End of Spring Break

I have an awful habit of leaving too many to do items on my list for Sundays. There are certain things I "need" to be done each weekend. This includes housework and schoolwork. Usually, a long weekend or vacation gives me time to get ahead of those tasks. Yet, this vacation I did little of both. I abandoned my responsibilities for most of the week as we took an actual family vacation to Tennessee for our Spring Break.

The trip was a good one. As I think about the end of Spring Break nearing, I am excited. Excited? Yes. I am keenly aware of my blessings as an educator. I am able to work in a career that I chose when I was merely 8 years old. It's been a pretty straight line for me in my trek to become an educator. I looked up to educators throughout my school career and was rescued at times by a few of the most amazing ones.

There was the third grade teacher who let me grade papers at recess. There was the sixth grade teacher who shared her love of poetry with me and made me think about the beauty of words. There was the high school English teacher who noticed my work when I felt invisible to most other teachers. Each teacher planting seeds of possibility in me with each interaction.

Some will lament the end of the break and the need to head back to school. Not me. This is our last chance, from now until the end of the year, to get it right for kids. It's our last chance to be that one person that reminds another that she matters, he can do it, and we believe in them.

All of them.

Those whose "accomplishments surpass their own lifetime and survive even into our own. Their story is our story." -- Emperor's Club

Comments

Something about March

Our work in school leadership can often come in waves. Some days you are happily swimming to shore while other days you might feel as though it is taking all of your energy to stay above the water. The latter is often what March feels like. There is something about March that has always felt like a difficult month for me, at least personally, as an educator. Maybe it's the impact of a long winter, access to less sunshine, or the absence of any scheduled downtime in the month. It's also the point where we are able to look back on a school year and see how much we have accomplished but at the same turn how much there is still to do. But, the difference is the proverbial finish line that June brings. We all know, whether we like it or not, what we planned or were even assigned to accomplish this year is now connected to an imaginary stopwatch that is counting down that time. We can see the end to the year and that can be stressful. What about all the things still le...

Growth Mindset

This will be a quick post likely full of errors and incomplete sentences. But, I feel a pressing need to get these thoughts to paper while: a) I have time and b) I can still remember the pieces I want to connect I was given a great opportunity to work with Dr. Shawn Hunziker today. We've conducted some online book studies around Mindset by Carol Dweck. This past winter, we were invited to give a keynote to CSE Chairpersons ( BIG TIME for us) and that led to today's session with CNYSEA's Summer Institute . On my way to the session, I was rehearsing notes (as I always do, see previous post ). At a stop sign near the venue where the conference was held, I pulled up in back of a car and noticed the neatest license plate: NEVRQT* I think that's how it was spelled. I tried to grab a picture but realized how creepy that would look and did not reshoot the blurry image I captured. When I arrived at the conference, I immediately told my partner, Sh...

My one word: Courage

I am part of an amazing voxer group of MS Principals and Jay Posick became a recent member of that group. Talk about a man with the right mindset. Recently, he posted a link about a one word challenge and it got me thinking. I've been struggling with the idea of a "new year" and the (self-imposed) push to set some resolutions. I don't like the idea of setting resolutions. They feel too artificial for me. Maybe that's because I've failed at them before. But, what I can commit and buy into is this idea of one word . I think my word is COURAGE. It's funny when I typed out that sentence, I couldn't get around the phrase "I think". The way I crafted that sentence speaks to why I have chosen the word courage to help guide me in this new year. I need courage to continue to take risks and nurture creative ideas. I need courage to finally do some things I have been postponing (some for just 30 years or so) and set to accomplishing them or...

Reflections

Search This Blog