Fearless and Fabulous in First Grade

I woke up this morning, made my coffee, and began my journey out to my front porch swing. As I sat there, I began my morning routine. It starts with a stroll through Twitter. Many minutes are spent reflecting on the plan for the day. A check list starts to form in my head of things to do and people to talk to. During this time I reflect on conversations, things I've recently read, Twitter chats, and so on. Today I am reflecting on relationships. The power of being connected. My mind naturally goes to this place because a new school year is just around the bend.  I'm a connected educator. I can call myself that because I make a point to connect with other educators. That is what being a connected educator means...right? Yes and no.  Connecting with other educators is crucial to our growth and our abilities to maintain best practices for our students. However, this morning I am reflecting on the question... What do connected educators do?   Where do I beg...

Dream Big...this has been a conversation that keeps popping up around me. First, it started with my daughter. She is about to begin her senior year in high school. I'm currently holding back tears as I see those words in black and white. It's true, my oldest daughter will graduate this year. We have had many conversations as a result of this milestone. She shared an observation she made, "Everyone keeps asking me what I'm going to do after high school." She went on to share some of the many questions she is asked. Are you going to go to college? What are you going to do? What do you want to be? She turned to me and said something so profound... "You know what I want to be? I want to be a graphic designer, but I also want to be a writer, and I love photography, so why do I have to choose?  You know what...from now on when people ask me what I want to be...I'm going to say...I want to be a lot! My dreams are big and I'm not going to make ...

   I always like to start with the “why” behind my motivations. Why do I teach? To educate children. To provide them with a better a future. To prepare them to become productive citizens who have a passion for other people and believe in their own abilities. My hope is that when they leave my classroom, they are confident learners, who believe they have a future story. Why do you teach?     I am a teacher. I am passionate about what I do. I impact lives every day. In return, I get to watch my students grow into wonderfully, intelligent, and independent people. Some of my students come into my classroom eager to learn while others take more encouragement. No matter how they start out, I get to see the fruits of my labor transform them into readers, mathematicians, problem solvers, and most importantly confident people who believe in themselves.       I understand the respon...

I had a conversation with my kids the other day. The conversation started in response to an argument they were having. I started thinking about how often I am mediating these arguments, not only in my home with my own children, but at school as well. I then began to think about the overall attitude I am witness to on a daily basis. I began to notice something... we all seem to have developed a "hall monitor" like perspective. You remember the hall monitor days where a person was appointed the job of monitoring the halls, looking for "offenders." The offenders were quickly addressed and given their subsequent consequence. Yes, that is definitely the perception we have developed today. We stand at attention looking for what is not being done the right way. Looking for "offenders." Ready to pounce, admonish, and correct. We admonish the behavior through social media, in person, through our conversations, etc...  We have become the negative seekers. We are m...

The classroom is so quiet...everyone sitting in rows.  There is another look shot my way...a comment to 'please stop' said in my direction. I can feel the stress rising in my body. I know...I know. Later, I will place the note in my backpack. A note that will explain to my parents that I continuously made distracting noises even though I had been asked to stop. I look up to see a girl two desks in front of me looking at me with a smirk. She is now giggling as she mimics me. She looks at the girl across the aisle from her. They are both giggling now. My face is red. I feel hot. I didn't know, I want to say to them both. They don't understand...I don't understand. The stress is building...it's getting worse. Another comment, another look... "I'm trying!" I want to yell at the top of my lungs. Please stop looking at me, talking to me about it...you don't realize it, but you're making it worse. I'd like to say I won't do it again,...

The new year is around the corner and with it comes the promise of a fresh start...a new beginning. With every new beginning comes a new plan. This feeling of "new" provokes a childlike excitement in me. A feeling of "anything is possible" starts to grow inside me and compels me to give it the focused attention it is yearning for. So a plan must be created! A plan to take this new beginning by the horns and initiate a non-stop, full speed ahead, anything is possible determination that in the end will leave me standing with a satisfied smile on my face. A feeling of accomplishment... One word... This is the beginning of my plan. One word that will give me the focus to see the goal at the end of my "new beginning". What will that word be...it can't be just any word...it has to be a word I've thought about, prayed about, sat with, to determine that it will be the one...the guiding focus for my new beginning. It happened yesterday. I was driving...

I am blessed beyond reason. I have three children who often share their plans for what they want to do when they "grow up". They go back and forth between their dream careers and how they plan to reach them.  Each time we have these talks I remind them of the most important consideration...Follow Your Passion and Do What You LOVE!  This is so important because when you do what you love, it doesn't feel like work.  What a blessing to be able to go to work and be excited about being there.  When your work makes you feel like you are contributing, or making a difference in the lives of others... what more could you ask for? I am thankful I am able to set an example of this for them. I look forward to going to school each day.  I have the honor of working with amazing educators who live by this mantra, making it a point to do what's best for kids.  They continuously set an example for our students that hard work and education leads to completed goals and...