FACT: There Are No Easy Jobs in Education

Sometimes when I write a post, it is something that I had worked on for a while in order to bring it to fruition. It isn't timely or imperative, but rather a thought that I thought was fun to share. More often, however, when I sit down to write to you, it is because I have a thought or have had a recent experience that I just cannot contain. Today's post is like that. I need to share!

THERE ARE NO EASY JOBS IN EDUCATION

There, I said it. As a new school year begins and new schedules, class lists, school rosters, etc...are realized, if you listen closely, you will hear the buzz...

"She got student-x. It's going to be a long year for her."

"It's not fair that he got such an easy schedule while I have x, x, and x."

"I wish I could sit in an office all day..."

"Good luck with that combination of students."

The list goes on. Compare, compare, compare...

Hall Duty

Large Classes

In School Suspension Duty

Small Classes

Lunch Duty

Extra Prep

Covering for a colleague

You get the idea. But I want to pause those thoughts to make it clear...Just as no two jobs in education are exactly the same, it is also true that no job is easier or harder than any other. The feelings of "hard" or "easy" are judgements that are in your control. Each position, each role, each new year's roster has its challenges and its balances. And each can hold the promise of joy or misery. That's the piece that is up to you.

Often after chatting with someone, I leave them with the words, "Have fun!" It can be the end of the workday or the start. They can be on their way to a sporting event or cafeteria duty. Maybe they're headed to their favorite class or least favorite. It doesn't matter, because the choice to enjoy is always theirs, and I wish and hope that they choose to "have fun". 

Education is not an easy profession. There are no easy jobs in education. But how hard a job feels is in the power of the person living it. Unwrapping the gift of the year ahead can reveal so much, and the power of that revelation is yours as an educator.

Will you unwrap the year and feel slighted by what was given to you?

Will you unwrap the year and be grateful for the joy it holds?

Same gift given to different educators will reveal different perspectives and different feelings. I hope your year looks promising to you! I hope you open this year with excitement and curiosity about what it holds for you. Most of all, as you open this year and move forward, I hope you recognize that the choice is yours, and you choose to HAVE FUN! 

Enjoy reading what I write? Copies of my book, Connections Across the Student Desk, are available on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com

Wish I could come speak to your staff and colleagues? Give me the topic, I'll make it come alive! Contact me: School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

Swampy Water Doesn't Stink Until it is Stirred: A short reflection on potential

Swampy water doesn't stink until it is stirred.  The potential, however, is palpable. Think about that statement for a moment. Is your initial feeling one of positivity or negativity? Does that statement fill you with the idea of potential or dread?  I am guessing that the strongest feelings it invokes would caution, "Don't do it!" because you know the consequences. You know that when you stir that swampy water, the immediate stench released will be unpalatable and irreversible. 

Potential is an amazing thing. It's so powerful, yet it sits in waiting until it is enacted. Once released, all the little pieces that had settled into position, all the small habits and practiced responses, are invited into action. Stirring up clean, clear pool water does not invoke the same dread as that idea of stirring up swampy water, and rightfully so. Clean, clear pool water has not packed the same energy, the same potential, the same habits, into its waters. 

This year I am inviting my students to first monitor and assess their small habits before they set off attempting to set larger goals for the year. Study habits, homework habits, social habits, mental habits, eating habits, exercise habits, sleeping habits, you get the idea. All those little pieces they have habitualized. Those are the sediment or the chlorine that fills their waters of potential. 

To be sure, we all are filled with potential! This new school year is filled with potential! Being aware of what will be released and adjusting small habits in need of adjustment, will ensure that when we stir the waters of our potential in an attempt to reach our goals, the consequence will be success. 

Enjoy reading what I write? Copies of my book, Connections Across the Student Desk, are available on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com

Wish I could come speak to your staff and colleagues? Give me the topic, I'll make it come alive! Contact me: School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

You Are Worth the Wait (2-minute read)

Let me set the scene: You are walking along and entering a building on a sunny morning. As you turn your body to maneuver your bags through the narrow doorway, you notice someone walking up behind you. They are strides away, but clearly, they are headed for the same doorway. What is your inner dialogue? Should you pause in order to hold the door for them? Should you move along? Are there factors that help determine your next move?

Others are around or it's only the two of you...

You are in a rush, or you have plenty of time...

You've had a rough or smooth morning...

They are a few steps away or several...

Many factors can contribute to our consideration of whether or not we pause to hold the door for someone. But do any of those factors really matter? 

Each morning as I approach the doorway, I watch in the glass reflection to see if there is anyone coming up behind me, and if they are, I wait. On the flip side, if I see someone walking ahead of me to enter the building, I make silent predictions on whether or not I am worth their wait...and then I avert my gaze to the ground to see if I hear the distinctive sound of the closing door. 

That sound...the sound of...the sound of...what?

"I didn't see you..."

"I saw you, but I didn't want to wait..."

"I saw you and it didn't even cross my mind to wait..."

"I saw you and I deliberately moved on with my day regardless..."

The sound is a sad sound. Who would it need to be for those folks to wait and hold the door? Their favorite athlete, actor or actress? The principal or superintendent? Someone who looks desperate? Someone they want to ask a favor of or with whom they want to share the latest tea?

A mindset worth considering: If I see you in the lot behind me, I will wait for you. Doesn't matter how long. YOU are worth the wait!  YOU are the person with whom the universe thought I should share this part of my day, and I will wait for YOU!

I'd love for you to share your thoughts, feelings or comments! You can comment here on the blog, online, or email me at: School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

Enjoy reading what I write? Copies of my book, Connections Across the Student Desk, are available on 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: School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

"Peace comes to a heart that makes space for it...

 ...it doesn't matter what shares that space. I am happy and at peace." (Past Journal Entry)

Wow!  Those were my words in a journal entry years ago. I like to go back and visit with my younger self...we sit, we talk, (though it is a one-sided conversation), her counseling me, telling me all about how she was feeling and what she was enjoying or enduring at that time.

Some might consider my journaling to be ridiculously abundant, oddly compulsive or overly emotive. I find it to be cathartic and comforting. 

At any time, I can have up to 5 journals in progress: 

my "Five Year Journal" that chronicles the lives of my children and me,

my "Wisdom and Reflection Journal" that contemplates life and offers insight

my "Daily Journal" that I will never share with you because I protect that one as a safe place to be brutally honest and open  

my "Reading Journal" where I agree and argue with authors, and

my "Peace and Prayer Journal" where I emanate gratitude for all I am blessed to enjoy in this life.

I find it to be interesting to read my journals at a later date, knowing that the feelings and events they hold and remember for me were fully lived, survived and successfully managed. I've decided it might be interesting to share some of my older journal entries with you so that you too might sit with younger me and gain insight and comfort reading her words. In many ways, Current Me believes that I've lost some of my wisdom in the tedium of life, so I look for it in the pages of Younger Me's journal. I suppose in my future, today's Current Me might have something to offer, but that is often difficult to believe in real-time.

With that in mind, welcome to this unedited "Wisdom and Reflection Journal" entry:

"It's a lines kind of day. Sometimes I don't know what I want to write. I marvel at the fact that in about ten minutes, something will have appeared on the page that 15 minutes prior I had no idea was even needing to be expressed.

"In so many ways, these are some really happy and peaceful times. And in many ways, they are not. I'd like to focus on how they are, but I keep getting interrupted with comments and questions-haha! But isn't that the key? Accepting all those distractions, interruptions, annoyances, setbacks, intrusions, as part of life and being in a place of peace anyway. I mean, anyone can feel peace laying alone on a clean blanket on an empty beach with no one and nothing to take your attention. But where's the glory in that? Where's the sense of accomplishment or victory? There is none. That peaceful moment was handed to you on a platter. Being at peace in the midst of real life? Now there's a challenge I can wrap my competitive edge around! That's the victory of preparing a full dinner for my family and their various boyfriends and guests while decompressing from school, driving kids here and there, feeding dogs and planning for tomorrow's school day. If I can pause in the middle of that and think, "My heart is happy and at peace." That is a true accomplishment.

"Peace comes to a heart that makes space for it. Doesn't matter what shares that space. I am happy and at Peace." 

I hope you enjoyed that glimpse into my journal and maybe gained inspiration that you can take with you as you move into the days ahead. To be honest, part of Current Me wants to strangle Younger Me and explain to her that when she gets older, her stress will take new forms such as a series of onslaughts on her physical health...haha!  But still, Younger Me had wisdom, and I could use some of the optimism she has to offer. I will be digging up some more entries if this seems to help people who come here to read, relax and find connection. Peace!

I'd love for you to share your thoughts, feelings or comments! You can write here, online, or email me at: School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

Enjoy reading what I write? Copies of my book, Connections Across the Student Desk, are available on 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! School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

The Show Must Go On...We Must Let Go & Move On

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending my school's musical. I approach any event cognizant of all of the work that goes into making it happen. So often, we take for granted the product that is put in front of us without realizing, understanding, or appreciating all of the effort that went into producing it. Taking a group of middle school students and creating a production that everyone, not just the families of the participating students, would be lucky to enjoy is no small feat. I will not pretend to understand how the directors in a middle school production get from point A to point B. However, I do think we can assume they do not get there by holding on to things that are not working or things that are not necessary.

Prior to attending the musical, I was planting my springtime flowers and my summer vegetable garden. In doing so, I found myself pruning plants, taking off old flowers and dead leaves. Dead leaves on a plant, if left to linger, can cause the entire plant to suffer. This is so much like us! We carry things around physically, mentally and emotionally, even though they no longer serve us, only to watch the things that we care about wither away due to our lack of ability to tend to their needs.

And so I challenge you, just as the directors of the Middle School Musical must have done, to let go of those things that no longer serve you, your purpose, or your goals. This will look different for each one of us and it's not a one-and-done. The letting go of what no longer serves us is a lifelong endeavor and not always concrete. Perhaps it's our desire for things to stay the same. Or maybe we are holding onto grudges or anger or jealousy. Sometimes it's insufficient self-care due to the lack of ambition to take care of ourselves with healthy food, exercise or adequate sleep. The thing is, we get into patterns or habits, and we forget that we need to let go and move on. Let this post be your reminder; your catalyst. 

Now that my school's musical is over, the cast, crew and directors will take the memories and lessons with them. They will no doubt hold onto thoughts that will linger in their minds with a sense of accomplishment. They will leave behind however, the long hours of rehearsals and the tedium of memorization of lines and songs. They will move on to make room for the next goals they set for themselves and all the work and energy necessary to reach them. I challenge you to do the same for the show must go on and for that to happen, we must move on.

Want to share how you are letting go of what you no longer need? Leave a comment here, online, or email me at: School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

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! School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

Adults Unite! You Are Not Alone!!!

With the school year entering its final stages, consider the year behind you. Think about your most challenging moments in the classroom if you're a teacher, or if you're a parent/guardian the most challenging moments with your child at home. Were there moments when you just couldn't get a handle on a situation? Episodes of feeling you weren't being heard? Respected? Effective? When they have needs that need to be met, children have an uncanny way of making us feel ineffective and inadequate. It's just part of their charm. But this post is not about children. 

Well, actually it's all about them by being about you and me, the adults in the life of children.

What I'm attempting to describe is the frustration we can feel as teachers or parents and guardians when we are functioning as a single adult in the life of a child. We have created a culture where everyone believes they have to function alone. We have in essence, divorced home from school, and school from home, and forgotten that children need us to work together.

I hear your thoughts as you're reading this:

"If I invite parents/guardians to help, they will walk all over me."

"They're the problem! Why would I try to work with them?"

"They're the professionals. They should be able to help my kid. That's what they get paid to do."

But I believe if we listen closer, we will hear a different story. One that is clothed in fears and insecurities:

"I'm afraid to call that parent/guardian. I've heard how they can be." (Give it a try! Maybe you can be the first one to help them feel that they are part of the team.)

"I'm not going to pick up the phone when I see the school calling. I never understand what they mean, and I always feel attacked. I'm not able to talk with them and feel confident that they will listen to what I'm saying." (Sure, they may be the educator, but you are the expert on your child and they need your input.)

"That parent/guardian is difficult. They believe their child does no wrong and will just blame me." (Try to call them seeking a solution, not to determine blame. Maybe you can be the one to build the relationship that will help their child succeed in school and beyond.)

"I'm working three jobs just to support my children and me. I cannot take calls during the day. The school will have to deal with it themselves." (Try to think of other ways to communicate with the school about your child. In this age of technology, we have e-mail, texting, or even the old-time paper and pen. Let's find a way that we can work together.)

There are a plethora of reasons home and school don't take the time to create the relationship necessary for student success. None of them are valid!  I know this sounds harsh, but it is irresponsible to deprive students of this imperative relationship. It doesn't have to be so difficult, scary, or perhaps the worst... indifferent. Students, all students, need to know the adults in their life are united to provide the support they need to succeed inside and outside of school. And you, the teachers and parents/guardians, need to know you are not alone! Your mutual respect, communication and support is available to you whenever you make the choice to build the connection for the benefit of the children who matter in your life. 

What tips can you share for making the most of the school to home connection? Please leave a comment here or where you found this post.

Want help navigating the school/home relationship? Leave a comment here or email me at: School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

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! School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

Have I Told You Lately About Your Purpose?

Our school building is currently under restorative construction and so each morning when I arrive, I cross paths with various construction workers in the parking lot. We exchange morning pleasantries then enter the building at our respective entrances. Two occupations with differing purposes entering
the same building. A day of work ahead, both with the intention of creating, building on past successes, and making progress toward our goals. Assuming we each do our job well we will leave the same building at the end of the day having made a difference. We will have affected change and growth and made advances in our respective endeavors. The changes will be subtle, so much so that we will not even think about them, but if we hadn't shown up, the loss would be felt.

About twenty minutes after our arrival, the front doors open and about 600 middle school students enter the same building. They have yet another set of goals. Or do they? If you were to ask your students what their goal is when they enter the school building, what do you think they would say? I realize this answer will differ depending on the age of your students. As a middle school teacher, and the mother of a high school student, this question holds a lot of weight. 

Why does it matter? Let's think about it. Construction workers have their blueprints. They have very specific instructions to follow that will undoubtedly lead them closer and closer to achieving their final goal. Teachers follow lesson plans based on the scope and sequence of their curriculum to guide their instruction day after day, inform their classroom management and instill work habits to help their students grow. Though we may often feel as though we are constantly changing our direction to meet student needs, we really do have an end goal that we are aiming to achieve; work alongside parents to guide children in becoming decent human beings.

But what about our students' purpose? If our students don't know why they are showing up to school, if they don't have a purpose beyond compulsory education, can any of the rest of us entering that building really achieve our goals? Sure, the building will be restored, repaired, and improved. Certainly, lesson plans will be followed, curriculum spoken, and skills modeled. But how much does any of that matter if students don't know what it is they are trying to achieve beyond staying awake until the conclusion of the school day?

As is my way as I'm sharing my thoughts I often pause and go back to read what I have written, and wow those words seem dire. But there is hope and it is in your voice! Since you're here it's probably because you have kids in your life that are important to you. If you're a parent, you want what's best for your children, and you want them to grow into amazing adults. Have you told them that lately? Have you helped them chart the course to their future selves? If you're a teacher, you probably became a teacher because you thought that education was important, and you wanted to help affect the future of our world by teaching children. When is the last time you said as much to your students? 

Throughout this portion of this post I have been humming the song "Have I told you lately that I love you?" With the inundation of information and voices that our children have to endure, it is going to become more and more important for us to make sure our voices are heard by them loud and clear and often. They may be too young or too immature to understand the importance of school, but if we keep telling them that we believe it's important, that we believe their effort matters, and that we believe through hard work in school they can become an amazing human being, they will begin to believe it and find purpose in their school day. 

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

Living in Constant Awe

The entertainment industry is littered with movies, books and vignettes of folks having a brush with death that wakes them up to the reality of life. But do we really need such a drastic event in order to live each day as though it is an amazing gift?

I have always been blessed with a penchant for finding awe. There's not much that is more mundane than a plain green leaf, yet as a kid I would look at a leaf through the car window and marvel at the fact that in the entire world, I was the only person seeing this leaf in this moment right now. Or I would look out toward the horizon and imagine all the happenings in the world right at this moment...someone is enduring the pain of lost life, someone is welcoming a new baby, someone is eating an apple, the war I saw on the news is actually happening, my dog is likely asleep, my pen is right where I left it on my nightstand, that list goes on and on. I've got a good one for you...at this moment right now as you read these words, someone else is reading the exact same post, maybe even the exact same word! They may live nearby or across the world. And maybe, just maybe, someone is thinking just like you and wondering what the point is of all this gibberish, or even more amazing, thinking OF you and knowing you would relate to these words just like you do. 

I could go on and on with my imaginings, and if I'm being honest, I still harbor these types of thoughts on a daily basis. After all, I’m the only one in this whole world, past or present, who saw the inside of the orange that I ate this morning. That's crazy! These are the awe-inspiring thoughts that run through my mind. A friend of mine once told me to stay out of my mind because it's a dangerous place.  Haha! So I don't question my awe...I just enjoy it. It brings me back to the present moment and I am reminded of the blessings that permeate my life:

My children and family...Their friends and the parents of their friends, who become my friends, first by association, then by shared experiences...The students I love, the parents who lend them to me...The co-workers who bring love and humor to ensure our students find success in school...Potato chips...Beautiful words...Running...So many amazing, wonderful pieces that make up my life! I am grateful for it all and I am blessed!

I want to always be filled with awe.  I want to live every moment of every day in a way that makes a difference in our world. I know I have the power to do this. I can change lives, beginning with my own, just by seeing beauty, and even excitement, when it's not immediately apparent. I can take this moment to create a smile, create hope, create connections, create love, or create nothing. What incredible power and responsibility! We are so lucky to have this life, and when we fill each moment with the proper sense of awe, we will become the force necessary to change the lives of others and live our own life to the fullest.

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

Take Me to Your People: finding those who lift you up

Finding your tribe, the people who breathe life into you day after day, is not an easy task. No one teaches us how to find these people, but they are so very important to our well-being, to our happiness, to our very ability to say "Yes!" to the life we have built, even on the days it attempts to tear us down. At this point in my life, I have watched my five children work their way through the K-12 years. I have comforted them when friends moved away. I have wiped tears when "friends" were unkind and needed to shift into a different lane. I have attempted to be level-headed as, more often than I would have thought possible through my rose-colored glasses, we embarked on the conversation that begins with, "X is so mean!". Repeatedly I have asked myself, "When did this get so hard?"

I remember childhood days in my neighborhood. If the sun was out, so were the kids. We didn't have to look for the neighborhood kids who lifted us up. We all lifted each other. Sure, there were the few kids who when they turned the corner the rest of us would heave a sigh of...a sigh of what?...Maybe, "This isn't what I would have asked for, this changes things, but we can make it work."  And we did. We invited others in. We switched the game. We repeated the rules. We came out with snacks for everyone...even the kid who might be a little bit edgy or mean spirited. Most of the time we had fun. Sometimes kids had to be reminded to not be a "dweeb". haha!  But even that was done in a way that endeavored to include. We wanted to lift. We wanted to live. We wanted to just have fun.

Where did that go? Why did that go? And how do we navigate this new social landscape? As a mom and as a middle school teacher, I try to help the younger people in my life know their people and kindly dismiss those who threaten their well-being. But as adults it is just as imperative that we find others who will lift us up and share the higher ground. Hopefully we find that in the people who share our dwelling, but we also need it in the workplace. Have you found your people? Do you have someone or a few someones, to whom you can go when you need a smile, or a mental hug, or a mental shot of something strong enough to get you through the day? And how do you find them? For me, it is in the shared joys of the day. It is in the shared 'what the ...?' of the day. And it is in the shared understanding that we are in this together and we believe in the good of each other even on the days when life's circumstances bring out our worst. These are my people, and as we near the end of Spring Break, I find that I am not completely disappointed that my break from work is coming to an end because next week I get to reunite with my people and enjoy again all the joy, laughs and energy they bring to my life!

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