You are the one. You have what you need. You have plans, but you also have heart. You are ready…even if you are not completely ready.
You have a mind and know how to use it. You can roll with the waves and the punches. This day…this week…this year will not dominate you. You’ve got this. Somewhere deep inside you know that you can handle this.
Your students have no idea what is coming. Use that. You can do something different today. Take them off guard. Show them that you know your stuff. Show them that you care. Show them that you are the teacher that they need you to be.
What do I mean by this? That depends on you. That depends on what you are facing today. That depends on what you need.
Does that mean that I am being generic with my encouragement today?
No! It just means that the message for today is whatever you need it to be.
You really do have this under control, even if you don’t feel like it.
No matter what is ahead of you, you can do this today. You can teach. You can make it through. You can be who your students need you to be.
Be that teacher.
You are that teacher.
Do what you need to do today.
Need to change your plans? Do it.
Need to review though there is little time to do it? Review away.
Need to take a stand about an issue happening in your class? Stand up.
Need to hold your ground on a school issue unrelated to students? Do what you need to do.
Be who you need to be today.
Your students and those around you have no idea what you have in store today. You have the upper hand. You have the element of surprise. Surprise them today.
You’ve got this!
Teach away!
You are awesome! You can do this today. Go. Do. Be the teacher! You are amazing! I believe in you! Keep on teaching, Teacher!
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)
Dear Teacher,
You have today. That is it. Nothing else. Only today.
Yesterday is no longer here. Good or bad, it is gone. Celebrate it. Cry over it. Do what you need to do, but it is over. Done. Completed.
Tomorrow is just that, it is tomorrow. It is not here yet. The worries of tomorrow are always a day away. The promises of tomorrow are just out of reach. It is the future. Not yet. Not here. Not now.
You have today.
You have here.
You have now.
It is so easy to be wrapped up in what has happened (yesterday) or what will happen (tomorrow) that we forget that we have the here and now. We have today.
At any second, we can look around and take stock of what we have and make the best of it. Really, all we can control is what we are experiencing in the moment. Think about it. That is all we can do. Act in the here. Act in the now. Act today.
We can use the experiences of yesterday. We can learn from mistakes and successes. We can use what we have gained and accomplished. We can withdraw from the bank of yesterday, but we cannot go back and make deposits. We can’t be stuck in yesterday. We have to use yesterday to make today better.
Now, we can make deposits in the bank of tomorrow. That is certain. We can make choices today that make tomorrow’s today better. Don’t get me wrong. We do need to think about that. But it cannot be all that we do. Tomorrow never really gets here. We have to remember to live in today. Today is where we always are.
Today is it.
Today is a gift. It is what we have to give to the world. It is where we live our life and strive to make a difference. It is the now that lets us make tomorrow’s todays better and better.
It is a gift. However, it is only what you make of it. Will you make it something that you remember and can withdraw from in future todays? Or will you make it a weight that weighs you down? What it is up to you. It is all in how you use it. Your attitude determines so much of what today will be. How are you thinking about today?
Today is all you have.
What are you going to do today? What are you going to make of today? How will you change the way you look at today? How will you make today count? How will you make today be something you remember tomorrow and lets you be stronger in the next today?
How will you use today to change your students’ tomorrows?
How will you teach them to use today?
How will you model today?
Today is our gift.
Let’s give our today to the world. Let’s make it count. Let’s use it to change ourselves, our students, and our world. Let’s make today about making other people’s todays better.
Are you with me?
I know I am thankful for today. Today is mine. I want it to count. Will you join me in making today great?
You are awesome! You make every today count. I am so proud of you for that! You are so amazing! I believe in you. You are making a difference. Keep on living today and keep on teaching, Teacher!
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use this picture if you link back to this blog.)
Dear Teacher,
Thank you. I mean it. Really. Thank you!
As a former student, I thank you for the time you took to plan. I thank you for the hours you put into your lessons, but also your willingness to let that time go when opportunities happened in the classroom for deeper learning and you scrapped your plans to teach where we, the students, were are the time.
Thank you for the time you took to set up your classroom. Thank you for the posters and funny jokes about math. Thank you for giving me something to look at in the moments of distraction that helped my mind get back to learning. Thank you for the seating charts and seating changes that helped me learn better, even if I or other students fought them.
Thank you for the care you showed. Day after day, I could never doubt that you cared about me. Though I may not have loved your class, your subject, or thought you were cool, I did ALWAYS know that you cared about me. That really did make me care about what you were trying to teach. I definitely cannot deny it.
Thank you for going the extra mile for me. Thank you for being a great teacher. Thank you for trying new strategies. Thank you for staying after school. Thank you for quick turnaround in grading. Thank you for…well…everything.
Thank you, Teacher!
Thank you.
I am a better teacher because I have your shoulders to stand on. I am better for my students because you were a better teacher than I am. But I am learning. You set a high bar, but I hope to one day reach that goal. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Did I mention, “Thank you”?
We do not hear it enough, and because of that sometimes we lose focus. We are affecting our students, though. This was a heartfelt letter to teachers from my past. We do make a difference. We do. Let us remember why we do what we do and put up with what we put up with. It is for the students. Who knows, you might be teaching the next great teacher! Keep your focus and do what you know to do, and do it well. You are awesome so I know that you will.
Wake up and roar! (c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)
Dear Teacher,
Monday again. Get pumped up. You’ve got this. Today is yours. This week is yours. You are a teacher…Mondays are your day to shine!
For that reason, you need a theme song. You need to let this week know that you are coming. It is time for the “You” show. This theme is your song and your introduction to the week.
I have your theme ready, but this week is going to be a little different. Before I let you click play, I have something for you to read first.
I knew what song I wanted to feature this morning, but when I went on a video search I came across a cover of this song, and an amazing, heart-breaking, and inspiring story. I decided that even though the music side of this version is not as powerful, the story behind this one makes this version a thousand times more inspiring, I think as teachers, this one is going to make us face the week even more courageous than we would have without reading, seeing, and hearing it.
I want you to read this before playing the song. It is the description from YouTube. It tells the story of Olivia Wise. It tells why this song was recorded and presented on YouTube. Please read and be inspired.
Olivia Wise has Brain Cancer. She came into a recording studio for her first time and recorded the Katy Perry song Roar. She couldn’t walk or stand, she didn’t have her full breath or the energy she used to, and she was managing her new pains and new limitations. While her physical condition was rapidly fading, her spirit remained untouched.
Olivia is a fighter and has gone through the fire, in fact, she was going through the fire while she recorded this song, but you wouldn’t know it, because she was dancing right through it. She is an inspiration, a champion, and my hero. This is her Roar.
Here is a CNN story about her and her recording of the song.
I am not sure what I can say after this story. I am not sure if I need to say anything.
What worries you?
What stresses are you dreading this week?
What pressures are you feeling?
What makes you anxious?
Do these things matter in the grand scheme of things? Do they need to own your energy and patience? Do they need to master you? Do they need to break you this week?
What is most important? What matters most? What deserves your time and energy? What deserves you and your life?
Focus on what really matters. Focus on your students. Focus on your fellow teachers. Focus on your family. Focus on what helps you be there for others. Focus on you (in a good way).
After hearing what others are going through and fighting through, it really gives us perspective on ourselves. Really, what is it that truly matters?
What is the big picture? What, if we think about it, won’t matter later? Can we let those things go? Can we at least put them on the back burner?
I want to challenge you this week to let some of the stress go. I want you to think of what your students need, need of you, and need you to be. Put your energy there. Spend your time there. Let those things take your attention. If other things go, or at least make them wait. You will never regret putting your students and their learning first.
I think you will do more than not regret it, you will thank yourself for it later. So will your students. So will the future.
Focus on people this week. Be there for students, teachers, friends, and family.
Don’t let the weekly pressures choke out the space you need to have for others.
Have the eye of the tiger. Be louder than the lion. Stand firm. Let this week and the stress that comes with it hear you roar as you keep your priorities straight and you make a difference.
You are a champion. Prove it. Show it. Roar!
You are amazingly awesome! You are capable of not letting this week rule over you. You won’t let it. You will let your focus lie where it should. You are going to roar! I know you will! You are a great teacher, so of course you will! Be great and keep on teaching, Teacher!
I am in the trenches with you! This has been a long week. I am tired. I am beat up. I am worn out. I am not broken, but I am a little battered.
Do you feel the same way? If not today, have you recently?
I talk a lot about the pressures and struggles of teaching and the difficulty in finding balance while juggling a thousand things at once. I won’t remind us of that today. We know what we have to do. We know how hard it is. We don’t need to be re-educated on those things we know oh so well.
I am in a reflective mood. In this time of reflection, I am thinking a lot about what are really the roots of my frustration right now. I really don’t think it has anything to do with the students. I don’t think it is the burden of having so many responsibilities every minute of every day. I don’t think it is the pressures form above me in the hierarchy of things. I don’t think it is the content or curriculum. I don’t think it has much to do with the job of teaching at all. I think it has everything to do with me.
I don’t think I have focus.
I am not saying that I am not focused as a teacher. I am not saying that I am not looking to the standards for direction. I am not saying that I have forgotten my heart for students. I am not saying I do not see my place in the span of things at my school. I think I have a focus on all of these things, and everything else that I should.
And therein lies the problem.
The funny thing about focus is that it is very specific and pointed. When you focus on something, everything around it is slightly more blurry, even if just an imperceptible amount. You cannot truly have more than one focus.
What you focus on is the center of what you do. Everything else gets a little less attention and energy. It has to be this way. If it is not, then you are not really focused on anything.
When you focus on more than one thing at the same time (or many, many, many things), your energy is scattered. Your mind is scattered. Your heart and your soul is scattered.
When you are scattered, you are all over the place. You cannot sustain that. It will lead to frustration, heartache, and burnout. You can not run in more than one direction. You can not have more than one main goal. It just is not possible, at least not at the level it takes to be effective and meaningful.
So, that leaves me with the question, “What do I do now, Self?”
I find the goal that matters most. The goal that I lost along the way. I make that my focus. I give that my energy. I give that my all.
And what is that goal?
I don’t even have to think about the question to answer it. My students are my goal. Their growth, maturity, and becoming learners and people that care about other people is what I personally care the most about. Their who I work for, in essence. They are my reason for all that I do as a teacher.
What does this mean, then, to what I do day-to-day?
It means I weigh decisions based on what they need. It means I get to know them so that I know what they need. I means that I make sure I am not losing them for the sake of lesser goals (like following lesson plans to a “t,” sticking to a strategy that I am told is excellent when it is not working for my students, or staying “on-pace” when my students are falling behind). It means that I work on finding strategies that work for them. It means I am willing to have more than one lesson plan for the day because some students need a little more than others. It means I differentiate, I means I encourage and affirm them. It means I write notes, make parent phone calls, and take time to just say, “Hi, how are you doing?” It means that I never give up. It means that I find a way to reach each and every one of my students. No matter what!
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)
I don’t know if this rang true to you, but it is an open and honest reflection for me. This was needed. Thanks for reading if you made it this far! Do you need to readjust your focus, too? Join me in doing that today!
You are awesome! If you are here, it is because you are trying to be the best teacher you can be and looking for a boost of encouragement to keep up the fight. I hope you found that today. You deserve to be encouraged! You are a great, awesome, and amazing teacher! Your students are your goal. They are what really matter. Keep going. Keep fighting. Keep making that difference! Keep on teaching, Teacher!
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)
Dear Teacher,
Here is just a little reminder of why what you work so hard to do is far more than worth it. You are amazing and awesome, no matter what your day felt like! Keep going! Keep pushing! Keep proving your awesome everyday! You are making a difference, I promise. Keep on teaching, you Magnificent Teacher, you!
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)
Dear Teacher,
You are a lot of things, and you play a lot of roles. But most of all, you are AWESOME! You are changing lives! You are amazing! Keep on teaching, Teacher!
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the picture if you link back to this blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher.)
Dear Teacher,
I am not sure where you are in your summer break or school year, but for me it is the last day of summer. Tomorrow is the first day back for teachers. The countdown is on! Summer is over and it is time to start remember what day it is again (stole that one from a post I saw on Facebook).
Weekly theme song time, so click play and keep reading. This is a silly version of the song, but it still works!
This is it. You have rested. You have planned…maybe. You have had some summer PD.
Last year is officially “in the bag,” and the new one is about to begin. Are you ready? Your students are almost to your classroom door. They are waiting for you. Are you waiting for them?
Teacher, this year could be the best year ever. Make it the best year ever! No matter what has happened in the past, this year can and will be different. Make it that way. You can. You are awesome. You can do it! You just have to be brave enough to do whatever it takes to make that happen…and you can!
So, what do you need to do with the minutes ticking off of the clock?
Get your mind ready. Take a look in the mirror. No finger pointing at anyone besides yourself, what do you need to change about you? What things can you do different with your students? How can you build relationships better? How can you deal with stress better? How can you plan more efficiently? How can you communicate with parents better? How can you change in how you interact with fellow teachers and administration?
Get your heart ready. Take a look in that mirror and only point at yourself again, what do you need to fix? What fences do you need to mend? What bridges need fires put out? Who do you need to forgive and/or as forgiveness from at your school? You need to work with who you work with for the sake of the students. You need to make it work. What do you need to do to make things work? Do you need to forgive yourself? Do you need to move on from the past and just let some things go? Do it. It will be worth it to have the best year ever!
Get your spirit ready. Take one more look in that mirror with your fingers ready to point, what do you need to be excited for the coming year? Do you need to just let go of curricular hang-ups? Do you need to forget your worries about expectations from others? Do you need to erase your bad experiences with students from years past and just assume this year will be better? It will be better. Get excited! You have the best job ever! You are about to have students that you have never taught before! They don’t know your past! You get to start over! Start over! Find something to be excited about and BE EXCITED!
This is the final countdown to the best year ever! Get excited! Expect the best! Let go of the past and just find ways to make this the year of your teaching dreams! It can be, no matter your circumstances. Make it that way!
You are awesome! I wish you the most awesome-est year you have ever had! Make this year as awesome as you are! Keep dreaming and keep on teaching, Teacher!
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use this picture if you link back to my blog.)
Dear Teacher,
For me, this is the last full week before teachers go back to school for the new year. I have so much planning and other things that I want to get done! I think I am going to have to chill it with the blog for this week. So…this week will be the “Best of Dear Teacher/Love Teacher.” I am going to post links to several posts from the last three months, and then I am going to give you a challenge. I want you to pick your favorite, share why it is your favorite, and then share it everywhere that you can (Edmodo, Facebook, Twitter, etc…).
Today is the best of the weekly theme songs. Because there have not been that many, I am going to share a link to all of them. Which is your favorite?
My favorite is Stronger. That song has been in my head a lot since I found out the results of the State Tests. I know that I can use the unmet expectations as fuel for next year. It is driving me to work harder to have things together for my students and to use what I have learned to be more effective in years to come. I am stronger, and I will continue to get stronger!
Which is your favorite? Why? Go out and share the encouragement!
You are awesome! You are amazing! This year will be the best one yet, I just know it! Keep on teaching and keep on getting stronger, Teacher!
Love, Teacher
PS…I have an idea. I want to compile stories about teachers who have made a difference in peoples’ lives. It can be a story or a “Dear Teacher ___________” thank you letter. I want to share them on here and maybe in a couple of other ways (possibly a book). If you are interested, email dearteacher@outlook.com and put “Teacher Story” or “Teacher Thank You Letter” in the subject. Thanks. I am excited about this project!
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.
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to this blog or give credit to this blog.)
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!
Dear Teacher/Love Teacher 