The end of July always has me feeling a bit anxious about all of the work ahead of me to start a new school while simultaneously trying to squeeze as much relaxation from summer break as possible. I don’t think I’m the only teacher who feels unsettled at this time of year (at least I hope I’m not alone!).
Instead of stewing about my worries, I decided to re-watch one of my favorite TED Talks- Rita Pierson talking about relationships. I think it is impossible to watch Dr. Pierson speak and not feel inspired and ready to jump into any new challenge.
If you haven’t seen it, stop & watch it now!
Now don’t you feel better? I also found this amazing sketch note from Sylvia Duckworth with all of Dr. Pierson’s main points:
If you’re not already following Sylvia on Twitter you are missing out! She has created many inspiring sketch notes for teachers that you should check out. One of my favorite parts of Dr. Pierson’s talk is the mantra that she gave to her students. Talk about having a growth mindset! Last year my kids would recite our class agreements together each morning. I’m thinking about introducing a first grade version of Dr. Pierson’s statement instead.
At the end of the yr many teachers countdown the days for school to end. LET’S DO THE OPPOSITE #CountdownToGreatness pic.twitter.com/O5rmPHdFBV
— Kara Welty (@kara_welty) July 26, 2015
A few days ago I stumbled across this amazing tweet from Kara Welty. Even though I’m having some back to school anxiety I really am still very excited to meet my new class. But I’ve never thought about officially counting down with excitement to the first day of school as opposed to my usual panicky, “I have how many days left to do all this work?!” countdown.
I love this idea and I have already been working to shift my mindset about back to school countdowns. I wanted to leave you with one more amazing quote from Dr. Pierson. This one is getting printed out and glued into the front of my plan book!
Image Credits: Shutterstock.com/Sunny Studio, Rudchenko Liliia, Mark Herreid
I would like to have your permission to link your website to my google site. I am a New Teacher Coach in Maryland and currently creating a website of resources for our new teachers. My page will include our county’s resources, but I would like to link to some amazing sites such as yours. Please let me know if I have your permission to do so.
Love all your information . I’m getting excited about a new year instead of dreading the end of summer. Please give me some info on keeping papers graded. Last year Somedays I would have around 100 to grade. Overwhelming!!!!