Which answer to prayer will I be?

My school is days away from greeting the new students and starting the new year. As the day draws closer and closer, as the entanglement of excitement and nervousness increases, so do the number of prayers offered by moms and dads, anxious students, and excited teachers. Be it around the dinner table, alone in the car, or in the darkness of night, when faced with the fears of the unknown, we reach out to a higher power. We ask for help, plead for safety, and call for strength. We know we are not enough and that we need help. So we pray.

Recently, I’ve been struck with how we, as educators, have the unique responsibility of being the answers to those prayers. And that is a very sobering thought.

What’s even more sobering a thought is that if I am not careful or intentional in my actions and reactions, I may not like the answer I have become.

This simple line from a simple movie is a powerful reminder of the power of intentionality. How I choose to interact with my students, staff, and parents will be the difference between which type of opportunity I become.

Am I going to be the opportunity - the answer to prayer - that helps them walk through their difficult times? Or will I be the opportunity that encourages them to grow?

As Morgan Freeman argues, if I have a teacher who is praying to grow in patience, kindness, and self-control, I can play the supporting role and encourage them through it. Or, I can be the obstacle that they need to work through. Either way, I am the answer to their prayer. I may not like which one I become.

I don’t know the deepest fears of the staff, the struggles my students face at home or school, nor the deeper frustrations parents have when they come in my office frustrated and angry. Nor do I need to.

What I do need to know is that I have been placed in this school for this time. I have been gifted the opportunity to protect these students, serve this staff, and support this community. I have been placed here for a purpose - I am an answer to the many prayers!

I also believe that if I am not intentional about keeping that choice at the forefront of my thoughts - my prayers - I will miss the opportunities to be the answer I want to be.

That’s what I’ve been thinking about this week.

#doGREATthings!

Give. Relate. Explore. Analyze. Try.

For more on . . .

Friday Thoughts : Blog

Friday Thought : Tell Them About the Dream

One of my favorite stories is how MLK's famous "I Have a Dream" speech came about.

"What most of us don’t know," Stuart Strachan Jr. writes, "is that the 'dream' part of the speech almost never happened." In fact, it shouldn't have happened. Because it was not part of the prepared speech.

"As King inched towards the climax of his speech," Strachan continues, "he seemed to hesitate, perhaps unsure of whether his prepared remarks were as inspiring as he had hoped." Mahalia Jackson, sensing the moment, spoke up.  “Tell them about the dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!” she whispered. 

And so he did. 

What I love most about this story is this. Although unprepared on paper, Mr King had spent hours upon hours preparing for this moment because he was constantly telling people about his dream. He shared it on bus rides, in hotel lobbies, and wherever else he could because he was so passionate about it. Because he cared about it and believed in it. The Dream was shared in a moment, but it was curated over time, refined by conversation, kept alive through conviction. The Dream was made real, in word and in deed.

One of my favorite lines from the band, My Morning Jacket is, "Don't let your silly dreams, fall in-between, the cracks of the bed and the wall." 

As you prepare for this coming year, what is your dream? What are you passionate about, excited for, and anxious to share with your students? Your fellow staff members? Your family and friends?

Whatever it is, share it loud. Share it confidently. And share it often. So much so, that if ever you were to pause in a moment of confliction, someone nearby could lean over and whisper, "Tell them about the dream, (insert your name). Tell tell about the dream."

Speak it into reality. 

That’s what I’ve been thinking about this week.

#doGREATthings!

Give. Relate. Explore. Analyze. Try.

For more on . . .

Friday Thoughts : Blog

Friday Thought : You Belong Here

*Ignore the typo in the images above. . . they have been fixed for the ordered banners:)

As educators, we are continually existing in two communities: the community we try and create for our students, and the community we try and create with our staff. And although there are a few distinct needs between the two, there is also a great deal of overlap. Most notably, the need for belonging.

This coming year, my school’s theme is, “You belong here” which I stole from a principal friend down in Texas, Mr. Martin Silverman, and I just love it.

Then, after listening to a podcast interview with Superintendent Kristi Dominguez entitled, “Building Belonging,” I am fully convinced of the power and purpose of its message.

Especially when the emphasis shifts:

YOU belong here : you BELONG here : you belong HERE!

Each word highlights a very different, very crucial component to being and feeling part of a community. Of belonging.

Here’s what I mean:

“YOU” emphasizes the uniqueness you bring.

You belong here, in this community. Your unique identity, your convictions and passions, your gifts and talents, and the experiences you bring - whatever makes you uniquely you - belong here. Your way of thinking refines our way of thinking, your perspectives complete our perspectives, your whole person (failure and quirks and all) helps create a more holistic and healthy community. YOU is what you bring, and you is what belongs.

“BELONG” reminds us we are part of a community

When we belong to a community we shoulder responsibility for it. We work hard to improve it, personally care for it, and passionately protect it. We invest in it. We pour our identity into it and in return gain identity from it, allowing us to do some pretty GREAT things! Largely because we are not alone. In our endevears, our dreams, or our hardships.

"Humans don’t mind hardship," Sabastion Junger writes," in fact, they thrive on it; what they mind is not feeling necessary." And when you belong, you are and feel necessary. And you are necessary because you BELONG. 

“HERE” is the call to action.

For whatever reason, you have been placed here, in education, in your school, with your students, for this time. And although The Powerful Play will indeed go on for them all as they transition to other schools and various journeys, for right now, you have been tasked with caring for your students, with your staff, in your community.

And they need you.

They need us, all educators everywhere, in all of our faults, insufficiencies, talents, and glories because we are here. We have been provided with this beautiful task of caring for and protecting these students, here and now.

Be it our first year here or our 30th, we have been given this time, this school year, to work with students, embrace our staff, and impact our surrounding communities.

We belong here! YOU belong here!

Let’s ensure our students and fellow staff members know they belong here, too.

That’s what I’ve been thinking about this week.

#doGREATthings!

Give. Relate. Explore. Analyze. Try.

For more on . . .

Friday Thoughts : Blog

Friday Thought : Words of our Leaders

In the past week, I’ve listened to the podcast, Learning to Love with Tim Shriver hosted by Simon Sinek twice. I’ve listened to it twice! I hardly ever listen to a podcast twice, much less in the same week, but this one was different. I needed it.

At one point in the episode, Simon references J.F.K. and his beautiful “Ask not what your country can do for you” speech and how important it was for our country then, and now. Wesley Shultz, the lead singer of the Lumineers also references the importance of that speech in his intro to the song, Charlie Boy and how it changed the trajectory of his uncle’s life.

This week, as schools and school boards are unraveling their back to school plans, as superintendents address their schools, and as principals meet with their staff, the idea that “the words of our leaders ready do matter” has hit closer to home. Especially during times of hardship.

Leaders set the tone. Their words bring meaning to the task at hand and are either stumbling blocks or life jackets. They can save lives, ruin lives, and inspire people to lay down their lives for others. They have immense power.

As a leader, we must choose our words wisely, with consequences and people in mind. Lives depend upon them.

8/30/19 : Friday's Thoughtful Thought

We moved into our new home almost three months ago, and for almost three months I have been putting off two simple tasks: fixing the back door to the house and fixing the bottom shelf in my closet. This last weekend I finally got to them both, and it took me less than 5 minutes to complete the task. Seriously. What was strange, though, was that it wasn't until after they were fixed that I realized just how annoying they truly were. Even now, when I walked near the back door or into my closet, there is a noticeable missing of anxiety that I wasn't even aware was there. With their broken presence gone, I truly do feel a lot better!

I don't know about you, but I tend to do this often. I ignore a simple task that nags at me everyday for little reason other than I just don't want to do it, or because I have other "more pressing things to do." But in reality, taking a literal 5-10 minutes out of my day to fix whatever it is that needs fixing truly relieves me of unneeded anxiety or annoyance, providing more space and patience to deal with the bigger, more pressing things.

Do you have something like this? Have you already noticed a broken or misunderstood teaching procedure? A squeaky or jammed drawer? The grumblings of a possible disruptive student or behavior? Or is there something else either in your classroom or home that, every time you see it, use it, or think about it brings even the slightest discomfort ? If so, make time this weekend to fix it, now, before the year gets into it's groove, and relieve yourself of the little yet constant annoyance that will surely pester you for the rest of the year.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Blog :  Friday Thoughts