My word for this year is JOY. I’ve been working hard to practice living my word. I've worked to find the JOY in things and to bring JOY to others. I've been practicing my word but I definitely have more practicing to do before I get good at my word.
This weekend I noticed that I kept getting a notification on the dashboard of my car that said I needed to add air to my back tire. After doing so and then getting the notification again, I knew that I probably had a slow leak. So, after school on Wednesday I stopped at Tire Discounters. They told me they would fix my tire but it would be about and hour and fifteen minutes before they could have it finished. I called my husband who was busy driving kids here and there so I decided to sit and wait. Soon I got impatient. I started to feel annoyed and my mind was filled with all of the things I had planned on doing when I got home from school -laundry -make dinner -pack lunches -help kids with homework -open mail -and the list went on and on… Then my thoughts shifted to “poor me”. I thought, “Why do I have to be sitting here in this tire store. I’m busy.” In that moment I was practicing a skill that I’d gotten very good at over the years-COMPLAINING. I was doing the opposite of my word. So, I quickly paused my negative self-talk and decided to take a deep breath and find JOY in my situation. Here is the JOY is chose to find: -I was sitting down! I never get to sit and do nothing! -Discount tire was playing country music throughout the store! My favorite! -I had a snack in my bag! Woohoo-protein bar -I had caught the hole in the tire BEFORE ending up with a flat on the side of the road. -The people at Discount Tire are SO nice. -I had put dinner in the crock pot before I left home that morning so Justin could easily scoop food onto plates for everyone! -I was only five minutes from home, so as soon as my tire was fixed, I’d be home in no time. Instantly my stress decreased, I felt calm and I didn’t mind my current situation at all. Was my situation ideal? No, of course not! But, was I able to find some good in it? Absolutely! And that one our and fifteen minutes soon turned into an hour and a half. Many times throughout that ninety minutes my thoughts drifted back to the negative. I had to intentionally control my thoughts. I had a TOUGH practice session on Wednesday, but I'm glad it happened. What do you practice? Take a minute to listen to the words of this wise little boy as he challenges us to consider what we practice.
Here is your staff update for February 24th.
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Parent teacher conference week is exhausting. It is SO much work. It is hard to spend all day teaching and then spend before school, after school and planning time meeting with parents. Even though we love sharing our students' learning with their parents, conferences add a lot of work to our days.
I have an amazing opportunity as the principal of our school to participate in conferences with many of you. I spent time in conferences that were celebrations, problem solving sessions, counseling sessions, hard conversations, and even conferences that were simply a time for parents to hear how much their children are loved. In every one of these conferences, I was blown away by how well you know your kids. You all started your meetings by sharing how much you love the child, you shared cute stories and brought smiles to parents faces! Even in the tough conferences the parents knew you cared about their children. You built trust this week. Thank you for doing the work this week. On the journey to ELITE we showed that we are disciplined. We built skill. We didn't give up when things were difficult and we were tired. Thank you for the time you spent away from your own families so that you could support your students' families. Thank you for supporting each others and for giving me so many more reasons to love you all so very much. Here is your staff update for February 15th. “Love is an intervention.” –Kate Miller My friend Kate Miller often says these words, “Love is an intervention.” I’d never thought of it that way before. But, after I heard those words, I started thinking differently. I realized that Kate was so very right. Before our students can learn; before they can play nicely with one another; before they can walk in a single file line or participate in a book club they have to know they are loved. As we embark on our conference week we all need to remember Kate’s words. Love IS an intervention. As we meet with parents for a short 15 or 20 minutes conference we are tempted to jump right in and talk about the things the child needs to work on, maybe even share our frustrations. I challenge you to remember how much our students are loved by their parents. Take some time to slow down and share the things that you love about their children. Let the parents know how much fun it is to spend your days with their little one. Even our trickiest kids can bring us so much joy! Take time to share that with parents. It might not be easy but it will mean the world to the parents. I know you love your students. Share that love with their parents. Have a great conference week my friends. Take time to rest this weekend and stay healthy! Here is your STAFF UPDATE for February 9th. Jon Gordon says, “Remove the things in your life that don’t matter.” That’s a big statement! Have you ever taken the time to step back and think about what is essential to your life? Have you ever stopped to think about what really adds value to your life and what doesn’t? Thursday night, I participated in the Twitter chat for Jim’s Positivity Summit. During the chat, Jim shared that he has started leaving his phone at home when he walks his dog. I couldn’t help but think about how the small act of leaving your phone in your house could add so much value to a simple task like walking your dog. Think about how simply eliminating a tiny distraction like having your phone with you could actually bring such value to a moment. How many times do we miss our moments because we are distracted by things that don’t matter? As we strive to be ELITE, let’s focus on what matters! Let’s eliminate what doesn’t. Remember micro changes bring about macro results. Here is your staff update for February 2nd. |
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