teacher pep talk – Page 4 – Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

I am a Teacher and a Fungi

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

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!

General Inspiration, Get Psyched!, You Are Awesome!!!

Are You Oozing? You Should Be.

Posted on July 23, 2013August 3, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

When I went to New York City for the first time this summer, there was a lot of things that I expected. I was not disappointed, and I mean this in a good way. However, it was the unexpected that blew me away and that I will always stick with me (and make me want to go back).

The major unexpected thing for me was that I absolutely fell in love with the city. I loved it! I loved everything about it! We were only there for two days, and I took around 500 pictures! I took pictures of anything and everything! You can probably tell. I have used the pictures on the blog a lot. 🙂 There are so many things that made me just love the city, but one of the big things was another unexpected thing, and that is the New York City Police Department.

I have heard that the NYPD has a reputation of love for their city and will do what they can to take care of the city and the people who call it home. There are stories (and movies) here and there of “cops gone bad,” but that is really few and far between. I believed the good things that I heard. I expected to respect the police there, very much. And I did. What I did not expect was the pride.

Pride is one of the only words I can think of the NYPD when I look back at our trip. Every NYPD officer that I saw showed pride. I do not know how to explain what I mean by that. The best I can say is that pride for themselves and the city was on them like a part of their uniform. They wore it and it shined off of them like the summer Sun off of something shiny. Pride oozed from their being. This was especially so the closer you got to the 9/11 Memorial site. They were proud of who they are, what they do, who they represent, and their city. And they made me feel that pride. It gave me a far deeper respect for them, and it does me great honor to talk about them right now. Their pride changes them, and I have a feeling that their pride is a part of why people fall in love with NYC.

I could talk more about this, much more. We had some cool encounters with some police officers while we were there, but I think you get the point. Pride is powerful. Pride for the right things is even more powerful. It makes people respect what you do, but more than that, it makes people want to be more because you are more. Pride is a part of the more that I wrote about yesterday. Pride changes lives!

Teacher, are you proud about what you do? I mean really proud? I am not just talking about the “yeah, my job is kinda important, I guess” kind of pride. I mean the pride that oozes from you. People know that you are serious about what you do, you take time and effort to get better at it every day, and it just shines off of you in all that you do (in and out of school). You are not ashamed to talk about what you do, and you talk to people about it you make them excited for you because your excitement for the beauty of education bubbles and bursts out of you in a geyser of pride.

Is this kind of pride for education something that people know you for? Are you like the police officer on the streets of New York that gives off a pride that you can feel from just looking at them? Is this you? Do you wear pride like a uniform? Do you put it on every morning…even on non-school days?

Teacher friend, think about it. You are a teacher. YOU ARE A TEACHER! You are an artist that works in the medium of minds and hearts. You get to help students have “aha moments” each and every day. You get to find new ways to show connections between ideas and contents. You get to help people think on their own. You get to show how you learn. You get to learn constantly. You get to make a plan, implement, evaluate, and then try again. You get new students every year. You get to be involved in their lives. You get to help them make decisions. You get to help them make decisions on their own. You get to mold and shape lives. You get to put your fingerprints on the future. The future will not be the same because you do what you do every day! You make a difference with every sec0nd of every minute of the time you put in!

Show some pride! You have the most amazing job/career in the world! Love what you do! Really love it! I mean REALLY, REALLY LOVE IT! Once you love it, let that pride ooze off of you and infect everyone you come in contact with!

Don’t begrudge planning, PD, PLCs, faculty meeting, seminars, parent conferences, student conferences, and all of the minutia of the day/week/month/year! Embrace them! They may be boring or mind-numbing, but they are the things that help you do what you do and make you better at it! Let your pride in what you do make those things less irritating! I know your job is hard, I am just like you, but look at those hard parts as things that can just make you better! Love what you do and let your pride shine!

You are awesome! You ARE making a difference! You do have pride in what you do. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be reading this! Find a way to remember what you love, embrace it, and start oozing pride today. I know that you will. You are amazing! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

PS… Let me share the comic version of the Taylor Mali poem that I shared last Friday. It was just created and released on Zen Pencils. Warning, there is just a little language in it, but I think it is worth it. It sums up what I wrote this morning and the pride we feel as teachers!

Get Psyched!, Pep Talk, Theme Song

[we and our students are] Meant to Live

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

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.

Challenge, General Inspiration, Pep Talk, Teacher Testimony

Teacher Rockstar: Jaime Escalante

Posted on July 11, 2013July 24, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Today I want to build on my posts from a couple of weeks ago (It’s Not Me, It’s You; The Power of Real Encouragement; and Apple Influence) and talk a little more about change and the drive to change ourselves in order to spark change in others (namely, our students). To do this, I want to focus in on someone I would definitely call a Teacher Rockstar: Jaime Escalante.

If you are not familiar with Mr. Escalante, he is the teacher portrayed in the movie Stand and Deliver (if you haven’t seen the movie, you need to…great inspiration for teachers!). He taught at a high poverty high school in a Latino community in Los Angeles in the late 70’s through the early 90’s. At a failing school that focused on remedial and low level math, he pushed students to take AP Calculus. The students, starting in small groups and growing in the large groups (in the hundreds), succeeded in his class and passed the AP exam. There is much more to the story, but you can go to Wikipedia for that. 🙂

What makes Mr. Escalante a Rockstar Teacher is not his accomplishments. The results of his teaching strategies and methods were amazing, but they are not what makes him one of the great teachers of all time. What makes him special is his drive. It was his willingness to stand up and do more, to be more, to expect more. One of my favorite scenes in Stand and Deliver illustrates this drive perfectly. It shows in what he is willing to say (and backup with action) at a department meeting.

In a school of under-resourced, overworked, beat-up, worn-out, and burned up teachers with students that have a history of being under-performing students with the threat of losing district accreditation looming on the horizon, he stepped up and said, “I can teach more.” He volunteered to do more. To take on more students. To be more. I love what he said, “The students will rise to the level of expectations.” He looked resolutely at administration and expected more of himself and of the students.

His response to the question of what he needs in order to do more really shows his drive and why he had unbelievable success with students. “Ganas. All we need is ganas.” Ganas was the key for Mr. Escalante. Ganas made the difference.

According to Urban Dictionary, “ganas” is a slang word for desire or urge that is most likely based on the Spanish word “ganar,” which means to gain or win. Ganas is desire. For Escalante, it was a little more than that though. It was desire backed by the willingness to go after what you desired, no matter how hard you have to work to get to it.

He talks about it again in another quote from the movie, and this time he is speaking to his students:

You’re going to work harder here than you’ve ever worked anywhere else. And the only thing I ask from you is ganas. Desire… If you don’t have the ganas, I will give it to you, because I’m an expert.

He desired for his students to learn, achieve, and truly be successful. He expected his students to have that same drive for themselves. He did what he could to inspire that in his students. He worked hard at it. Year after year he took a look at his students and himself, and then pushed harder the next year to improve. He took a lot of flak. He arguably made a lot of risky choices and decisions, but it was his “ganas” that gave him the ability to focus on his students and their future success. That is what was in his blood. He passed this on to his students. So many of them went on to lead successful lives because of what he instilled in them.

I wrote a good bit and shared a lot from the movie about Jaime Escalante. Let me let him speak for himself. This was an interview he did while he was still teaching. It is so inspiring to me! I hope you feel the same way!

Now that you have learned more about this teaching rockstar, what can you learn from his example? Can you be one of the teachers in your school, in the midst of all of the finger pointing on what is wrong in education, to stand up and say, “I can do more,” and back that up with action? Is your teaching and relationships with students marked by “ganas” about their achievement and success? What can you do to be different and make an even bigger difference than you already do?

You are awesome! I know that you probably already think a lot like Mr. Escalante. Your students and their learning and success is of utmost importance to you. You do so much already and make a big difference! But can you do more? I know that I can!

You are amazing, and never forget it! Find the more that you can do, and do it! I know that you can! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

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

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!, 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.

Pep Talk, Reflection, Take Care of Yourself

Celebrate Teacher Times, Come On

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

For those of you on summer break, what have you been up to so far this summer? I have had a little break, as you know, but now I am back to work…at least the planning part of our job. My school is emphasizing planning over the summer, and understandably so. For this reason, this has been a week of intense planning for me. After a few days of hardcore planning like this, I feel very worn out. I don’t know how that goes for you, but it can get exhausting for me!

Or are you still in the let-last-year-fade-away phase of summer? It was a great year, or not so great, and you just need to let the memories slide away and relax a bit so that you can be ready for the next one. This is an important part of the summer. We can not carry all of the stress (good or bad) from last year into next year. A part of summer is to unwind so that you can get wound back up again. It is vital to your teaching heart to have a little time to let last year go! You have been emptied out and you need to fill back up!

To those teaching right now (especially the Southern Hemisphere-ers), how are things going for you? Are you still in the easier times of the year or is it the nose-to-the-grindstone time when the students are not as excited to be in school and you have a million things to do? Are you still pumped up and enthusiastic about all that you have to do? Or are you tired, beat up, and on the edge of burn out? Are you just somewhere on the roller coaster in between the too extremes?

Where ever you are in all of this, it is important to remember not to sweat the small stuff. Almost a month ago I posted about this and encouraged you to celebrate the small stuff. Today’s post is just a reminder to do just that! All of the little things that annoy us, wear us down, and beat us up little by little (including those held over from last year) can become a mountain that eventually falls and crushes us. We need to build a retaining wall against them…and we do that by celebrating all of those little things that are great every day, week, month, and year!

Another way to look at it is to think of the motivational poster I shared yesterday. As teachers, we really are a buoy in the water there to guide, protect, and lead our students to where they need to go. It can be lonely and hard as the “small stuff” comes in as waves and beat on us. The thing about buoys like the one in the poster, though, is that they are held in place by an anchor. Celebrating and remembering those little things that go well can be the anchor that holds us in place! The waves can come, but we know why we are there and why we became a teacher. To lead the way for a brighter future for our students!

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

So…

Summer planning teacher:

Celebrate what you have already finished!
Throw a party for the work you will not have to do during the year because you did it now!
Toast the great things that your students will be able to accomplish because you worked so hard to plan for them!

Summer relaxing teacher:

Celebrate those small changes you saw in your students throughout the year, especially the more challenging students!
Throw a party for the growth that you see in yourself as a teacher! You are an even better teacher than you were at this time last year!
Toast the accomplishment of a year well done, no matter if it was your best year, your worst, or somewhere in between! Teacher, you made it and now you are on the other side!

Teacher in the throws of teaching:

Celebrate those things that are going right! What is working well for you right now? Those are awesome! Celebrate them!
Throw a party for those students that are truly connecting to what you are teaching! This is why you do what you do! Have a 10 second party for these kids once in a while!
Toast the things that you have been able to notice that are not working and you have changed to teach your students better! How have you monitored and adjusted to improve student learning? Here’s to those things! Cheers!

Teacher, celebrate! Dig that anchor in deep and the sweaty small stuff won’t affect you as much! The celebrations are important. You need them. Don’t forget to celebrate a little something every day!

You are so awesome! You are a great teacher! You are making a difference! I truly believe in you! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

New Day, Pep Talk, You Are Awesome!!!

The Eye of the Teacher…er…Tiger

Posted on June 24, 2013June 24, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

It is Monday. The start of a week. I don’t know about you, but I need to get a little psyched up for it. We need a theme song to start us up, don’t you think. Click play, and once the song starts, keep reading. 🙂

Teacher, this is your week. You’ve got this!

If you are still teaching right now, you are ready for this week. You have your plans. You have your ideas. You have your heart for your students.

Don’t worry about the little things. They are not important. Your students are important. You work hard for them. They need you. Remember why you do this! Now, get out there and teach your heart out!

Keep your eye on the goal of changing the future through your students. Look ahead at the potential they have. Help them see it. Give them the expectation and help them rise up to it.

You’ve got this! You are ready. Go awesome the heck out of this week! You will change lives this week! Go do it, Teacher!

If you are on summer break right now, you still have a battle to fight. Some of you need to relax and take a break. School stuff can wait. You need to wind down from the year. You need to disconnect, unwind, and let your mind and body heal from the year of a teacher. School things will still be here when you are done. Your students next year need you to do this…they don’t need a fried out teacher!

Some of you need to stop relaxing. Don’t get into the summer lazy cycle. Spend at least an hour a day on getting stuff prepared for next year. Get pumped up for everything you can do next year and start planning!

It is all too easy to put things off for later. Do a little every day. You will thank yourself later! You need to keep a little of that teaching mindset and don’t completely check out. If I am calling you out, don’t feel bad…I am calling myself out here!

Next year is coming. Your students need the best of you. Relax, if you need to. Stop relaxing, if you need to. You are going to have an AWESOME year next year…so this week needs to be an AWESOME week to help that happen. It will be an awesome week. You will be awesome. You are awesome!

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

You have the eye of the Teacher…so live it out! You are amazing! You will make this week great! You are awesome! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

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

As You Face a New Week, Remember…

Image• Posted on June 23, 2013June 24, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Get Psyched!, New Day, Pep Talk, You Are Awesome!!!

Dawn of a New Day

Posted on June 21, 2013June 22, 2013 by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Today is a new day! It is a bright start! Yesterday does not matter, good or bad. Today is something brand new. Get out there and shine your awesomeness! You will do great and wonderful things!

If yesterday was rough, today is hasn’t been written yet. Don’t let yesterday ruin today! Make today amazing!

If yesterday was a good day, today is just starting. Don’t rest on yesterday, make today an even better day!

Don’t be sad. Don’t be lazy. Don’t let today just happen to you…you happen to today. Make it a day unlike any other!

Help someone. Cheer up someone. Encourage someone. Do something that you and others will remember and make a difference that will be remembered!

You are so awesome, Teacher! Awesome the heck out of today! You are amazing and believed in! Be awesome today!

Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

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

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

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

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