I love learning from all of you! You all have taught me so much over the years. But, someone who seems to teach me a lot is Jim Smalley! I think you all probably agree when I say that he is such a positive force in our school. While, he teases me frequently and is SUPER sarcastic, Jim is one of the people at JW who has taught me the MOST over the years. I don't think Jim means to teach me things. But, his enthusiasm for learning new things is INFECTIOUS!
Jim often bounds into my office to share his latest thought, idea, podcast tidbit, quote that made him think or question he is pondering. A few weeks ago, Jim shared the notion of UNSCRIPTED moments. He then told me that he wanted to share this idea with the staff. Most of you have filled out the UNSCRIPTED form that Jim shared with you a few weeks ago. He shared the importance those little moments that can brighten someone's day. Jim had this to say about an "Unscripted" moment: "An “unscripted” moment goes a long way and can help us through these tough weeks!" Click here to see everyone's unscripted info! Maybe you can use it to brighten someone's day!
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I'm not sure if you feel like this too, but lately I feel like I've been pulled in a million directions. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of not giving our attention to everything that demands our attention. Tonight, I was reminded that I also need to follow this advice when it comes to social and other forms of media. It's easy to get sucked into the negativity of discussion forums like "Hilliard People In the Know", neighborhood Facebook groups and other public forums. It's easy to start to feel the negativity, sarcasm and meanness (is meanness a word) of the people posting in these groups.
Today, I reminded myself to CHOOSE WISELY what I spend my "free time" doing. I'm asking myself to determine if the words I'm reading, the podcasts I'm listening to, and the images I'm seeing are feeding my soul with positivity or bringing me down. It's easy to get sucked into negativity. I want to BE positive, I want to spread positivity and I want to focus on the good! Have you noticed the amount of PURE JOY in our school? If you haven't then I challenge you to look for it. This week, I decided to BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR JOY!
Here is what I found: -Lily and Kaleb's mom stops and talks to me almost every morning and told me that she has been praying for us. -Ella was walking into the building, walked right by me, turned around and yelled "TELL DOLLY I LOVE HER!" -95 fourth and fifth graders have asked for applications to be Student Leaders. -Tiba hugs me EVERY TIME SHE SEES ME! -I counted at least 12 skippers each day this week! What JOY can you find today? In a "regular year" (whatever that means) we start to feel a new kind of stress in mid-September. The beginning of the year has passed and the honeymoon period has worn off. Now, we are digging in and getting down to business. But, still in mid-September we haven't always landed on the perfect schedule or the perfect routines. Of course, in a COVID year, this feeling of stress is multiplied because we are adding contact tracing, preparing lesson plans for kids in quarantine, wearing masks and don't forget the societal unrest that is all around us.
This is the time of year though, that we need to remind ourselves of the SMALL VICTORIES. This morning, Amanda Davell and I took some time to reflect on the small victories we've felt this week. And, there were more of them than had expected. It felt good to focus on the GOOD THINGS! You are all doing a great job! Take some time to share your small victories with your teammates today! These days everything is fast. We feel like we have to answer text messages, phone calls, emails, tweets, DMs, comments, talking point messages and more right away. This can be draining and it distracts us from our real work. It distracts us from who we want to BE!
I know many of us check emails at home, respond to talking points all day long and feel like we constantly owe people a quick and immediate reply. I'm here to remind you that you don't. WHAT DEMANDS YOUR ATTENTION DOESN'T ALWAYS DESERVE YOUR ATTENTION. I had to remind myself of this a lot this week. People can be demanding and expect an immediate response, but that doesn't mean you have to give it. Remember that PRESSING PAUSE and giving yourself time to GET YOUR MIND RIGHT before replying to a parent or addressing an issue is a GOOD THING! Remember that NOT checking email at home is a GOOD THING! We all need to give ourselves some space between the demands and our responses. WHAT DEMANDS YOUR ATTENTION DOESN'T ALWAYS DESERVE YOUR ATTENTION. |
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