I Am the Job Creator

As the rhetoric fills the airwaves, I keep hearing two words over and over... job creators.  The job creators need tax breaks, the job creators have the right to be heard, we must focus on the job creators.  Well I am here to tell you something...

I drop my child off at daycare every day with a wonderful woman that teaches her how to be a member of this society - I am a job creator

I drive my car to work and sometimes stop for diesel at the local gas station, I am a job creator

I go to school and teach students the skills they need to be successful, I am a job creator

I shop for groceries to feed my family and try to stay local as much as possible, I am a job creator

I spend my extra money at the mall chasing the American dream, I am a job creator

When the economy dries up, my paycheck gets cut so that I can feel the pain of the real world.  Well I have felt the pain all along working a job that pays me little in money but much in love.  So don't tell me I am not a job creator, because I am the one the spends the money that keeps the economy going.  I am the one that keeps it local, buys American made, and worries about how my actions in my community affects those who held the jobs.  I am the job creator with everything I do.

Every Day I Make a Choice

Every morning I choose how I see the day.  I could view it through the lens of most that I will not do enough to help my students, I will not be able to get them where I need them to be because the system is against us.

I could view the students as obstacles that need to be conquered and my colleagues as people who take up too much time or none at all.  I could view my administration as the enemy, and my standards as chokeholds around my teaching.  I could blame the system for my lack of progress and I could feel good that at least I tried.  But I don't.

I choose every morning to believe in my own abilities as a teacher and as a human being.  I choose to be positive, thinking that today will be the best day I could ever make.  Today my students will conquer mountains and guide me on new paths.  My colleagues will inspire me if I reach out, and then will support me through my journey.   My administration will hold me to high standards because they believe I will soar.  The standards are simply guides and they can be worked with much easier than worked against.  The standards do no tell me that I have to prep my students for tests, or even how I should teach, but only what our goals should be and those can be reached in many ways.  I choose to fight the system from within and change it the way I can.  I do it for my own sanity and for the curiosity of my students.

Every day I have a choice in how I will view the world, and although I wake up grumpy (just ask my husband), and bogged down by all of the forces working against me, I slip on my teacher super power suit and I stay positive.  The last thing schools need is another person bringing it down.  The world is already trying to do that.  So what do you choose?

Know Your Place

I once was told to know my place.  And much like our students are asked to conform, fall in line, sit down and be quiet so we can fill these empty vessels with our knowledge, I was so hurt that it took months to recover. Funny now really, because I do know my place.

Sometimes it is that of an expert, most of the time it is of one who soaks up knowledge from the incredible people I learn with.  My place is in a team that is not afraid to speak its mind but does it with kindness and honesty.  My place is among the students because it is created by the students, for the students, and about the students.  My place is where dreamers dream and believers continue to believe.  It is one of positivity, humility, and passion.  Change, vigor, and failure.  My place is ever evolving, sometimes it goes in a straight line and other times it spirals back.  I would not want to change the way my place shapes me.

So when someone tells you to know your place, tell them that you do.  It is wherever we can teach and learn the best.  Wherever our dreams take us and wherever our imaginations go.  I know my place; do you know yours?

I Get To Teach

Every night, driving home I think of how lucky I am.  I get to teach 25 incredible students and be a part of their journey.  Sure my bag is heavy with books and things to do, but I get to teach.

I get to teach those kids that teachers don't know everything.
I get to teach those kids that their voice matters.
I get to teach those kids that what we do in school is real life, not something we may need when real life begins.
I get to teach those kids that together we are stronger and that every person matters.
I teach them about failure, and hope, and inspiration, and daring to ask a lot of questions.
I teach them to trust themselves, their opinions, their inferences, and that they too are experts.
I teach them that life has started and it is time for us to live it.

So when the day ends and my daughter gives me her long awaited hug, I don't take my good life for granted.  I cherish it, I embrace it, and I celebrate it because I get to teach.

What You Look For You Will Find...

When you set out looking for something chances are you will find it.  As Frog and Toad search for spring just around the corner, they find that after they turn enough corners, spring is, indeed, right there.  So shall we find what we are looking for if we just keep on searching.

As educators we should remember this lesson; whatever we look for, we will surely find.  So ask yourself; what do you look for every day?  Do you look for teaching to the test, lazy students, and parents that just don't get it?  Or do you look for curriculum opportunities, learning from failed attempts or wonder, and people that want to be part of your team?  I know what I search for.

We get what we look for.

A Lesson from "Awakened"

Words.  Big, small, meaningful, meaningless, words.  Everywhere we go words bring power, attention, and direction and yet they are just words.  Words by themselves are powerless.  Words are just letters jumbled together in a recognizable pattern and yet words hurt, words incite, words sadden and uplift.  Words make us feel loved, respected, listened to.  Words make us doubt ourselves, as teachers, as human beings.  Words are power.

We give that power to words.  Angela Watson reminded me of that.  Words by themselves cannot hurt us, we allow them to.  We open up the possibility for anyone to criticize because of the strength we give their words.  If you remove the power from the words you will see that they are nothing without it.

Reclaim your words.


PS: If you want to experience this book for yourself, here's your chance!

A Thought on Shutting Doors

When that door shuts, I come alive, not because I am afraid to show my true colors with an open door, or because I am worried what strangers might think, but instead because then I can truly focus on what is the most important; the here, the now, the kids. So when I lose my focus and worry too much about what others think it shows up in my teaching, sneaks right in and settles in the back of my mind. I must forget to take my own advice at times; choose who you give your attention to. Choose who you give power to. Choose who you let lift you up or bring you down. Because those choices also influence your students, those choices we seemingly make separately from our classrooms are never quite separate. We carry it all with us, whether we want to or not. Or at least I do.

So I choose happiness. I choose to focus on everything that is astounding in my life. The incredible deep love from my husband, the unmistakable faith from my mother, and my daughter's incredible joy for life. The student who finally gets it, or cracks me up with a new joke. The coworker that shares yet another success in their teaching or brings up a new idea. I choose to focus on my own mistakes and weaknesses because those I can do something about. And I choose my own words more carefully so to not bring others down.

So now when I shut that door I also make a conscious effort to make myself open it again. To let the world back in, to show those kids that I am there wholeheartedly no matter what passes by our door. To remind myself that my choices are their choices, and that's the way it should be.

May I Have Your Attention

Attention; one of the most powerful gifts you can offer someone. When we care about a person, we give them our attention as the main way of showing it. Attention when doled out can make someone experience deep emotions whether in a great way or not. Attention when handled carelessly can inspire someone to believe misplaced intentions or that we care less than we do. Paying attention is a way of transferring power to the person we are paying attention to, and that power is, well, more powerful than we can even fathom.

As a society we strive to categorize and be categorized. Through our labels we determine our social circles, our place in the community, and certainly our own self-worth. Every label we either bestow upon ourselves or are given comes with a set amount of societal power. Through our profesion we receive a certain amount of power societally predetermined, as a woman I may receive less power than if I were male, and don't even get my started on the power determined by our skin color. In a perfect world we wouldn't be prejudged, or categorized, before someone knows us well but it appears we are all either too busy or wired in such a way that it happens despite our best intentions. So every day we choose to give power to other people through our attention to them and that power shift can either benefit us or harm us. How much time have I spent worrying about someone's impression of me; more power to them. How much time have I spent about how people will view me; more power relinquished. How much time have I spent paying attention to empty celebrities, politicians, or people I will never ever interact with in any positive manner? Way too much.

So how do we change the way we offer up power to people who do not matter? How can we stop being sucked in by those that mostly do harm? In this politically charged America, it seems we need to dust off the civility but where? So from now on, I want to be sparser with my attention. I want to give it fully every day to those that mean the most; family, friends, my school community. I will strive to remove my share of given power to people who spew negativity, to people who only thrive when there is misery to be discussed, to those who do not mean well. We may not be able to change society and the uneven power held by people, but we can change the share we control. Attention is an incredible gift; give it to those that matter.