Keynote Speech: Including the (Never-Before-Heard) Forgotten Parts

I was honored to be among three staff members asked to speak at my district convocation on September 2nd. When we first met to discuss what we would like to say, we realized our thoughts all centered around the idea of being invited. We created a slideshow to depict the Appetizer (1st amazing speaker), the Entree (Amazing Speaker #2), and the Dessert (Yours truly). Because I am ridiculous, I decided that memorizing my thoughts was the best and most entertaining way for me to go. I practiced at home in front of my dogs. I practiced in my car on my way to anywhere. I practiced on my walks, my runs and my workouts. I practiced all summer! I practiced at nauseum, as the saying goes, until there was NO WAY I would forget any parts.  Until...until my mouth got so dry from nerves that I began to focus on whether or not that was affecting my speech. Haha!  I dutifully forgot the next line...the one that led to the one after that. It's OK. I laughed it off. Luckily, I was almost finished anyway. BUT in the end, I felt I missed an important piece, one that tied in beautifully with our Superintendent's message. So here I am, to reveal the entire lovenote to educators and share the words that were missed or altered. I hope you enjoy, and I hope these words energize you in ways that will lift you on days that are difficult.

You are invited!  How will you RSVP? This is not a yes or no answer. We've already said, "YES!", (that's why we are all here right now), and today we embark on a ten-month journey together and yet, each of us will have a unique school year. The key to your unique experience is YOU. 

YOU decide.

YOU choose how you will RSVP.

YOU create the year that will become the history YOU will look back on in June of 2026.

And so I ask you again to consider, "How do you plan to respond to the invitation that is offered to you?" You know me, and as a writer, I HAD to write my answer to that question, so I wrote it as a note to you that I'd like to share now in case some of what I plan for my journey might help you on yours.

(Begin RSVP): 

I joyfully accept the invitation to the Lawrence Township Public Schools 2025-2026 school year.

I arrive at this moment knowing there is no one way to be a great educator (just look around this room!) and that I am not expected to be perfect (oh the irony here in my mess up only a few moments later...haha!) but that by creating certain habits I can be at my best for those I serve. So throughout this year, I will create and practice two main habits: filling my heart with gratitude and keeping peace in my mind.

First, gratitude. I believe gratitude finds its home in the heart that is open to the present moment. At this moment right now, as I look around this room, I am grateful for you!

This room is full of the most amazing people created on this planet!  I've seen your greatness and felt gratitude for you through many different lenses. Here are a few:

As a community member, there are people in this room who live with me in Lawrence. sharing the same trash pick-up days and barking neighborhood dogs. We live among our students, at the daily risk of seeing them out and about, and that connects us. Thank you for living here!

I see you through my parenting lens, having sent you 5 LTPS students. We've been together a long time!  It's been twenty-one years since my son Max began his Integrated Pre-School experience and some of his teachers might be here today. From 2004 to now, as my youngest, Bernie, prepares to grace the LHS hallways as a junior, many more of you have walked alongside me, helping me raise my five children. For 21 years, your names have been spoken at the Maccaroni dinner table! I am grateful for all the guidance you have given my children and me!

As a fellow staff member, I've seen you work your magic. Some LIS colleagues from my first LTPS teaching position in 1999 are here today. Others are here who worked alongside me as I stayed home to parent yet remained connected as a district-wide substitute teacher and home instructor. Each year I witness our LHS staff as they welcome middle schoolers through their doors and in four years crank out amazing young adults. And my summers are typically spent working with and admiring our K-6 staff as they adeptly work with our youngest students at summer programs. And since 2015, I have been privileged to work with Mindy and the LMS staff, who year-after-year prove that Middle school educators are a breed that stands apart for all the right reasons that make them able to embrace, empower, educate, and love early adolescent children.

Of course, there are those of you who are new to LTPS, and many others that I don't know personally, yet. But I still know you are amazing because I know that our administration: our principals, supervisors, superintendents, and Board of Ed. are on point, and hire only those educators that exude passion and will continue to make LTPS a place where students thrive and succeed.

And so, as a community member, parent, and colleague, I've seen YOU and what you bring to LTPS! This room is full of expertise!  I plan to practice gratitude all year as I am surrounded by your brilliance. I know I can look to you when I need guidance, support, and reminders that I am not alone in this work. When I smile at you as I pass you in the parking lot, my neighborhood, or in the hallway, know that I am silently mesmerized by your presence. YOU ARE AMAZING! And I am privileged to be here with you, sharing this school year. For YOU and the work that you do, I am grateful. 

Let's talk about the work you do as we discuss the second habit of cultivating peace in our minds. Not that your work is peaceful! But that by cultivating peacefulness, we will be able to embrace our work and remain grounded. 

Our work is some of the most difficult work people can do. No matter your role as we enter this new school year, your...job...is...hard! We are responsible for what happens from beginning to end. If we fail to show up, it's like the pilot not showing up for a plane full of passengers, but that plane still takes off. We are necessary...we are imperative...all the time...and that is stressful to live, every...single...day...

Add to that the fact that we are at the mercy of several personalities all mixed together. Children and their families come with their histories and preferences. They don't get to pick us, we don't pick them, and they don't pick each other, yet all are expected to show up and be well-mannered, productive citizens of our schools. (***THIS IS WHERE MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT LEFT THE TRACK***) Because of this, though we plan and schedule and plan some more, we can never plan for all the possibilities of things that might happen at any moment of our day.

These are only a few examples of what makes our work challenging in ways those outside of education will never be able to understand. NO ONE can endure this level of stress and still be at their best without deliberately creating inner peace. Inner peace is a habit. Habits take daily training. We must be deliberate about practicing peace in the peaceful moments, so we can find our peace in the chaos. We are going to practice right now with the last few moments I have with you.

I want you to let go, for just a few moments, of anything that is bothering your mind:

• that argument you had last night
• your ailing parent or anxious child
• the traffic you faced this morning
• your college child living hours away/your 5-year-old starting Kindergarten/your baby at day care
• the worry you have that you might not be able to get ready for the arrival of children on Thursday
• the sadness at the end of summer break and even the excitement at the start of a new school year

Push out every thought (don't worry, they'll come back when we are done), and let's spend the next few moments together in nothingness...peace. We will share the Gift of 20...that's it...just 20 seconds of mental nothingness to rejuvenate our inner peace. In that 20 seconds, we will take two long breaths. We will count in for 5, out for 5, in for 5, out for 5. Are you ready? Here we go...(Gift of 20) (Reader, you can take yours now!)

Thank YOU for spending your time with me this morning.

Thank YOU for accepting the invitation to this school year with me and all of us!

Thank YOU for being my amazing colleagues and mentors.

Thank YOU for realizing that every single interaction you have this year, with students, with colleagues, with families, matters.

Being present to those in front of you is love's loudest voice and the heart of our profession.

Being grateful and at peace in our hearts helps us to be our best selves in order to be present to others and accept where they are, struggles and all, to build them up and champion their growth.

It is a HUGE undertaking, responsibility, and privilege. YES! And here it is!

The invitation to create the school year you desire. 

How will YOU RSVP?

I hope you enjoyed reading that. I hope if you are an LTPS staff who was present at the convocation, you know how much you are appreciated and supported! We are here together and need to lean on one another, as well as support one another through positive interactions, relationships, and the use of our words for GOOD (our first speaker's message). We need to step outside of our comfort zone and allow ourselves to be a little uncomfortable in order to truly embrace all that life has to offer (our second speaker's message). And we can cultivate gratitude and peace in our hearts in order to be the best version of ourselves to serve those put in front of us.

YOU are imperative! YOU are invited! YOU WILL BE AWESOME! Create a great year!

Enjoy reading what I write? Copies of my book, Connections Across the Student Desk, are available on Amazon: LINK HERE  or Barnes and Noble: LINK HERE

Wish I could come speak to your staff and colleagues? Give me the topic, I'll make it come alive! Contact me! maccaronicrew@outlook.com