Life Coaching for Teachers | Resilience Coaching for Teachers
There is only one thing that can absolutely stop negativity, stress, overwhelm, insecurity, fear and disconnection dead in their tracks – gratitude. Gratitude is one of the most powerful mindset choices we can make in our day-to-day lives.
That’s why cultivating a grateful heart as a teacher is one of the foundational habits of wholehearted teaching. [Read more…]
I am notorious for creating brilliant ideas that I want to do in class tomorrow. Not a great strategy unless money and sleep-deprivation are no object. I remember a time while preparing for a lesson on ‘questioning’, I wanted to make laminated cards on rings that were color coded and had leveled question-starter-stems on them.
Of course, our laminating machine at school was broken (as was the case frequently), and I wanted to use the cards for a lesson the following day. I had put time and effort into creating the cards and my options were, (a) let the students use them without laminating (i.e. they would get ruined and I would have to redo them once the laminator was back up) or (b) take them to Kinkos to be laminated.
Now for any teacher who has never paid her own money to get things laminated at Kinkos, you will have no idea just how excited I was to get these cards done. I was dead set on it – despite it costing me $98.34. Yup. That happened. I remember as soon as he told me the cost, my stomach sank. But I really wanted those pretty, laminated, fancy cards – and wouldn’t it make my students realized how much I loved them and cared about their education?!
Maybe – but it still hurt financially for the entire rest of the month! And PS – we used those dang cards so much the kids knew all the questions by heart (not a bad side-effect).
But with a little pre-planning, I could have saved myself a lot of money, that sinking feeling, a late night in Kinkos, and a lot of stress. Okay – so titling this post “how to plan ahead for a stress-free school year” is a little misleading – I admit it. We all know that no school year is absolutely stress-FREE no matter how much planning ahead you do. But it can be less stressful and you can do more of the things that you want to do for your students with a little planning ahead.
Let me explain. [Read more…]
It’s that time of year – or will be soon – for newly purchased notebooks, sharpened pencils all accounted for, the thin lines of new whiteboard markers, washed desks awaiting handprints and chairs awaiting new friends. The time of year that is crisp with newness. The time of year that is so promising and idealic. The time of year when students return to your classroom – bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with chlorine and sun streaked through their hair, and smiles on their faces as they see their friends and teachers again.
Teachers all over the country are beginning to think about going back to school. And even if you aren’t going back for a while, the summer unwind has taken place, you are recharged, and you are now able to start thinking about what you want to do differently next school year.
You may have gone to a fantastic professional development session this summer, participated in some amazing twitter chats from your professional learning network, gone to a conference, or visited a teacher friend from across the country. All giving you new ideas and things to try for next year.
How do you sort through all you want to do this year? How do you set, maintain, and sustain your goals for going back to school?
This is a really fun blog post to write because as I sit here, thinking back on the blogs I’ve written over the year, I can’t help but smile at how far this work has come. This work – through A Teacher’s Best Friend, has fundamentally changed me. I can never go back to the version of me that didn’t know my purpose in this world – to help teachers become their most wholehearted selves – and in the process become my most wholehearted self.
I love to read and this year has been a CRAZY BUSY reading year! I’ve read some of the most impactful books of my life this year, so I wanted to take the opportunity to share them with you!!
Most teachers by now are part of a professional learning community (PLC) – a community or team of teachers that encourage professional growth and reflection on your teaching practice. You may also be part of a professional learning network of your online colleagues from around the globe.
But have you ever thought about having a personal learning community? I submit that a personal learning community is just as important as your professional learning community. What is it, you ask? Let’s explore.