Just as there’s a rhythm to the day or week, there’s a rhythm to the school year. In my mind, the stages of the year are: Review (Re-establish norms and basics) Run (Push instruction/challenge with new material) Reap (Watch the seeds of “review/run” come to fruition) Rest (Vacation/summer) The final step that closes the circle […]
Perspective
One Year Later: Journal Entries
As I write this, it’s March 13, which is the day our county in New York announced it was shutting down in 2020. Many have documented this milestone beautifully, in articles, essays and blog posts this past week. (Comment below with your favorites, and definitely share if you wrote one yourself!) I agree that the […]
Let’s Think About How We Will Heal
I’ve been reading a lot about the “pandemic wall” lately, and it makes sense that we’re all hitting it now. We’ve been in this for nearly a year. During that time, we’ve collected stress that hasn’t been released. We’ve held in emotions that couldn’t be expressed in small spaces. We’ve dealt with waves of grief […]
The Language of Bread
A few years ago, my school’s faculty read Carol Dweck’s Mindset, then took a quiz in one of our faculty meetings to determine how growth-minded we were. A growth mindset is favorable because it means you believe yourself capable of learning from mistakes and making positive change. In contrast, a fixed mindset means that you […]
Reflecting on 2020: Don’t Bother
Many writers have been attempting to sum up 2020, wrapping it in commentary of either sadness for our nation’s health and soul, or gratitude for our survival in the hardest of times. But I’m not going to try to do that. I usually spend the last week of December reflecting on the previous year and […]
End of 2020: How I’m Healing
I haven’t written much lately– not here, not anywhere except my journal. In the spirit of complete transparency, and the knowledge that many of you out there feel the same, I’ve struggled lately. I’ve struggled with stressful situations and changes at work and connecting with my students virtually. I’ve struggled to contain my work and […]