teacher encouragement – Page 3 – Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

General Inspiration, Hope for Teachers, Pep Talk, Perseverance

The Pantry List

Posted on July 2, 2015July 2, 2015 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

So, you had a rough year last year? I hear you. I was there, too. The word “challenge” barely covers it. It was quite a mix of difficulties all wrapped up into one not-so-glorious year.

But I survived.

And you survived.

And now that we have settled into summer a bit, it is time to do one last difficult thing related to last year…reflect.

Reflection is the key to growth and change as a teacher…especially after a tough class period, day, quarter, or year. When we reflect, we take stock of what went right and wrong, what we need to change for the better, and what we can let go of. The process can be painstaking, but it is therapeutic…and more than that, it is vital to making next year better.

As I was working through my own mental system of reflection today, I thought of a new approach to reflecting, but before I tell you about it, I need to tell you a story from this morning. I need to tell you about breakfast.

It all starts with muffins…

I do my wife a favor in the mornings when I can and get our boys going. This includes breakfast.

This morning, I decided to do a secondary favor. We had some overripe bananas and she talked about making banana bread yesterday. I had an epiphany…I can make banana muffins for breakfast! So, I looked up some recipes.

There was a problem, however.

As it seems, you need certain ingredients to make said banana muffins…not all of which were present in our cupboards. We had most of the staple products, but since today was shopping day some were missing.

You don’t know me that well, but if you did you would know that once I get an idea in my head to do something I do not give up easily. So, I pushed on. I know some recipe replacements, and I thought I knew enough to guess some others.

It was rough, but I was able to get something together that resembled batter…and I poured into the muffin tins and baked.

I had to keep adding a few minutes of time in the oven, but eventually they looked a lot like muffins.

I took them out. I tried one…

Honestly, they were not the worse muffins I have ever had, and if you added butter they were not too bad. They weren’t the best, but they were my muffins…and they would pass as breakfast.

So…what the heck does this have to do with teaching and reflecting?

Every year, we start of with some pretty high goals for our students and ourselves. We know that we have the basics that we come in with as teachers, but sometimes the ingredients in our classroom are not what we expected. We do our best with what we have and we strive towards those goals.

We have to alternate plans.

We have to do things a little different than “the norm.”

We have to compromise.

We have to make do.

But in the end, though our results may not be exactly what we hoped for, we still have results. Sometimes “kind of” results are okay. We did what we could with the resources at hand, our skills, and some ingenuity.

They may not be the best results, but they are our results.

As we reflect, we need to look at how everything went and see the positive in what we had at the end. Sometimes that can be more difficult than others that like to judge education will ever know, but they were not in our classroom and do not know our students.

Sometimes edible muffins are the best you can do with baking…and sometimes students getting through the year know more than when they started and able to learn more on their own than before are giant strides for the situation you are giving.

And that brings us to the looking forward side of reflection…this is where my new approach to reflection comes in…

You have got to take a good, long look at your “teaching pantry.” Ask yourself these hard questions and make a PANTRY LIST:

What really went well last year that you can go into the new year armed with?
What are your strengths as a teacher?
What strategies vibe up well with your teaching personality?
What is the upside to that teaching personality?
How do you connect with students best (both inside and outside of the content)?
What are your best improvs as a teacher?

These are the things currently in your pantry. This is what you bring to the table. These are what you can bank on being a part of you.

On the other side, you need to ask some harder questions and add these to your PANTRY SHOPPING LIST:

What did not go well last year that shows a skill that you may be lacking?
What is an aspect of teaching that is a weakness that is vital that you work on?
What is something that you would like to learn from a teacher you think is a great teacher?
What are ways that you know your classroom atmosphere needs to change?
What are some ways that you do not connect well with students?
What are your worst improvs as a teacher?

These are the things that you can work on this summer. DO NOT MAKE THE SHOPPING LIST LONG! Small steps get you in the right direction. Do not think of these things as what you are bad at…think of them as things you would like in your teaching pantry. Spend some time this summer making a “supply run.” Pick something to read a book about. Attend a PD session over the summer. Find a teacher good at one of these things, buy her/him lunch or coffee, and pick their brain. Make a plan for getting some new ingredients in the cupboard. And don’t forget to rest!

I hope that this made sense!

What is in your teacher pantry? What do you need to go shopping for? Share here and perhaps we can all help you find some resources,

Teacher, you are amazingly awesome! I bet you already reflect on this level and I am preaching to the choir. If not, please don’t give up. Your students and all of the other teachers need you! You are amazing. Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

General Inspiration, Hope for Teachers, Pep Talk

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

Posted on June 17, 2015June 17, 2015 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

I know that is has been a long time since I have written to you. It has been quite a school year, and I am entering a time of transition. Before I get to that, let’s talk about this past year.

How did it turn out for you? How did everything go? If you are reading this, you made it out alive, so that is something. 🙂

Image: http://www.firstgradenest.com/

It was quite a year for me. There is not one word to describe it. It was challenging. It was trying. It was stressful. It was enlightening. It was strange. It was insightful. It was life-changing. It was. It just was.

I don’t know that I had a more difficult year with students. It wasn’t their behavior so much as it was their attitude towards learning. In a time when the stakes could not be higher for students to show growth, it seemed like my students were the least interested in growing. Was it like that for you this year?

That made teaching rough. I believe in students having the responsibility of learning and turning that responsibility over to them throughout the year. So many did not want to take those reigns from me. My classroom was student-centered, but I found that I wound up in the center so many times just to get through content.

I learned a lot about motivating students and a lot about motivating myself. How do I keep going with the idea of being brain-centered and student-centered when it seems like I am gaining so little ground. I learned to keep my head down and keep going down the road and trusting what I know is right for my students…but it was hard. Very hard. That is one of the reasons that I wrote so little to you this year.

But I made it.

You made it.

We made it!

I want to encourage you, Teacher. If it was a hard year for you, as it was for me, there is hope. You can do anything for a year and then you can look forward to the next. You know what is right for your students, even if they do not. Take some time and reflect this summer. What went right? What went wrong? Where do you need to dig in and keep going? What are some things you can let go of next year?

Keep on keeping on. Do what you know is right. Take a stand for what needs to be stood up for. Be the awesome teacher that you are.

Not every year will go well. Sometimes there will be a string of bad years. Sometimes your working environment will be challenging. Sometimes you will want to pack it in.

Remember one thing, though.

Your students need you. They really do.

If you keep doing what is right, day after day and year after year, things will eventually go right for you in ways that you know you are going in the right direction. Trust me.

A little about my life and transitions…

After nine years of trying to be the best teacher that can be at a Title I school and having strings of difficult years, there has been a change. My hard work was noticed. I was hired to work at my district’s science center. I will be moving out of the traditional classroom and be teaching students from all over my district and my area throughout the year.

It was difficult to pack up and leave my school for good after being there for so long…there were some tears…but I know that this is right. I am going to love every minute of my new job and I will be able to help more students fall in love with learning and help other teachers learn new ways to foster that love in students, too.

That being said, that leaves this blog in a state of flux. I need a little feedback here.

Since I will no longer be in the normal classroom, will you still accept my encouragement and advice here? How can I stay current with the struggles that you have in your classroom? How can I change the format of the blog to help you stay encouraged?

One thing I know that I can do is offer for you to email and let me know of a struggle in the classroom you are having. I can write directly to what you are going through here (keeping out any personal information). Would that be a helpful aspect to this blog? (My email is dearteacher@outlook.com.)

Let me know any ideas that you have! Thanks!

Teacher, take some time for yourself this summer. Find ways to recharge and heal from the year. Don’t spend too much time getting ready for the next round. Just be for a while. Just be.

Image: http://www.teachjunkie.com

You are so awesome! I know that next year will be even better than this one was! Keep on doing what is right and keep on teaching, teacher!

Love, Teacher

General Inspiration, Hope for Teachers, Reason for Teaching, Teaching Power, You Are Awesome!!!

A Little More Magic…

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Last week I wrote to you about holding on to the magic that makes you special as a teacher. It is your magic that keeps your students engaged. It is one of the keys to avoiding burnout (at least it can make the burnout take longer). It is what you live for as a teacher when your students minds are blown and they are left with the “aha” moments of learning that stick with them for the rest of their lives.

Yes, your personal magic is pretty important, and you better hang on to it for dear teaching life!

So…

How do you tap into your personal teaching magic and how do you develop it deeper and create more?

As far as the magic that you already contain in the classroom goes, I can’t really help you from here. You have to reflect and think about what it is that the students latch on to and help them connect with you. Is it you dynamic story-telling? Is it how you build relationships? Is it how you know just what to say to make someone feel better about life? Is it how you connect with students that no one else can? Is it how you can make the most mundane and boring subjects come to life? I don’t know, but you can find out if you aren’t sure.

Talk to students.

Take a survey.

Ask other teachers what they hear from students about you.

You may not always like what you hear, but you might be surprised on what you find out students like about you. What they like is probably tied to your magical side.

It can be rough sometimes, but doing the investigative work will help you find what you can build on to make the magic happen time and time again in your class.

Once you find out, then research.

Look for teachers that are good at the same things, and find out what they do and how they use their magic. Magicians learn from magicians and then make the magic their own. Teachers need to do the same.

Research online. Are there teachers and non-teachers that are good at the same brand of magic? What do they do? How do they use their magic in life and work? What makes them magical? How can you replicate and adapt that style of magic for your classroom and students?

Lastly, look for ways to personalize your magic and make it meaningful to your specific students. How can you involve them? How can you make them a part of your “show?” Can you have students share in your magic? Can they be your magician’s assistants? Can you develop some magic apprentices?

I know I am talking in vagaries right now, but that is all I can do because personal magic is, well, personal. It is different from teacher to teacher and class to class. I hope this made sense to you, even so.

I wanted to write a little about how to find more personal magic than you already know, but I think I will save that for later this week. A lot of it is tied to you and what interests you in life. I found out about something amazing this weekend that is directly tied to personal magic, but I want to make it a post all on its own. I will leave you with a link and let you make the connection to personal magic on your own until I am able to write further about it.

Star Wars in the Classroom

You are amazing. You are magical. You do reach your students. You are making a difference! I know you are…even when you don’t feel like it. Never give up and keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

General Inspiration, Hope For Students, Hope for Teachers, Note to Teachers, Perseverance, You Are Awesome!!!

What You Can’t Afford to Lose

Posted on April 3, 2015September 2, 2015 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

I am sorry that I have had little to no time to write to you this school year. Like you, I have been pulled in a thousand different directions today, and it has taken everything inside of me to keep focused on the one thing that matters: my students. It has beat me up to do this, but I think that, most days, I have kept that focus.

And, also like you, I am tired.

I do not always have the energy to be the awesome, dynamic teacher that I can be. I have kept to my commitment to pursuing the goal of my students learning and learning how to learn on their own, but I have lost a little bit of the spark that makes me a good teacher some days. The exhaustion of keeping up with all of the spinning plates that we are given makes that hard…if not impossible from time-to-time.

Spinning Plates Image: Wikipedia Commons

We lose some of what makes us great. It happens to us all. It is inevitable. It is real life.

So what do we do about it?

I do not think that we can avoid losing some of our teacher “fire.” It is an unavoidable reality.

No, I do not think that keeping all of our teacher flames burning is the key here. No. If we try to do that. We burn out and we are not much good for anyone.

No, keeping a large bonfire of teaching enthusiasm is not what you or I need to strive for…not at all.

I think what we need to do is keep the right embers burning. If we maintain intensity on the right aspects of teaching, we will avoid flaming out and be able to rekindle our fires once the smoke clears.

(Am I overusing the analogy? Probably. But I press on.)

So what do we make sure that we do not lose in the battle of every day teaching life?

Some of it will be different from teacher to teacher, grade to grade, state to state, and person to person, but there is definitely one thing that makes all of the difference in the world for our students that I do not think any of us can afford to lose. It hit me this year as I had to reflect after some very difficult weeks.

And what is that “one thing,” Teacher?

It is very simple, difficult, easy, and impossible…all at once.

Magic.

You need to keep the magic.

The magic of teaching is what will keep bringing your students (and most definitely you) back for more over and over again, no matter how hard the going gets.

“What do you mean by magic?”

Magic is the mystical side of teaching. It is the not-so-quantifiable relationship between wonder, teaching, and learning. It is the “Aha-moment,” curiosity, and awe that students can have when they are truly engaged in learning about language, math, science, and history. It is the amazement factor of teaching. Those moments when the students are wide-eyed and hanging on every moment in your classroom and every word that you say. It is when sighs of frustration ring through your room when the students hear the bell.

This is the magic of teaching.

It is never every minute in your class, nor should it be. These are the crescendos to the momentum that you build with every experience that you give your students. They are what you build up to as you plan and teach. It is the moment when you can almost physical see the students make the mental connection to what they are learning.

It is the moment that every teacher lives for…it is magic for the students, but it is also magic for the teacher.

It is this magic that you have to protect, against all odds.

This magic is why you teach. This magic is what makes students want to learn. This magic is what makes school…well…magical.

How can you be sure to keep this magic alive?

That is up to you. Magic in my classroom is different from magic in your classroom. You have to figure out where the magic is for you. I have to know where the magic is for me. And we both need to make sure that the noise of education does not drown out the magic of teaching and learning for us or our students.

I teach science. For me, the magic is tied up in letting the students explore a concept. I dress it up in a problem of some sort. I let the students tackle the problem from their current understanding. I keep some of the things they need to learn hidden…like in a magic trick. When they think they have things sorted out, I introduce something that most students did not know…which usually makes their solution not work the way that they thought it should. I then give them the big picture of the concept. That is when students start to make the connections and see the real solution(s). This is the “aha” that I live for as a teacher. This is where students learn on their own (helped along by the the Teacher-Magician). This is teaching and learning, in my eyes.

This is the magic.

This is what I can’t afford to lose. No matter what.

What is the magic for you?

How will you keep it in spite of everything?

How will you make it key to what happens in your classroom?

Teacher, I know that it is hard. It is less hard when you remember what makes you special as a teacher and you hold on to it for dear life! I know you know what makes you special. I know that you know what makes your class magic. You have what it takes to make that central, and you have what it takes to hold on to that. You have what it takes to be a great teacher. Be that great teacher! You are awesome! You are amazing! You are making a difference! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

Hope for Teachers, Note to Teachers, Pep Talk, Perseverance, Reason for Teaching, Reflection

It’s Grow Time

Posted on January 2, 2015January 2, 2015 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Happy New Year! And so a new one begins, huh? I am not sure what this school year has been like for you so far, but you have a fresh start to the second half. What are you going to do with it?

I can’t help but think of a new year as a seed. It is something that is up to you on how it will grow. Like I teach my students whenever I teach my unit on plants, seeds stay dormant until they have the right conditions to grow.

I moved into my current classroom and curriculum three years ago. In one of the drawers, I have many as a science teacher, I found a bag of beans. I had no idea how old they were and decided not to use them….until this year.

This year, I went a little “grow crazy” during the plant unit and tried to plant as much as I can using the big grow light set-up we have. I remembered those seeds. I did the germination in a damp paper towel thing, and despite the age of the seeds, they still germinated!

I planted them, watered them, and let time and nature do the rest. As I said, I grew several things all at the same time. I was disappointed that, though many things flowered, nothing came to fruit…or so I thought.

Another teacher came to observe in my room and we got talking about my plants and how the plants flowered by nothing else. He knows a lot more about growing than I do, and he started looking through them. And he found something…on the bean plants. He found little bean pods. Not only did they grow, they produced more seeds! I was disappointed in the size until some students and I started looking through the plants and we found large bean pods! It was a cool moment for this science teacher who is bad at growing stuff!

(c)DearTeacherLT2015 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)

Though the beans were who-knows-how-old, they were still dormant and waiting for the right conditions to grow.

Why did I share this story?

Teacher, you may have had a rough school year. Not much may seem to have happened for you or your students. You may have seen nothing but seedlings so far…or worse, you just see empty soil.

Do not give up!

You have a fresh start coming up!

Your seeds may still just be dormant.

You just need the right conditions for growth!

I do not know what growth or the right conditions look like for you, but you do. What will it take to make that happen? What do you need? What do you need to focus on?

Stop whining about what is going wrong this year and work on what is going right! Give yourself and your students the light, water, and nutrients needed for growth! Reflect, regroup, and regrow!

You can do it!

You know what it takes!

You have what it takes!

It time to get growing!

It is grow time, Teacher!

You are awesome and I know you have what it takes to get things growing this year. You are an amazing teacher. You are making a difference. Don’t give up! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

General Inspiration, Hope for Teachers, Note to Teachers, Thank You!, You Are Awesome!!!

A Little Reminder

Posted on December 27, 2014December 29, 2014 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

I hope that you have had a restful, resetting break so far! I really do.

As the business of Christmas settles down I know that thoughts of school are starting to creep back in. I know this is true because you are a great teacher.

This is why I am writing to you today. I want to say thank you. Thank you for being a great teacher. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your creativity. Thank you for you!

You are amazing!

You are a gift to your students.

You are a gift to education.

You are a gift to the world!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

You are awesome. You are making a difference. Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

General Inspiration, Hope for Teachers, Note to Teachers, Take Care of Yourself, You Are Awesome!!!

The Reset Button

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

I hope that you are finally on break now. If not, I hope today is your last day! You need it! You deserve a little break.

Today’s message is going to start a little differently than most. I want to reflect a little on my childhood. Keep reading, though. There is a point that brings it all back to teaching. 🙂

I grew up in the golden age of the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was the most wonderful thing in the world to me. You could have adventures, solve mysteries, and just have tons of fun. It was great!

Well…it was great for a while.

After a few years, it started to run a little slower. Before too long, it started having trouble starting the games. This happened to almost everyone I knew. We had to blow into the games. We had to find creative ways to slide the games in. We had to hope against hope every time we pressed the power button.

Near the end of the life of the NES, you got to know the reset button very, very well.

Each time the game messed up, we pressed reset.

When the game froze up, we pressed reset.

Oh, and there is also the we-did-not-do-so-well-in-the-game times, and we pressed reset.

Reset. Reset. Reset. It was the stand-by that we always went to.

Well, Teacher, you are more than a game system, but you, too get worn down. You are tired. You are mentally exhausted. You are emotionally worn out.

Sometimes, the game messes up on you. Sometime teaching “freezes” up on you. Sometimes you are not just doing very well. These are especially true this time of year and most definitely this year…it has been a rough one for almost every teacher I have talked to.

You need what we relied on with the NES…you need a reset.

Winter break is our reset button built into the year.

I really do think that is the main reason that we need it. We all need a reset here at the almost school year half-time.

We need a break. We need a refresh. We need the hope of a fresh start in the year.

That is what you need. Don’t forget it.

The holidays are great! Take the time to reconnect with friends and family. Do all of the fun, holiday things. That is all a part of it. Just do me a favor and don’t forget about you.

Take some down time.

Do something you love doing.

TAKE A BREAK!

Just be.

Refresh teacher.

Hit that reset button…what ever that looks like for you.

Teacher, I hope you have a tremendous break and happy holidays! Just remember that you need to recharge. Don’t forget to reset.

You are awesome! I know that you will take some time for you. You are doing a great job this year, even if it does not always feel that way. You really are making a difference! Reset and keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

General Inspiration, Note to Teachers, Pep Talk, Theme Song

[Teachers, We Need to Be] Good Monsters

Posted on October 28, 2014October 29, 2014 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

How is the week going for you? I know it is early, but it has already been a tough one for me. However, a rough week already bearing its head and it is only Tuesday seems to be par for the course this year. Like a most of the other teachers I know and talk to, this has been a difficult year so far. Not all bad, just super challenging.

Thinking today and about the message that I need to hear (most of the time I write to you as a way to talk to myself…I am a teacher like you, after all 🙂 ), an idea and analogy for my role as a teacher at a Title I school that I have had for the past several years came back to mind. It is the concept of who I am and need to be sometimes. This analogy came to me from a song…so I am thinking that I need to make this a theme song post to share about this.

Click play and read on. Oh, please ignore the cheesy-ness of the video. It is an older song that you may have never heard before, but give it a listen while you read. I so hope this all makes sense…this is an analogy and song that I cling to on the hardest of days.

We have a difficult job. There is so much to do. So much that we are expected to get done. Sometimes it seems too much. Some days (most days) we strive to get by and just keep our heads above the water.

We get to school, look around, and try to sort through all of the “to do’s” to get “to done.” We let some plates drop while we focus on others, and we look for the light at the end of the tunnel while we trudge through the darkness of the day to day.

It is overwhelming.

It can be too much.

But sometimes we forget two vital things: who we are and the reason that we are here.

You are a teacher, Teacher! You have made it through teacher training. You have been through student teaching. You have passed state exams. You have made it through evaluations. And you have survived tough years of teaching before.

You find a way to juggle “real life” and school. You balance your time, schedule, and money. You find a way to get things done no matter what. You are do so much and you are capable of so much more.

Teacher, you are a monster.

You do the impossible every day. You do a job that most people don’t have the heart or guts to do. You are fierce. You are strong. You are awesome!

You can be scary, sometimes, but only when you have to be. You are a monster of the best variety.

Don’t let the chains of the system hold you back. I know it is hard. The chains are binding. But you can break them. You can find a way to be the monster that you need to be.

Why do you need to be a monster?

That is the other side of this…the other thing that we forget when we are enslaved to the extras that come with our job.

There is a village that has bad monsters tormenting it. There are villagers that need our help. They need the monsters that we can be to defeat the monsters that should not be.

Our students need us. We often forget the monsters that torment their lives.

These monsters are different for different students, but they are still there. The common monsters that are against them are apathy, laziness, and a want to take the easy road. Sometimes the education system itself can be a common monster. There are probably a lot of others, too, but I think you get what I mean.

Not only are there the universal monsters, but there are other, very menacing monsters that stalk many of our students, too. I won’t go into details, but we often do not know what our students face when they leave our school…not to mention some of the monsters at the school (bullying, peer pressure, etc…).

There is a world of monsters trying to pillage and plunder the lives of our students.

One of our main jobs is to be the last line of defense. Sometimes it takes monsters to beat monsters.

You, Teacher, are one of those monsters…you are a good monster.

So, Monster, open your eyes today. Break those chains that are holding you back. Give up some of the battles that don’t matter and go save a village!

I know that it is hard sometimes to know where to fight, but make your focus the students and the monsters that are eating them alive today. Help them fight. You might be their only hope.

I really hope this made sense!

You are so awesome! I know that you are a monster of the best kind and that you battle well against what plagues your students. Fight on and keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

Cheer Up, General Inspiration, Hope for Teachers, Note to Teachers, Reflection

So, You’ve Had a Week from…Well, You Know…

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

If you are like a lot of other teachers that I have talked to this week, you may have just had a pretty rough week. It was pretty mediocre for me, but I have had a bad week or two recently, as well.

Fridays of bad weeks can be good and bad. They are great because the week is over. They really stink because you have to take stock of the week and figure out what went wrong.

If the week was bad enough, we probably lost our cool and did some things that we aren’t quite proud of…poor reactions, poor choices, etc… Fridays like that are even worse. We have to deal with the week and deal with ourselves. Never, ever, ever fun.

So, for those that had a long week, let’s have a theme song post. Click play and then read on.

Teacher, your job is hard.

You have so much to deal with every day.

It seems like the days that go bad, go bad in almost every way possible.

One bad day can lead into another…and another…and before you know it, you have had a bad week.

Bad weeks happen. They happen to the best and worst of us. They bring out the worst in us…but don’t forget, they also bring out the best of us.

“What do you mean, teacher-who-obviously-did-not-have-a-bad-week?”

I know that you don’t want to think about it today, at the end of your awful week, but bad days and weeks teach us more than the good ones.

We learn what doesn’t work.
We learn what some of our “triggers” are.
We learn what we need to avoid.
We learn that the students may nor have learned as we thought they did.

Not only that, weeks after bad weeks always seem to help us get stronger as a teacher. We dig in, we find a way to keep moving and keep going, and we find ways to try to avoid weeks like we just had.

We learn new strategies because we had to work so hard just to get through the week.
We learn that we had resources that we did not know that we had.
We learn that we are stronger than we thought we were.
We learn that we have students that cared about our bad weeks (when they come and say that they are glad the next week is going better for us).
We learn that we have colleagues that actually do care about us (even if it is just one or two).
We learn that we love teaching as much as we thought we did, even though we hated it the week before (the bad week).

There is a silver lining, Teacher. Even if you don’t see it now, it is there.

It is okay to bemoan your bad week. It is human. Hate this week. Wish it never happened. Lick your wounds and do what you need to do, just don’t stay there.

Find the strength. Find a way. Move on. Use this week to become the awesome teacher that you are and can be.

Bad weeks suck, but we need them. You can get through this.

And never forget…you are not there for you. You are at your school and in your classroom for your students.

They matter most.

They are your motivation to get through this.

You can do it.

You are awesome! I know this week was bad, but you can and will keep moving. Even in this horrible week, you made a difference…even if you don’t know it now. Keep going. Never give up. Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

General Inspiration, Hope for Teachers, Note to Teachers, Perseverance

The Real Key to Change in Education

Posted on October 21, 2014September 10, 2015 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

We live in a world that is trying to figure out how to change the state of education. Common Core this. Latest, greatest PD that. Technology. Strategies. Best practices.

Name your teaching cliche.

People who do not teach or haven’t taught in a while tell us how we need to teach.

Not that any of what I mentioned is necessarily bad…that is not my point. There is just so much that we are asked and told to do. Sometimes we are even treated as if we don’t have a clue about how to teach.

It can be overwhelming. It can be frustrating. It can be irritating.

Trust me, I know. I live it every day, just like you.

But, if I may, let me encourage you with one thought.

You know something that the education problem-solvers do not know. It is the one thing that will make more of a difference than any work of legislation or professional development breakthrough.

You know your students.

You see them every day. You talk to them. You see how they work. You know their struggles. You know their names. You know their parents. You know their personalities. You know them.

You know them like few others do.

This is what makes you special. This is what gives you the edge. This is how you will change education.

Don’t be afraid to make choices based on what you know…your students. Have courage to make a stand when it needs to be made. Be brave and do what needs to be done.

You know your students. You know what they need. You know how to get things done. Get them done. Make a change!

You are smart, experienced, and capable, Teacher. You can do this. Listen to the voices out there, but take everything with a grain of salt. You can do this. You can make the change that needs to be made in the lives of your students. You really can make a difference. Get out there and make it!

You are awesome. You are the key to educational change. Go in confidence today! You’ve got this. You are amazing! Change those students’ lives! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher