Every year, instead of a New Year's resolution, I select one word that will be my guide for the year. I did not come up with this concept. You can read more about it here from Jon Gordon. I have been doing this for many years now. My words tend to find me when I least expect it. In the past, some of my words have been: hope, create, love, moment. Last year, to honor my mom, a Latin teacher, my word was 'scribo,' which means 'to write' in Latin. Here is my post about that word from last year. This year, I actually selected my word over the summer. I attended a summer conference and went to John and Mary Anne's session. The Nipmuc co-principals led an awesome full day workshop about leading out of the pandemic. They had us all choose our one word. My word for this year has been...curious. Coming new into the district, new into the school, this word has definitely been my focus. I have spent lots of time asking questions, learning about how you all work as teams, how the building runs. I ask lots of questions in all of the meetings I am in. I enter into conversations with a sense of wonder, a sense of curiosity. I even had a chance to make a visual display of my word that I keep in my office... Apparently I lost one of the googly eyes, but there is still one eye always watching, wondering, asking...reminding me to always be curious. When we return from break, as a staff we will have a chance to think about what our one word might be. Over vacation, see if any words come to you. Like I said, in the past many of my words have found me. This is also a great activity to do with your students. I have at least one book called My Special Word that is a great read aloud when talking to kids about picking a word for themselves. Then they can write out their word or write about their word. They can create a visual to display their word or simply put it on a sticky note and place it on their desk or in a notebook. I am curious... What will your one word be? What might your students' words be? I am still listening to Street Data and enjoying it. I am also working my way through Katie Couric's memoir. And I am still trying to finish the memoir about a daughter and her mother who has Alzheimer's. Basically I have a bunch of books going at once as usual! I know that I am looking forward to the break because I will have longer blocks of time to simply sit and read. I like to set goals for myself to give myself that time, uninterrupted, not guilt inducing time, where I can just get lost in a book or two. Hopefully you can all find some of that time over the break!
0 Comments
It was a full moon last week. We have two weeks until the break. It's "the most wonderful time of the year!" Which means our students are often over-tired, slightly wired, excited, unfocused, and everything in between. So I thought this week you might need a little inspiration to get you going. Here are some inspiring videos, some music, some images...take a look or have a listen if you need a pick me up! Hopefully these images or these videos or the song lifts you up and gets you through this week. And if you still need a pep talk...call this number: 707-8-PEPTOC. I promise it will put a smile on your face! I have been enjoying listening to the book Street Data during my drive to and from work. I will be sharing more from the book once I finish it, but I love that the authors share a new, equitable way of looking at "data." They share these 3 beliefs: 1) Data can be humanizing. 2) Data can be liberating. 3) Data can be healing.
Sorry, unpopular opinion about to be shared. We want to create a sense of belonging in our schools. We want all students to feel included, to feel like they belong. We have even set a goal to learn more about inclusive practices and to embed those practices in our classrooms and throughout the school. Yet, December comes and what do we often do? We focus on Christmas. Which means we exclude some members of our school community. I warned you that this was going to be an unpopular opinion. I discovered this graphic on Twitter recently. A kindergarten teacher from Missouri created it and shared it with her school community. I thanked her for sharing this and then saved it so I could share it with our school community. Take a look at what it says. I am still trying to find the first article that she quoted, but I will link in the second article here. I know this might be hard to digest. I was a teacher who did things like showed Polar Express or did a Christmas related writing activity. I was also guilty of taking the "tourist" approach to teaching about the different holidays that also happen during the month of December. And I am sure many of you might have activities that you have often done during the month of December that are related to Christmas. I especially like that this teacher included the statement above about "what if I know all the kids in my class celebrate Christmas?" But we have to ask ourselves...what message are we teaching our kids about the rest of the world if we only show them one view and continue to perpetuate that one view?
Every other month we are all about inclusion. We must remember that belonging and the work to create a sense of belonging doesn't take a break. And ask yourself the question posed by the teacher above... Are we okay with not including all? |