you do not want to damage the floor that does not need to be fixed. The tools you use to do all of this are special and specific to the job, as well as some power tools for cutting that most people do not have just sitting around. It is all pain-staking and precise work…and the less experience you have the harder it is!

(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may us the picture if you link back to this blog.)

At the end, you need to clean. You need to fill in areas that may need more precise cuts. You need to putty holes left by nails or staples. You need to carefully replace molding and shoe molding. And then you need to clean again. When it is all said and done, it is a beautiful job done…but it was a lot of work to get to “done.”

Acknowlegement

Teacher, you are a flooring specialist. You are given a vision of what the end product needs to look like with your students. You are told what they need to know, understand, and be able to do by the end of the year. You try to be realistic with the “clients” giving you this vision for your students and show them what is possible/impossible, what it will take to get to the vision, and estimate the costs of the vision (in money, time, and energy), but in the end you are given the expectation for what the “floor” needs to look like.

You make a preliminary plan of what it will take to get the job done, and then you get to looking at the sub-floor. You meet your students. You get to know them. You learn what they know/don’t know. You figure out their strengths and weaknesses. You find out what they have and what they need. You try to find a place that you can teach from that will address the needs of all students. Some students need new ways of thinking and studying…you need to work to replace their “sub-floors” with something more permanent. Other just need to be “leveled out” a bit to be able to keep up with the content, work, and other students. You work hard to get this all done as quick as you can in the beginning so that you can get to the hard work of “laying the floors” of knowledge, understanding, and accomplishment.

Once the prep work is complete, you get to the installation. You measure student data as you go. You use specialized teaching tools appropriate for each situation and student. You find ways to make the new content, understanding, and application “stick” and “adhere” to students minds and thinking. You move things around (content and students). You make sure everything fits. You have a lot of moving pieces to keep track of, but you do it like a champ! Sometimes you have to “undo” some mistakes make, and you do so carefully so you do not damage what has already been done that is working well. You work hard with expertise and professionalism.

In the end you do the finishing work of filling in gaps. You even out places that are a little off. You “putty” in small pieces of understanding that may have been missed here or there. You then replace the molding and finish out what you can to send a beautiful product up to the next grade. You send on an amazing product, but it took a lot of work to get it done!

Encouragement

Teacher, you are amazing at what you do! The job so often seems hard or impossible…the vision given seems unreachable, but you work hard at it anyway! You get as close to the vision as you possible can, and sometimes you even go past that vision. You are awesome!
There are so many pieces to what you do, and you have to be great at all of them…and you are! You have to plan with realism. You have to get to know your students. You have to measure, cut, apply, and adjust constantly. You have so much to keep up with…but somehow you do it! You are amazing!
You do a great job when everything is said and done at the end of the year! Do not be ashamed to look back and see how great the floors are compared to how they were before you got to them! Take a look back at students that you have brought a long way and be proud! Don’t be afraid to do this. You need to do this. Remembering our success is the only way to be even more successful in the future!

Challenge

Teachers on summer break, set a vision for next year. Work at that this summer. Yes, you don’t know what your “sub-floors” are like yet, but you can plan a vision. You know the expectations for you, so work from their. Don’t be afraid to plan big. I know I am this summer. Your big plans may not pan out, but don’t be afraid to dream. Come up with the most creative way to meet and surpass the vision that has been set for you by others. You can do it! Come up with at least three real things that you can do different this year to get to the impossible goals set for you. You can do it! You are amazing!
Teachers teaching right now, stop and think about one real way that you can change what you are doing to better address the needs of your students. Take stock of your “sub-floor” with each student and find one way to help “level” or “improve” the knowledge, understanding, and/or abilities of each student. It is hard work , but worthwhile in the end. One thing for each student. You can do that! Just do it!

Teacher, you are an amazing floor specialist! You work so hard to meet the goals set for you. In the end, you have brought each student so far and have installed beautiful floors. Don’t forget that. Never forget that. You are awesome! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

General Inspiration, Note to Teachers, Reason for Teaching

Celebrating Independence

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

Dear Teacher,

Today’s post will probably mean most to my American readers, but even if you are from another country, read on…it may still speak to you!

Today is July 4th. Happy 4th, everyone! Today most of us will go to a cookout and/or watch some fireworks while we spend time with friends and family, as well as a number of other traditions people may have. It is a day to celebrate and to remember when our country was officially founded.

July 4th is the day that we mark the Second Continental Congress’ passing and signing of a resolution of independence from England called the Declaration of Independence (though there is a lot of debate about when it was actually signed by most of the people who signed it). This document was the founding document of the United States as an independent country with its own government and no longer under the reigns of England. Today is the day that we celebrate that independence.

This morning, I read up a bit on the traditions, celebrations, and meaning of the 4th of July holiday (Wikipedia had some pretty fascinating tidbits on it). I found out some interesting pieces of information about it. It was almost an instant holiday. The year after the Declaration was passed, there was a celebration on the 4th in Philadelphia (the capitol at the time and where the Continental Congress met), and the party even included fireworks! The tradition of celebrating on that day continued year after year and spread throughout the country. To me, this seems pretty amazing that the holiday basically began the year after the event! But it was a pretty amazing event, and it should be remembered, honored, and celebrated!

Now, how am I going to bring this back to teaching? I don’t know that I need to, but I think I will anyway. 🙂

Think about your students. I know that we all teach students of different backgrounds and each year our students are different. Most of us are on summer break, as well. For this reason, just think about your students in general. Some come from excellent homes and environments…other don’t. Some have amazing and obvious gifts and talents that will take them far…but not all of them. Some know how to learn, think, and explore knowledge independently…but not every single one of your students. Some know how to be independent learners…a lot may not. Some students know what it means to be free and what freedom means…other have no idea.

We are teachers. We are like the armies, soldiers, and volunteers that fought for the freedom for our countries founders to be able to declare independence from England. We have to fight for our students to know thinking independence. Without the freedom to think on their own, they will never know true freedom as an adult…and I believe that most of our job is to get students ready for the future, no matter what we may teach. We need to know each student and what their individual learning styles and need are, and then teach them how to know how to do this on their own. They will not always have us fighting for them…we need to teach them to fight on these battles on their own!

I know this post may be a stretch, but a part of celebrating independence is understanding what independence is. We as adults have a pretty good understanding of what freedom is. Not just freedom in the sense of the freedoms we have in our country, but freedom of mind…to stand and think on our own. We need to remember that our job is to help our students to be able to do the same one day. We are fighting for their freedom to be who they will be one day, on their own. Don’t give up the fight for your students’ independence!

(c)DearTeacherLT (You may use the image if you link back to this blog.)

You are an awesome teacher! You are a great freedom fighter! Don’t give up and don’t ever stop! You are changing the future one student at a time! This makes you amazing! Keep on teaching, Teacher! Happy Forth of July!

Love, Teacher

PS…The picture is from when I went on a cruise and got to sail past the Statue of Liberty. It was hard not to think about what it must have been like for the millions of people that sailed to Ellis Island from around the world in hopes of finding the freedom promised in America. Are you that beacon of hope of future independence for students? I want to be.

A Reason of Your Awesomeness…

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

Keep Calm and…

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

Picture Note, Teaching Power, You Are Awesome!!!

Teacher Superpower – Differentiation Control

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

Dear Teacher,

You are a superhero with many superpowers. You have super vision to see things that other people don’t see, and you have the power of Differentiation Control. You know you students. You know what each student needs, and you strive to give them every opportunity and condition they need to learn and grow. You are the master of your content and you make sure every student is ableto learn based on their needs. You use your superpower with skill and grace, Super Teacher.

You are awesome! You do what you do so well. Fight on and be the hero your students need you to be. Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

Get Psyched!, Theme Song, You Are Awesome!!!

(your students are) Holding Out for a Hero

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

Dear Teacher,

I have decided to make Monday morning posts about motivation and getting you psyched up for the week. As you saw last Monday, I think music and theme songs a great way to do this. Today I am going to mix that with another thing that jacks me up and gets me motivated to do great things…superhero movies! I may be showing a little bit of my inner-geek with this, but I can’t help it. Superhero movies make me want to go out and do awesome things! This is a theme song that you might want to watch after you get done reading…but go ahead and have it playing while you read the rest of the post. 🙂

Teacher, you are a superhero with superpowers. You see things other people don’t see. You can think in ways other people don’t think. You do feats of planning and preparation that other people could not keep up with. You grade with heart…looking for more than what was and wasn’t correct, you look for what needs to be worked on and honed in each student. You do great and amazing things…even if other people do not always see you do them.

Your students need a hero! They need someone to fight for them. They need someone to take a stand for them. They need someone who will not settle for mediocrity in them. They need someone to see the potential in them and help them live up to that potential! They need you, Super Teacher.

Be that hero for your students…

Plan like you mean it and know you are doing something that needs to be done for your students. This goes double for teachers on summer break…PLAN! You are giving yourself weapons to fight with for next year. You are honing your superpowers! Plan like you are a hero in training!
Love on your students. Get to know them. When you know them, you are so much more invested in the fights you need to fight for them! Summer teachers, plan for getting to know your kids and investing in their lives…the time planning for this will pay off in big dividends when you are more invested in each student.
Use your gifts and talents. Do what you do well, and keep on doing it. Play to your strengths and plan for ways to do so.
FIGHT!! Fight for your students. Fight for what is right. Do what you know is right. Fight for what you need to help your students succeed.
Never give up! When the fight is tough and the going is rough, DO NOT GIVE UP! Be the hero and keep fighting. It will pay off!

You are a hero and you are awesome! You do amazing things…keep doing them. Fight hard to be the hero your students need. Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

Don’t forget to check out the giveaway contest on the Facebook Page. It is over at midnight on Friday, July 5th, 2013.

Challenge, Secret Occupations of Teachers, Weekend Note

Secret Occupations of Teachers (S.O.o.T.) Inaugural Post

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

Dear Teacher,

As I promised, I am kicking off a series of posts that I will write over the weekends called The Secret Occupations of Teachers, or S.O.o.T. for short. I am going to talk about some of the “extra” things that teachers do or compare some of what we do to other occupations. The goal of this series is to give you some comfort in knowing other people understand what you do (along with some encouragement and challenges in some of your roles) and to let other people in on the parts of a life of a teacher that they may not know about. I am excited about these posts, and I hope you will be to!

Today’s S.O.o.T. is gardener/landscaper. These jobs deal with the care and upkeep of plants, for the most part. When you think of gardeners, you think of gardens, flowers, and vegetables. When you think of landscapers, you think of mowing, weeding, planting, and taking care of yards and landscapes. Gardeners/landscapers understand plants. They know what grows when and the circumstances needed for ideal growth…and they know how to create those circumstances. They know weeds. They know how to identify them and get rid of them. They know plants, understand them, and use what they know and understand to grow beautiful and wonderful things.

Acknowlegement

Teacher, you are a landscaper and a gardener. You don’t deal in plants, you deal in people. The soil that you work with is the minds and hearts of your students. You have to know this soil. You have to understand the circumstances in which you are tying to grow. You get to know you students. Learn who they are and how they think. With this you identify weeds that need to be worked on and pulled out. Sometimes this is easy, but more often it is quite hard. Once the ground is ready, you plant seeds of knowledge and learning.

The seeds grow differently in each student, and you know that the circumstances needed for growth change from student to student. You know that you cannot force the seeds to grow, so you make sure that you enable the soil in each student to have everything that is needs to allow growth. You nurture. You feed and water the seeds. When weeds of misunderstanding grow, you address them quickly with which ever means are necessary. You do all that you can to ensure growth of the seeds, and then you do the only thing you can do…wait.

You wait and see what grows from the soil. You are patient. You are understanding. You change things as needed when the fruit of understanding looks weak with a student. You do all that you can to make sure that you have done all that you can to see understanding bloom and take shape. And when it is all said and done, you stand back and enjoy the beauty of understanding students that has grown from your hard work.

(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the picture if you link back to this blog.)

Encouragement

Teacher, I know that this role of landscaper/gardener is hard. You have to be vigilant. You can’t just mow the lawn once or pull up the weeds of misunderstanding a couple of times and be done. No, you have to keep at it. Day after day with each and every student, and you do without complaint. But it is hard.

Don’t give up. I know when you pull up that same weed from one student the 1001st time you do not want to do it again, but keep doing it. Something beautiful WILL grow. Just keep going. Keep at it. You know it is worth it in the end. Focus on what you want to see grow and then do what it takes to make that happen.

You are an amazing gardener. You are a wonderful landscaper. Keep at it! You can do it! You are awesome!

Challenge

Remember this analogy as you plug away with your students. When the going gets rough and they just don’t seem to be getting it, remember that you are a landscaper/gardener and that if you keep working at it something wonderfully beautiful will grow. When school starts (or right now, if you are teaching), find the most difficult students, and see them as a garden. Find somewhere to write down three things that you want to see grown in them by the end of the year. Work hard at seeing those things grow. Pick three students and three things to grow in them for each. Do what it takes to see the growth. Keep notes on the growth you see. At the end of the year, celebrate the beauty you have watched blossom!

You are an awesome landscaper/gardener, and don’t ever forget that! I hope this has spoken to you and given you some hope. I know it has done that for me just writing this. I am going to take the challenge myself next year. I hope that you do the same!

You are awesome! You are believed it! And you are supported! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

PS…

Don’t forget to check out the Facebook Page tonight (Sunday) for the giveaway/contest. The contest closes at midnight on Friday, July 5th!

General Inspiration, Picture Note, You Are Awesome!!!

Yeeeaaah Buoy!

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Be that buoy today! Mark out where danger is. Lead people to the shore. Be a beacon of hope in troubled waters. You are AWESOME!! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher