Continue reading “Creativity and Cap’n Hook” →
Tag: educator encouragement
The Sky is Not Your Limit
You Have What It Takes…to Innovate
Dear Teacher,
I am an admitted NASAphile. I have loved all things NASA for a very long time, and I even had a dream to go to Space Camp when I was younger. That dream was fulfilled twice as an adult when I was able to attend Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy and Advanced Space Camp once I became a science teacher. NASA, and space, in general was fueled by my love of science and technology. NASA has been and will probably always be on the cutting edge of innovation, and I think that has a lot to do with my fascination.
As teachers, we are asked to be innovators. To survive in the world of 21st Century education, we need to be at the pinnacle of current understanding of teaching and learning. We need to engage our students. We need to understand technology, at least in some form or at least know the technology our students are in to. We need to be able to monitor and then adjust at the drop of the hat. We need to be masters of our learning environment. We need to manage our classrooms with grace and efficiency. And we need to all of this, and more, in an ever-changing educational landscape.
I was inspired today by a post on Edutopia, called, “What You Need to be an Innovative Educator.” It was about, as you can guess, innovation in teaching. The surprising part of the article is that it was not about being the best with technology or the latest education trends. It was more about you, as a teacher, than about what you do. I highly recommend that you read the post on Edutopia, but I am going to use what it says to give us a quick little pep talk. I need it right now as I am getting bogged down in some detailed planning of big ideas for next year.
You Have What It Takes to Innovate
It is not about the latest and the greatest things…technology and strategies. That is not what your students need. It is not about the resources you may or may not have, it isn’t even internet or worksheets. Innovation is about you, Teacher.
It is about who you are and not so much what you do. It is what is in your heart and mind, and your heart and mind have what it takes to innovate.
You know how to prioritize and find what is important. You know it is more than the whats and the hows, it is about the process of figuring those out. You are a human strainer that lets standards and indicators pass through, leaving only the enduring understandings. You know how do do this, and it is in you, Teacher.
You also know that to teach well you have to be selfless. No one had to tell you that this is bigger than you are. You know that it is okay to ask for help and you always know when and how. You are even brave enough to sometimes even consider to allow students in on your planning.
You know that time and energy are more important than money and permission. Stuff is nice, but if you give things enough time you know that you can plan around the stuff. Energy is hard to come by, but you know you need to give it and somehow you always find it. Time and energy are the key and you always give these freely.
You are a teacher, and you have heard since the beginning that teachers beg, steal, or borrow. You are not too proud or afraid to beg, steal, or borrow. Sometimes you reinvent wheels, but this is few and far between. You look to models to work from and put your own fingerprints on.
You are more than willing to stick your neck out for your students. If you know that something could work beautifully but there is a chance it will blow up in your face, you take the chance for the sake of your students. You can always backtrack, but if your plan works out you may help your students leap ahead. You are willing to take the leap of faith to things you know will be best and you are not afraid.
Most of all your students trust you, and you trust your students. They will follow you where you lead them, especially if they think you are leading them where they need to go. You trust that what you think will work WILL, in fact, work and that your students can make it happen. Trust goes both ways, and you have confidence in this trust with your students.
Innovation is hard, even harder without stuff, but it isn’t really about stuff. The stuff will change. How we are asked to teach will change. Innovative teachers work within these changes, whatever they may be, and you have what it takes to be one of these innovative teachers.
So get out there an innovate!
I have no doubt that you are one of these innovative teachers! You are awesome! You work with in the medium you are given. You strive to be the best you can be. So get out there and be that “the best.” You have what it takes so go out and be innovate! You are amazing! Keep dreaming, innovating, and teaching, Teacher!
Love, Teacher
Teach with Ferocity
I am a Teacher and a Fungi
Dear Teacher,
To get the title, you need to pronounce “fungi” as “fun guy.” I am a teacher and a fun-guy…get it? Okay, I know it is a little cheesy, but I have your attention now. That was the point. 🙂
If I haven’t mentioned it before, I am a middle school science teacher. I know, doubly crazy. You have to be a little crazy to teach science, and you have to be a lot of crazy to teach middle school! I do love it, though. I love teaching middle school students, and I LOVE teaching science. One of the cool things about being a science teacher is that we get to do a lot of fun and interesting professional development! I am on my last day of an in-district science workshop, and it has been a blast!
I bring this up because yesterday we learned about fungi. We learned more about this organism kingdom and new and fun ways to teach about them and tie them into other parts of our curriculum. I found out so many things I did not know before. I did not realize how fungus connects to so many parts of our lives! (Side note: I also learned about zombie ant symbiosis…very cool and creepy!)
I am going to talk a little “science,” but please keep reading…there is a point with some hope and encouragement in the end!
Fungi are a vital part of life. Really. Without fungus, life on planet Earth would probably not be here. They play a vital role in the ecosystem and environment. Decomposition is key to breaking down the “dead stuff” and bringing out the nutrients and minerals that allow “live stuff” to be alive. Things die, decompose, and new things are born, grow, develop, then die…repetition is necessary…the circle of life!
Fungi are a major part of that circle (I wonder if they were upset that their part was cut from the Lion King movie). They are one of the most important decomposers, right up there with bacteria. They break down dead things. That is what they do. That is what they literally live for…they live for the dead stuff. This is their job, and they do it well! Take a short walk through the woods, which we did yesterday, and look closely, and you will find that you are surrounded by fungi. It is everywhere. It needs to be. Imagine if they were not doing this…dead stuff everywhere…wait, let’s stop thinking about it!
Okay, think I have bored you with fungi enough. Why did I talk about them so much? Because sometimes we, teachers, are fungi, or at least we feel that way. Most people do not get all that excited about fungi (except science teachers). Actually, most people are the opposite of excited about fungi, unless they ordered it on their pizza. Dislike of fungi is understood and valid, though, being that many mushrooms and molds are nuisance and a health hazard. However, this does not change how vital they are and the need for them to sustain and continue the circle of life. Teachers are the same way.
Last month, I wrote about red pandas. Red pandas are a misunderstood animal, fungi are a misunderstood organism, and your have a misunderstood career. People, even in the education “business,” do not usually know all that we do or get why decisions that we make daily are so important. Like fungi, we are known about with out truly being understood. We usually take this in stride, hold our heads up, and stand tall. Other times it gets to us, especially in those times that we are overwhelmed with all that we need to do.
We need to remind ourselves of our importance. We need to remember that everything we do makes a difference. We need to know beyond a doubt that we are vital to the future…just like fungus.
We are the fungi that take what is good from generations current and past and pass them on to the future. We are the key to the circle of societal life. We are what drive the future. We do not make the future, but we pass the energy on from one generation to the next. Be proud of this. Be proud to be a fungus!
You are awesome! Hopefully this made sense and you get what I am saying! It has been a long week, and my brain is a bit tired. I hope this came across the way that I intended and encouraged you. You are amazing! You are important. You are needed. You are making a difference! Keep on passing on the good to the next generation and keep teaching, Teacher!
Love, Teacher
PS…Check out yesterdays post to learn more about a Teacher Rockstar who took his role as fungi seriously!
[we and our students are] Meant to Live
Dear Teacher,
Good morning. It is Monday. You know what that means! Weekly theme song. This one is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands. I am not sure if that is telling too much about me out not! 🙂 I picked this week’s song because I am pumped up. I got through some difficult mental/emotional hiccups last week after a school meeting and learning the state test results last week, and now all of that is fuel for my personal teaching change and to help my students to fly next year! I know I can raise them (and me) up to more than they (and I) could be without a little change in me!
Without further ado. Click play (and skip the add if one comes up) and then keep reading.
Teacher, where ever you might be in the school year. You may be, like me, in the summer and it is approaching the end and a new school year is looming larger and larger on the horizon. You might be in the throes of the school year with things going great or not so great. You may be in another place in the school year, I don’t know.
And I don’t know how you are feeling. Are you excited? Are things going well? Are plans coming together and next year is starting to take shape? Are you students doing well and all of your hard work and planning is paying off? Or are you on the other side? Are you terrified or extremely nervous about the new school year and things are not coming together for you? Are you falling a part? Is the school year not going so well? Is all of your hard work and planning looking like a waste of time and your students are just not getting it? Do they just not want to get it?
You most likely have a mixed bag. That seems to be how most of us spend the school year. A little from columns A, B, C, and D. Some things are going well and your feeling good about how things look. Other areas are not so good and you are a stressful wreck. And with other factors you are just kind of in the middle. This is how I spend most of the school year and summer. I think we all do. We are teachers. We find a balance somehow!
No matter where you may be and how you may feel, I want you to stop, breathe, and relax. Now, think of the biggest boldest, most impossible sounding goals you can have for yourself, your classroom, and your students. Dream big. Where do you wish you and your students could be as teachers and learners? Who do you wish you could be as a teacher? What would you be doing? Who do you wish your students could be as learners and scholars? What is your most impossible. yet semi-realistic goal that you would like your students to meet? Teacher, I am serious. Think of one or two gaudy goals for you and your students (“gaudy goals” are an idea from the training I went to a couple of weeks ago). If you don’t have something to shoot for, how do you know where you are aiming?
Now that you have a goal in mind, find a way to get there. I am serious. What can you change? What can you do? Pick a handful of small things that you can do to try to move and find a path to those big, impossible sounding dreams. Everything was impossible for the first time they were done. There are some awesome examples of teachers who have done this and found their way to make the dreams reality. I hope to highlight some of them soon, but that doesn’t matter right now because you could be one of those teachers. Dreams are just dreams until we make them real. How can you make your dreams and goals the real world for you and your students?
Teacher, you and your students are meant for so much more. Do not be happy where you are with your students, where ever that may be. You are meant to live for something more. Your students are meant to live for something more. Be something more. Move your students on to be something more. You can do it! You can be more! Go be more! Don’t ride this feeling off. I know that something stirred inside of you while you thought of bigger dreams. Do it! Work at it! Make something more happen. Be the something more for yourself, your students, and your school! You are something more. Prove it this week!
You are awesome! You are the more! I know you will show it to yourself and the world at-large this week! Be the teacher you know that you always could be. Go big this week! I mean it! You are amazing! You will make a difference this week, and every week! Keep on going and keep on teaching, Teacher!
Love, Teacher
PS…For those of you who use Edmodo, I have started an Edmodo Group for the daily updates.
You, Teacher, Are a Flight Attendant
Dear Teacher,
Earlier this summer I did some traveling with my family. A part of that travel was a few trips on airplanes, and this was my preschool’s son first time going on airplanes. This let me think and view the trip from his perspective. There was a sense of wonder and awe with everything on the airplane and all of the aspects of riding on one. As I enjoyed sitting with him as he took it all in, it got me thinking and this spurred an idea in my mind. This idea is what became the Secret Occupations of Teachers (S.O.o.T.) posts.
Today S.O.o.T. is the one that started this idea in the first place. Teachers are like flight attendants. I know, this one is going to seem like a bit of a stretch, but just bare with me. I think it will make sense. 🙂
A flight attendant is an important part of a flight crew. Of all of the roles that are played on an airplane, the flight attendant is the most public, at least to passengers. Basically, they are the face of the flight. They are who set the tone before, during, and after take-off and landing.
The job of flight attendant serves two main functions: ensure that safety regulations are being followed and to make sure that passengers as as comfortable as possible during the flight. Everything that flight attendants do fall under those categories. CareerPlanner.com gives the following job description:
1) Announce and demonstrate safety and emergency procedures such as the use of oxygen masks, seat belts, and life jackets.
2) Answer passengers’ questions about flights, aircraft, weather, travel routes and services, arrival times, and/or schedules.
3) Assist passengers in placing carry-on luggage in overhead, garment, or under-seat storage.
4) Assist passengers while entering or disembarking the aircraft.
5) Attend preflight briefings concerning weather, altitudes, routes, emergency procedures, crew coordination, lengths of flights, food and beverage services offered, and numbers of passengers.
6) Check to ensure that food, beverages, blankets, reading material, emergency equipment, and other supplies are aboard and are in adequate supply.
To sum it up, flight attendants are all about passengers. To keep them safe. To keep them happy as possible. I know there have been some stories in the news where this did not happen, and most of us have had a bad experience or two, but for the most part we can probably say that a majority of flight attendants do the best job possible. Which would be hard, if you think about it. They know that they probably will not see the passengers again, and sometimes the passengers can be rude for a number of reasons. They put up with a lot, but they try to keep a smile on their faces as they pass passengers on from one place to the next as safely and comfortably as possible.
Acknowledgement
Teacher, you are a flight attendant. You have two main roles as a teacher, to ensure a safe environment for learning and to provide and atmosphere that makes learning comfortable (comfortable in terms of growing understanding, thinking skills/processes, independent thought, etc…). When the learning environment is safe and comfortable, thinking, understanding, and learning happens.
I know that I have shared this quote before, but what Albert Einstein said fits so well here:
I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide an environment in which they can learn.
We, as teachers, set the tone, atmosphere, and safety net for learning. We make sure that students feel secure. We make sure that they are safe physically, mentally, and emotionally. We make sure that they have what they need. We go over the procedures over, and over, and over, and over, and over…and then one more time. We provide for them. We even sometimes give snacks…on the longer flights of knowledge. And we put up with a lot…keeping a smile the best that we can.
Encouragement
The constant smile on your face comes with a cost…it is hard to do and sometimes almost hurts to take what gets thrown at you. Sometimes you do not handle it well, but those times are not often. You do your best to keep your cool. You do your best to keep a straight face as you go over the “safety procedures” while your student roll there eyes. You try to deal with disgruntled “passengers” the best that you can and keep an even tone. You do your best to work with your “passengers” even though the “pilots” may be making what you need to do difficult from time to time. You try to keep that smile and continue to keep your “passengers” safe and the learning environment comfortable.
You are awesome. People who think you do not do miracles every day just don’t know what you do. They don’t understand. Students, parents, administration, and anyone else who gives you negative feedback from time to time do not see your day-to-day and minute-to-minute. Take it with a grain of salt, change what you can change, and move on. You are amazing. Keep that smile up no matter what goes down. You are good at what you do and you are making a difference.
Challenge
Teacher, are you doing all that you can do to keep the learning environment as safe and comfortable as you possibly can? What can you do improve the atmosphere of your classroom and optimize learning every day? The challenge I would like to give to you is to find some way you can make a change. It can be a teaching strategy or a change in how you view thinking and learning. Pick one thing. Study it. Absorb it. Plan with it. Implement it. One thing. Summer folks, you even have a few weeks left to do this.
A couple of suggestions of things that I have pick as some of my “one things”:
- Problem/Project Based Learning (PBL) – PBL is a buzzword (well, buzz-letters) you probably have been hearing about if you do not already know about it and use it. Basically, it is giving your content relevance to the students and teaching with an end in mind that the students buy into. The Buck Institute for Education is one of the best sources out there. Edutopia also has some great information and available resources for incorporating PBL. Project Based Learning has a self-guided mini-course you can work through to learn more, and this is the site that helped me the most.
- Brain-Based Learning – as you can probably infer, brain-based learning uses current brain research to improve the understanding of teaching and learning processes and helps you change your teaching strategies in light of this. Teaching with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen, which I know I talk about a lot, was the beginning of my understanding and implementation brain-based learning. He also has several other books (Teaching with the Brain in Mind, Brain-Based Learning: The New Paradigm of Teaching, and Turnaround Tools for the Teenage Brain, to name a few…and no, they are not paying me for endorsements, I am just a fan!). There are other great resources out there, as well. There is a book that I plan to get soon that would be a great place to start, Brain Rules by John Medina (who is a molecular biologist who knows what he is talking about…he is not just a former teacher). Another great resource is How the Brain Learns by Dr. David Sousa (viewed as one of the leading experts on the brain and learning). You can do an internet search and find a number of online resources, as well.
Teacher, you are a flight attendant. It may seem like a lesser job on the flight crew, but it really one of the most important. What you do is important. Very important! You set the tone, atmosphere, and environment for learning. And you do it with a smile. You are awesome! Keep on smiling and keep on teaching!
Remember this, we are only flight attendants for our students on their way from one city to the next on their journey of life. Don’t waste the little time that you have with them! Now, please return your seats and tray tables to the proper, upright position. 🙂
Love, Teacher
PS…Thanks for reading through this one. It was long! I hope it was worth your time!
Oh, and for those of you who use Edmodo, I have started an Edmodo Group for the daily updates. This way I will be able to make the “Edmodo blasts” in the Communities few and far between…I don’t know that everyone “loves” them. 🙂
Some [funny and inspiring] Thoughts on Teaching
Dear Teacher,
This week was full of some heavy posts…inspiring and encouraging, but still heavy. I thought I might make today a lighter day and celebrate some of what we love about teaching! And because my post have been longer this week, I am going to have you do more watching than reading. 🙂
Our job is difficult. We try to use innovative methods and strategies, but sometimes it just doesn’t seem like the kids are getting it. Sometimes it feels like this…you may or may not remember this Saturday Night Live sketch from the 90’s. If you have seen it, watch it again and enjoy. If you haven’t seen it, watch it for the first time and laugh your socks off! It is hilarious, but it is amazing how it actually feels this way sometimes! The only difference is that in real life you don’t give up…you don’t give up because you are AWESOME! 🙂
Now, unfortunately, the world at-large thinks that it is really always like this and that we are just flying by the seat of our pants. But we don’t. We plan. We fight. We do all that we need to do to make the biggest impact we can on students. It is hard work, and we don’t get paid enough to do it. That doesn’t matter to us, in the big picture, though because we know we do this for more than money. Sometimes it is hard to get other people to understand why, though. Here is another video you may or may not have seen; but you most likely have heard the dinner party story before. Taylor Mahi does an awesome job of telling the story and showing the passion of why we do what we do. Have a watch.
To round out this all out, I want to go back to the first video. That was a comical look at what we do, but I want you to see a teacher’s perspective, someone like us, on what we do day to day…and why we love it. I found this while I was looking for the Taylor Mahi video. This is another one by him, and I really think it sums it all up nicely.
You are so awesome. What you do is hard. It takes time, it takes heart, it takes grit. You are good at it. You are making a difference. You are a miracle worker, and you are amazing! Never give up and never surrender to stress that we swim in. Keep going and keep teaching, Teacher!
Wait…before you go. I want to give a weekend homework assignment. Homework over the weekend? Yes, home work over the weekend! I want you to go through and find three of your favorite posts here at Dear Teacher/Love Teacher and share them with someone (or a lot of someones). Share on Edmodo, Facebook, Twitter, email, or how ever else you can. Then come back here and tell us all the response. Encouragement is hard to find in our job sometimes, so when we find it we need to share it!
Thank you, Awesome Teacher! You are the best!
Love, Teacher
PS…Oh, and for those of you who use Edmodo, I have started an Edmodo Group for the daily updates. This way I will be able to make the “Edmodo blasts” in the Communities few and far between…I don’t know that everyone “loves” them. 🙂
Why You and I Are Here…You Raise Me Up
Dear Teacher,
Yesterday I talked about how I was feeling overwhelmed when I looked at my goals and expectations for the new year (and all the work it will take to get there). This morning I am feeling overwhelmed in a different way…a good way. First of all, just a quick follow-up from yesterday. I took my own advise and just worked in the areas I knew that I could get some stuff done pretty easily. Throughout the day, those little things built on each other and I was able to make some great strides in climbing that mountain of preparation for the new year! I had a few people cheering me on, and that helped!
This is not why I am overwhelmed this morning, though. I am overwhelmed because of you! I had more people respond to yesterday’s post than any other. Most of the feedback came through Edmodo and the Facebook Page, and it just kept coming. Many people shared about how yesterday’s post encouraged them and helped them to keep moving even when the task was daunting. Along with this, many of the messages also shared what this blog means to them and how the encouragement, hope, and challenges help them to feel like they are not alone. Knowing you are not the only one feeling what you feel and that other people are going through the same things that you are going through goes along way to renew you teacher’s heart.
These messages make me want to share, again, why I started this blog and what I hope to spark with it…and I think the sparks are flying. But before I do, I am going to veer a little off of the new normal here and have a song to listen to while you read on a Thursday (two songs in one week! Woo hoo! 🙂 ). Play the song and then read on.
Teacher, I am just like you. I teach because I love it. I teach because I want to make a difference. I teach because I do not think I could not teach. Teaching is in my heart, blood, and soul. I am a teacher, just like you.
I am also a teacher just like you in that I get stressed by the expectations from others. I love my students, but sometimes teaching them can be difficult. Sometimes the weight of all the little things that come along with teaching weigh me down. Sometimes those things can bowl me over and run me down. I get tired. I get beat up. I get worn down. I see the ebb and flow of the year that always wants to push me closer and closer to burnout. I fight it off…but it is hard. I know what you go through in a year, Teacher. I am just like you. I am a teacher.
Every school year I get to that point right on the precipice of burnout. I can see and smell it. I don’t get to the point of burnout every year, but I usually get close. Really close. Last year was different, though. I saw burnout on the horizon, but I never really got that close to it. It stayed in the distance, far away.
Why? What was different last year.
I can actually point to a number of things that helped make that happen, but I want to focus on one. Hope. The power of hope. The funny part is, it wasn’t hope for me. It was hope for others.
I read through the book Teaching with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen near the end of the school year (great book whether or not you teach at a Title I school or not), and I got to a section that talked about the power that hope has on the brain and learning. This opened my eyes. I needed to help give my students hope and encouragement more intentionally and make it a priority. I took on the task of handwriting personal notes to all 80 of my students. The response was amazing! I will write more about this another day, but the students loved getting these…I had some students hound me about it until they got theirs. They started asking the other teachers when they would be writing notes! Sorry teammates! 🙂
As I wrote these letters, I got to thinking how much some simple words of real encouragement (based on positive truth..the only kind of encouragement I know how to give) would make me feel and spur me on to bigger and greater things. I went looking online for some kind of source of this kind of encouragement for teachers. It wasn’t there. I could not find anything like that. I wanted something for teachers by teachers to give hope and encouragement. I just couldn’t find it. So I decided to create it myself! Thus Dear Teacher/Love Teacher was born!
The purpose of Dear Teacher/Love Teacher is give hope, encouragement, inspiration, and challenges to you, Teacher, from another or other teachers (me and my Substitute Teachers). More than giving you hope, though, the other purpose, or the sparks, is that I want to push you on to do the same for other teachers and for your students. I want you to be a conduit of hope and inspiration. There is so much negativity in education right now…I want to start an Encouragement Revolution. That starts with me and starts with you.
Going back to the beginning when I talked about burnout, I think that hope giving and spreading is one of the big reason that burnout stayed away from me this year. Encouraging others encouraged me and kept me going!
The reason that I believe encouragement is so important to give out, is that it is a part of our job as teachers…or should be. I had you play this song, not so you could think about the people who “raise [you] up” but to start thinking about yourself as someone that others could sing this song to. I want you to be a person that raises people (both other teachers and your students) up to more than they could be.
How can you…
- lift some burdens from some of your fellow teachers?
- sit a while with someone who feels alone and help them feel less lonely?
- fill your students with wonder?
- help students and other teachers feel like they can climb impossible mountains?
- walk with a teacher over a stormy sea?
- make a student or a younger teacher stronger by being on your shoulders?
- push those around you to be more than they could be without you?
Teacher, if you are here reading this. You understand the importance of hope. You get the need for encouragement. You want to be inspired and challenged. I am glad you came. I am glad you are finding that here. Now go and give what you have gotten here out to others! If you just keep it to yourself it isn’t worth as much! If you give away all the good that you have and run out…come back here for a refill. That is what I am here for!
You are so awesome! I know that you will leave a trail of that awesome behind where ever you go! You are amazing and you are making a difference! Keep going and keep on teaching, Teacher!
Love, Teacher
Small Steps that make Big Differences
Dear Teacher,
I don’t know how this week has been for you, but it has been a tough one for me. It is only halfway through summer, but I am already getting a bit overwhelmed with everything that I need to get done before school starts (not to mention all of the summer chores to get done here at home). This is coupled with trying to pick myself back up after finding out the state test scores from last school year. I want it to be a motivation to try to streamline and learn from my mistakes for next year, but it still takes a bit of the wind out of your sails.
Have you been where I am? Excited about planning and setting expectations for the new year, but also a bit overwhelmed and pre-defeated by the staggering odds against you? It is hard. It is like setting a goal to climb a mountain, but standing at the bottom of it and seeing how impossible it feels to do so.
We make big plans and set huge goals for ourselves and our students for the next year. We get psyched up and amped up as we plan and see all the possibilities. Then reality hits us. We think about what hasn’t worked in the past. We start to wonder if our students will buy-in. We think of all the obstacles in the way of our goals. We start to wonder if the hard work of planning in a new direction is worth it. It gets hard to focus on the details needed because the climb seems so daunting. We won’t give up, but something inside wants us just to do what we did last year or wing it. I am at that point. How about you? I will push through it, but I am just there.
But I won’t give up, and I will keep going. So will you. And you know why? It is because we know a secret. It is this secret that we live by in these times, and it is this secret we hope to pass on to our students.
There is a often quoted, and probably cliche, Chinese proverb by Laozi that sums up the secret. Here is the traditional translation:
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Or, another translation:
The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one’s feet.
The secret is this. No matter the odds or the pain of disappointment, we keep moving. We set a destination and move towards it. We power through. We keep taking the steps. No matter the situation. We know where we need to go, and we keep trying to get there. Step by step. Even if those steps are baby steps at times, we keep going. We keep soldiering on!
In my case, I am looking for the little things I can do to push me forward. I am trying to break my big goals into smaller steps. I am finding little areas of planning that are very real and easy. This way, as I am pushing through the hard parts of starting the climb I am still moving in very real and measurable ways. In a few days or a week, I will be able to look back and see that I am actually gaining ground. That will push me to keep climbing!
What about you? What are you doing? Are you planning for the next year? Are you still teaching right now and in one of those spots that happen during a school year? What do you need to focus on? What little steps can you take to keep you taking the big steps?
Never forget…no matter how impossible the journey, JUST START SOMEWHERE! Each little step makes a big difference! And remember, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!
No matter where you are or how you are feeling, I know that you will press on. You are awesome! You are amazing! And you are making a difference! Keep on teaching, Teacher!
Love, Teacher
Dear Teacher/Love Teacher 