Thriving

We are well into our second week of school. We talked a lot about inspiration before this year began.  Are you still inspired?  It is hard.  I must admit that same attitude I had on the in-service day may have loss a little bit of its shine.  Maybe I need to start drinking caffeinated coffee...

Some days it may feel like we are just getting by.  Those great lessons you planned...you have thrown them out the window.  Your idea of how well your class was going to get the routine of the day down...you have gone back to square one.  You begin to feel that every great thing you had planned in your mind is unattainable now that the kids are here.  Do you often feel those great dreams never come to fulfillment because of how busy we get with the ones who we dream those dreams for?

So what can you do to have your dreams and ideas thrive now that the year has started?  I hate to keep saying it...but you have to be inspired...you have to look for those little pick me ups when life gets you down.  They will allow you to keep moving forward.  Don't just survive.  Thrive and flourish here.  

Here is a great little blog about how to lead a thriving life.  This blog was directed at teaching these practices to our students, but these are important things for each of us to do to continue to thrive as educators and more importantly as human beings.

https://affectiveliving.com/2016/03/24/23-practices-for-a-thriving-life/

Inspire...and perspire...

You have made it through the first day!  For some of you it was your first first day.  Others it was your first day in a new grade.  And for others still, it was your last first day.  Are you tired?

Did you inspire today?  Or was it a day were you perspired?  It did get a little stuffy in some rooms!  I appreciate you battling through with your kiddos and making this first day a good one for them.  In order to inspire, we will have to perspire a little bit.  The great Thomas Edison once said, "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration".  My 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Miller, had this quote lining the back of her classroom.  And even back then, I got it.  In order to make a difference and change what you see around you, you are going to have to work hard.  You are going to have sweat.  

Bill Gates release a short essay on his blog today called , "A Teacher Who Changed My Life".  It is a great article about his 4th grade teacher and how she inspired him.  Think about...in our school, in your classroom perhaps, the next Bill Gates could be sitting?  How cool is that?  What are YOU doing to inspire that student?  Are you making them (and yourself) perspire a little bit in order to help them find greatness?

https://www.gatesnotes.com/Education/A-Teacher-Who-Changed-My-Life

Don't be afraid to let them see you sweat!  Our kids need to see us working hard for them.

I wish you the best this school year!