Feeling tired?

If you could go back in time 20 years for a minute and talk to yourself, wouldn't you tell yourself to enjoy being so young?

Guess what - you're pretty young and vibrant NOW compared to 20 years from now. You are alive and have energy in reserve if you will feel it and use it.

Have a good week. You are helping minds grow.

Hang in there . . .

"It's often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock."
~ Chinese proverb

the value of what you do: getting them from pit, to peach

Training is everything.  The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.  

~ Mark Twain

You are often a good example. Keep it up!

The effect of precept is slow and tedious;
That of example is quick and effectual.
~ Seneca

four things your students really need

Thanks to Ms. Wendy Byard (see Oct 18 post, below), we have a quick article from Harvard Business Review. 

Four things employees (your students) need.

Guess what #1 is?  Read here.

What is your teaching founded on?

Reading a magazine from our union (not often real hopeful stuff, right?), I turned the page and found a very moving article by English professor and author Wendy Byard. It's about her perseverance in working with a challenging student and the effect it has on him.


So I visited her website and found she is the author of a book whose subtitle includes the phrase "Teaching with Love."


From her website: 
"It seems God has been trying to teach me a great lesson. It wasn't enough that I was a knowledgeable or skilled teacher. It wasn't enough that I worked hard. It wasn't even enough that I cared for my students. No, I began to understand that God wanted much more from me -- what he wants from all teachers. He wanted me to love my students and show it."

advice from Norman Vincent Peale

"Rid yourself of all sick thoughts -- hate, resentment, inferiority and the like.


Easier said than done.  Try replacing sick thoughts by focusing on positives.  Pray for, or think positively toward, kids who make your life rougher.  Remember your strengths.  Recall your successes.  Think on the many advantages to your job.

Peace.

Are they getting you down?

The thrill of the new year officially ended for me this week.

Homecoming was last week. Now it's total normalcy. Plus, four weeks of hundreds of only-somewhat civilized teenaged human beings is wearing on me.

So now what? I remember that I like my job for the most part, and that it has many advantages. I think (right now as I write) about small successes I've already had so far this year. I pray for the students who annoy me or worse.

We do what we can do. You have the inner resources for this, as do I. Fight the good fight, acknowledging that it is in many ways a struggle against darkness. Keep well, colleague.

Are you in adversity?

"In adversity keep motivated, for often the best comes from difficulty." 
- Norman Vincent Peale


Note on the pic: A butterfly must struggle out of the cocoon to squeeze moisture out of its wings.  Without the struggle, it falls to the ground and dies. 


Chin up, colleague.  You do have the inner resources to face the challenge, be better for it, and bless others.