I see you, I hear you, I'm praying for you

 

To say things are challenging is an understatement.

Maybe you're going through a debilitating health challenge, and you're whispering between the tears, "please God, help me."

Maybe you're going through a financial difficulty, you're drowning in bills, life is too expensive, and you need to buy a new stove with money that doesn't exist.

Perhaps you're managing your finances and health by the thinnest of hairs, but your job is toxic and draining, and you don't have options right now.

There's a family situation that feels impossible right now.  Sleepless nights, endless fights, responsibility for a sick loved one, children who need extra support and guidance.

You go on social media to distract and forget yourself, and yet, you feel worse because either people are living their best lives or there's someone who is dealing with a more horrible situation than you. Guilt and jealousy compound your situation.

Let's not even touch national and world events: apocalyptic wars, natural disasters, pain, suffering, and injustice.

At the end of each day, you ask yourself, "how did I get through today?" 

At night, you force yourself to pray.  Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, a sinner.

You try to find something to be grateful for.

You ask God to lighten your load, to grant you the strength to endure, to enlighten your darkness.

And then you wait.  You hope.  You want your suffering to have meaning.

I see you.  I hear you.  I'm praying that merciful Lord envelops you in His love.

Please DM me @workshopclassroom if you would like me to pray for you.

Integrating Growth Mindset Throughout Our Instructional Day

Growth mindset is one of my favorite things that has come out in recent years, along with the science of reading.   I have a firm belief that if we use best teaching practices and support our students' development of grit and fortitude, they will become very resilient readers.

As teachers, we traditionally talk about it in the beginning of the school year or in January for New Year's Resolutions.  We create goals, we post them, and maybe at the end of the year, we'll evaluate our progression towards achieving them.  That's a good start . . . but our students need more.

In order to really develop a growth mindset, it needs to be ingrained in all our directions, instruction, conversations, and activities.  And it can be done without heaping more work our over-burdened selves.

Teacher Appreciation, Inspiration, and Motivation

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Day 2017, I've collected some great quotes to keep us teachers inspired and motivated to persevere through this profession's challenges and society's misconceptions of us. 

Alexander the Great basically says his greatness comes from his teacher, Aristotle!

Truly, I can't even count the number of facets of my life that have been impacted by teachers!  And it is my humble prayer that I do the same for today's youth.

These educators who teach with their hearts not only make us smarter but they make us better people.

Teachers, let's ignite that fire that makes our students lifelong learners and overall happy, successful people.  Finally...

This is super important to me: as educators, if we don't motivate and support each other, then NOBODY else will.  As challenging and draining this profession is our lives, I hope that we can find a flicker of positivity with our inspiring colleagues. 

Thanks, teachers, for all that you do, have done, and will do.