Another of my favorite parents pointed out that we even make choices for how kids will play on a playground. Think of the playgrounds we so often see- bright colors, labeled for age groups, signs to go down slides only. Some have bridges, some don’t. But they all have the two types of swings, monkey…
During college, I had a summer stint as a preschool teacher. I loved it. The small school was run by some sweet older women, and it took me some time before I understood their salient intentionality. During our preschool day, we had structured time and a good deal of planned unstructured time. During structured time,…
Two of my favorite thinking sources came together this week- in thoughts on leadership… what could be better?! The two resources: I started listening to Episode 298 of “We Can Do Hard Things” mostly because Abby was going to talk about being a Bonus Parent- a step-parent. It’s one of my roles, and I knew…
I am both eager and nervous to delve more deeply into leadership. Leadership starts everything- and it has the power to slow- or end- everything. Elephants provide an elegant example. They are powerful animals who lead with love and grace and wisdom and play. They lead with cooperation rather than hierarchy. In another version of…
This is a tough time of year for me. The dates carry a lot of loss. They carry gratitude and joy and love for those who cannot meet me for coffee. And the dates carry losses that can feel weighty and hard to see through. But, along with the stuff of life, we teachers must…
It’s always a stretch to spring break- a “can I even muster patience and effort for one more day?” kind of stretch to spring break. It’s okay to feel that, and it’s necessary to listen to it. Take a break. In my early years of teaching, I thought- oh good, moment to catch up on…
I’ll never forget my first elementary homeroom after getting my master’s degree, teaching fourth grade, worrying the walls of the classroom might not be inspiring enough. It was March, and I spent so much of the school year trying to keep up with my teaching, and the walls had seen little change, little attention. So,…
Preventative defense. Let your students know boundaries and expectations for as many pieces of your classroom as possible. I have an analogy I like: Let’s say you’re inviting someone over to a family dinner event at the home of a relative. You may think, “Dinner is dinner.” But dinner with your family is a separate…
At my house, we call them “Get-Through-It Days”, though I think a better name might be “Forgiving Days”. A Forgiving Day is a day when we just don’t have our all to bring. We might be tired, distracted, sad, scattered. On Forgiving Days, we forgive ourselves first. It’s okay that we are presenting work and…
I was listening to an interview with Suleika Juoaud, best selling author and journalist- and wife of Jon Batiste. She was asked what she does on the middle days, the ones between the “exclamation points of life”. Suleika Juoaud is a force of immense and insanely varied talent, from musician to author to journalist to…