Be Excellent to Each Other
There's some articles out there that talk about the October wall for educators. Inevitably we come down off the highs of the new school year, the excitement of building new relationships and the general fast pace of the new school year.
We get tired, we feel like the battles are more uphill, we wonder if we are truly seen or if what we are doing is even the "right" thing.
We don't get this way because we are bad educators. We get this way because we are GREAT educators. When things get hard, its not because we are less. Maybe its because the things we are doing are important.
Kid President says, "It's ok to be sad...it reminds you what you care about." What if we subbed the words stressed, overwhelmed, tired, etc. in for sad? What if we knew that "the wall" means we care deeply and we focused a little energy on building a network of support to help each other over the wall?
Last week, instead of celebrating the work we have done at our individual campuses, my team participated in an activity called Celebrate Someone. Using Padlet and some Bitmoji images, each of us took some time to write comments celebrating different teammembers and their contributions to the hard work we do. This activity could be remade using Padlet's "remake" feature and customized for a class, a team or a campus.
A simple reminder of how others see you is sometimes all someone needs to get over the hump and "stay in the struggle". How will you help a teammate, a learner, or yourself over the wall?
This year, let's take some advice from Bill and Ted:
We get tired, we feel like the battles are more uphill, we wonder if we are truly seen or if what we are doing is even the "right" thing.
We don't get this way because we are bad educators. We get this way because we are GREAT educators. When things get hard, its not because we are less. Maybe its because the things we are doing are important.
Kid President says, "It's ok to be sad...it reminds you what you care about." What if we subbed the words stressed, overwhelmed, tired, etc. in for sad? What if we knew that "the wall" means we care deeply and we focused a little energy on building a network of support to help each other over the wall?
Last week, instead of celebrating the work we have done at our individual campuses, my team participated in an activity called Celebrate Someone. Using Padlet and some Bitmoji images, each of us took some time to write comments celebrating different teammembers and their contributions to the hard work we do. This activity could be remade using Padlet's "remake" feature and customized for a class, a team or a campus.
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| Celebrate Someone Padlet Template: https://padlet.com/apryor/7nldfzezz8i5 |
A simple reminder of how others see you is sometimes all someone needs to get over the hump and "stay in the struggle". How will you help a teammate, a learner, or yourself over the wall?
This year, let's take some advice from Bill and Ted:
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| Image created at https://imgflip.com |
I love the idea of using Padlet to celebrate someone! Even better if we stick their Bitmoji in there too! I may need to borrow this idea!
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