One Wish To Thrive?

It's been an interesting week beginning with a PD a week ago. It was a really windy morning but I managed to get to the beach and not be blown away, before I turned up at the venue.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a PD "Play Is The Way" and if you haven't already, I would encourage you to do it. It was well presented, inspirational and practical. In a nutshell, it helps those in education use Play is the Way games to help students learn how they can master their own behaviour. It was so good to see how the games are critical in the areas of mental health and wellbeing as well as social and emotional learning.

Earlier this week I watched a Four Corners Episode about "The Kids Who Can't" [go to school] which is often labelled as school refusal. In some states of Australia, parents are threatened with fines if their child doesn't attend school which just adds to the pressure at home and many families are resorting to home schooling. One mum said, "I dropped him off to school one day and he just broke."

One of the questions asked were, "Why would kids bother coming to your school?" I love that question and feel that all schools and staff should evaluate their school using that question. Ask the students, ask the parents, ask the staff, ask the community. It might be confronting but it opens up an opportunity to ensure the school creates an environment of emotional and physical safety.

The program also reminded us that teachers are leaving because, "You can't help the student who is in front of you" or "You've failed students because you haven't had an understanding of the full issue."

There are solutions and as one parent pointed out, "It is costly but in the long term it costs less than the alternative for students who can't go to school." 

I went and read a Facebook page where teachers were asking "How?" "How do I reach those kids?" "How do I make sure all of my students are thriving in their learning and reaching their full potential?" Many teachers were crying out for help so that they themselves don't burn out, yet many of them felt they were on the verge of being broken.

Teachers are leaving the profession sooner many of them not lasting beyond 5 years, so when we put new, enthusiastic teachers in front of their classrooms, we need to be able to give them the tools they need to thrive and grow. They need to be supported and reminded that they are valued. When it gets tough, they need to know that they will get through this.

It breaks my heart when I hear of teachers who have lost their passion for teaching because they felt ill-equipped to handle the class or they didn't feel supported. When I walk in to my classroom, I look at the faces in front of me and I want them to enjoy learning. I want my students to be doing their best and I pull out my teaching toolbox (figuratively speaking) and I find the most effective ones for that context and situation.

I also make it a priority to continue to check the tools I have, polish up some of the ones that I'd forgotten, shove a few further down for another time and then read, watch useful programs, listen to podcasts and attend PDs so that I can continue to build on the tools I already have. I've taught for over 30 years and have seen a lot of changes in the classroom dynamics, pedagogy, curriculum, documentation etc and I am thankful for the opportunities and the classes I have had in my career.

So, if you are a teacher my question to you is this: If you had just one wish to help you thrive as a teacher, what would it be?

I'm Back

 Hi everyone,

Yes, it's been just over a year and I've been on a journey, wandering this way and that, yet always coming back to 'here' in my heart. 

This week my role has changed to teaching only 3 days a week and my plan is that on the other 2 weekdays, I am going to continue building my coaching business, clarifying my message and learning how I can continue to serve those working in the education field. I must admit that this week, my goal was to have a break to be refreshed - go swimming, do aqua-aerobics, try out pickleball and play with my horse. 

Today I received a message from a good friend announcing that she is leaving her role in education as a wellbeing leader;- empowering teachers to understand and know how to care for the students in the classroom who struggle with learning due to anxiety and other needs. I talked with a friend yesterday who admitted that although her colleague has been teaching for more than 10 years, she still doesn't understand the importance of serving her students and being aware of their emotional needs that impact on their ability to learn. Both stories broke my heart.

Teachers are leaving the profession by the time they get to their 5th year and the government response is to start teachers sooner so we have more, or bring back retired teachers to fill in the gaps. Instead of putting a band aid on, we need to clean out the wound and apply 'medication'. We need to listen, support and hear what their heart is crying out and we need to give them encouragement and tools to help them continue in their calling.

Two years ago, I began toying with the idea of coaching and supporting those in the education field, to help them navigate the murky and unpredictable challenges they were presented with. I began this blog and recorded anecdotes and things I have learned over the more than 30 years I have been teaching. There have been changes, challenges, heartbreaks and times full of joy and I am thankful for the privilege of having worked in education for so many years. As I work towards my final years of teaching, I want to empower you to grow and have a heart for education. I want to support and share with you the tools I have developed. 

Come on this journey with me. If there's any specific issues you would like me to chat about, feel free to leave a comment and I will address it soon.

I look forward to sharing more with you. 

P.S. There are also more life lessons at Horses and Lessons learned. 

Are You Ready to Set Goals for 2023???

 So this year is over and what have we done..... 

I tend to turn everything into songs, making up words to old tunes and a colleague once said to me, "Carolanne, you don't have to turn everything into a song." But I do. My students love it and the aide in my room will deliberately start humming a tune because he knows it will get into my head. Sometimes my students even sing along or make up their own songs.

But seriously, we've made it through the school year and if you're anything like me, you'll be feeling: exhausted, relieved, looking forward to next year, looking forward to sleeping in, looking forward to Christmas, reflecting on what happened over the year, wondering what next year will look like.... mixed emotions and quite frankly, wondering "What have I done, another year is over and I'm on the verge of a new year..."

So, I'm going to mix a few recent emails and conversations together and this is what I want to share with you.

First of all, one person shared how to set goals in a practical way that really resonated within me.

She separated her goals into 3 major categories:

 Predictable goals: things I believe I can do in 2023. For me I will make time to ride my horse/bike each week in order to keep a balance on my stress levels, or at least, help to alleviate them.

 

Growth goals: things I believe are possible for me but I need to grow into them.

 

"It would be amazing if" goals: things that are outside of my current reality and thus, are less believable but also give me hope that I can fly....

Each of those categories are important. 

1. The predictable goals are good for me and are achievable.
2. The growth goals encourage me to stretch myself, have a focus that includes me making an effort; further study, reading, stepping forward etc.
3. The "it would be amazing if" goal inspires me to dream big, think outside the box, "what if?" and be creative.

 

When I check a goal off, I'm going to celebrate each one, no matter which category it comes from! 

I was reading about a lady who had a goal to see the Grand Canyon and when she mentioned it to a friend, she was encouraged not to bother making the trip because it wasn't worth it. When she got there, she was in awe of how amazing it was and she was thankful that she hadn't listened to that friend.

She said, "Sometimes we miss out on even the greatest wonders not because they’re “not that great,” but because we are distracted. Or cynical. Or hurt. Or burnt out. Or entitled. Or just actually hungry.... Maybe the awe gets swallowed up in exhaustion. Maybe we feel like we’ve been there, done that and just stop looking for it. Or maybe we are just looking at it all wrong."

As I consider making goals for 2023, I wonder if I am ready for the next adventure or if I am too exhausted to make meaningful goals. If you relate to that, I want to encourage you to think about the categories and start with the predictable goals - it's taking one step at a time. If you're not ready, then I encourage you to wait until after Christmas before you set your goals in stone. I think that's what I am going to do. I have an idea of what goals I want to set but before then, I want to enjoy Christmas without being distracted by what next year holds. (or might hold)

I am deliberately setting aside thoughts of work, 2023 and all that it encompasses in order to rest, re-set and enjoy my family and the season of Christmas. Those goals are in the back of my mind and over the next couple weeks, they will take shape and perhaps the coming days will influence/impact my goals for 2023.

You can come back to this blog post after Christmas - it will still be here but if you're ready, open your notebook and record what your predictable goals, growth goals, and dream big goals are. Feel free to share your goals for 2023 in the comment space below - I'd love to read them! (Might give me ideas for what my goals might be.)

River Reflections

Be Kind To Yourself

 It is really important that at this busy time of year, you are kind to yourself.

This year I set a goal to walk/ride X amount of kilometres and signed up to Conqueror challenges to ensure I got a medal for my efforts. This would be the 3rd year running (pardon the pun) and every year I've increased the goal a little bit further. Last term, I didn't keep a daily record to keep myself accountable and quite frankly used every excuse I could to excuse my 'slack weeks'. Accordingly, towards the end of Term 3 when I updated my records, I realised how far behind I was and subsequently, had to work hard to get back on track. According to Conqueror records, I am now 40kms ahead of what I would need to be at this point, to reach my end of year goal.

For the past 5 or so weeks, I have been getting up at least 30 minutes earlier to go for a morning walk and get my steps up at the start of the day. While this is beneficial for my mental physical health, it had its drawbacks too. The last couple of weeks have been very busy at school yet, despite being very tired and getting to bed late at night, I still got up early in the mornings and pushed myself to get everything done before I fell exhausted into bed at the end of the day.

Last night as I was going to bed I gave my 'routine and lack of sleep' some serious evaluation. I told myself I will still set the alarm early but choose whether to stay in bed for another half an hour when I woke up.  This morning the alarm went off, I reset it and got up half an hour later.

As I showered and got ready for school, I began scolding myself for my laziness and not getting up early enough to go for a walk. I did this for quite some time and then I stopped and had an epiphany.

I need to be kind to myself.

If I was talking to a friend in the same situation as me, I would advise them to be kind to themselves and not push themselves too hard at this time of year. I need to be kind to myself.

I need to remember that this is an extremely busy time of year, I am ahead in my distances and I don't have to push myself so much.

There is only one week to go before I am on a break so I need to be kind to myself. I need to pace myself to make it in one piece at the end. There are some things I can catch up on after this week.

I need to be kind to myself so that I can be kind to others. When I am tired, stressed and pushing myself, I can be less tolerant and gracious than usual and more sensitive when others are speaking to me.

I need to be kind to myself so that I can be kind to others.

Be kind to yourself.

Tips for Teachers Travelling Through This Tumultuous Time

 As we are in the throes of report writing and we're coming towards the end of the year with a pile full of end-of-year functions, it is natural to reflect on the year that has been and ask ourselves questions. For example,

• Did little Monica learn how to write narratives?
• How is David's spelling - did he improve any?
• What was it about my class that aided learning?
• Did I provide the best learning environment for my students? 
• Did I help them all reach their academic goals? 
• What could/should I have done differently?

Then perhaps we stir that in with our thoughts about next year. For example,

• What will I do differently in my teaching next year?
• What PDs do I need to do next year to help me teach more effectively?
• What areas do I need to improve in my professional practice?

After blending the end of year reflections in with next year's to-improve list, it is likely we are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. We remind ourselves that holidays are coming up, and we just need to get through the next few weeks before we crash. We know that we are tired but we get up, get through the day, get some sleep (hopefully) then repeat again the next day.

I was reading an email from a wellbeing coach today and was reminded how important it is to practise gratitude. The author said that when she first practiced her gratitude walks, she could only find 2 minutes worth of what she was thankful for so then she started thinking about things to be thankful for in the future. She reminded me that gratitude is not a trend, it is a life-changing practice.

Today, after church, we stopped at the local market and as I walked towards the food vans, I heard a young voice call out my name and I saw one of my past students running towards me. Her mum decided to imitate her and do the same. It made me laugh but it also reminded me how thankful I am for the many students I have had the privilege of teaching. Not only this year, but past years too. 

Another thing that is important to do at this time of year is to set boundaries. As Christmas and other end of year functions fill up your diary, people clamour for your attention and your time and if you don't have boundaries in place, it is harder to prioritise and say no. Recently the education department in Queensland, put in place "the right to disconnect" which gives teachers the right to not check their emails out of school hours. You have the right to set boundaries and the responsibility to yourself to stay healthy. Hurting yourself to help others doesn't help - either you or them.

Tips for getting through this (possibly) tumultuous time:

1. Take the time to go on a gratitude walk, regularly.
2. Take care of yourself.
3. Set boundaries.
4. Rest and enjoy yourself away from your workplace.

Yesterday, I went on a horse ride with my friend through the bush. There were swarms of butterflies flitting around us, kookaburras laughed and magpies sang. Our horses plodded along and I felt content. It was like being on a mini-holiday. We went for another ride today - shorter but still as relaxing. It gave me time to dis-connect and not even think about what tomorrow... this coming week, is going to throw at me. It gave me time to rest and refresh. 

Please look after yourself - yes, it is busy and there's a lot of things to be done, but you're only going to get it done if you are well enough.

Make A Difference

 Recently I read this at LinkedIn from Leadership First:

"As a leader, you have an incredible opportunity to change someone's life every single day. Leadership is never about tearing people down, it's all about helping people become the very best version of themselves."

There so many resources, podcasts, pages, people and businesses that are constantly promoting self-care, wellbeing, being your best, surviving a toxic environment, etc. When I first started teaching that 'side' of self-care was very silent and yet, it seemed like teachers weren't leaving the business in droves and weren't having issues with work/life balance. Did it exist or were the majority of teachers just good at coping silently? If it wasn't such an issue back then, why is it such a big issue now? Did we do things 'better', did we cover things up, or were the issues different back then to now?

I remember some things one of the first principals I had said, "If you're well enough to get up and call (on the landline), you're well enough to come to school." We didn't have 'wellbeing days', mental health days and rarely took a day off. As I look back to that time, I run through my early days of teaching, analysing if mental health and wellbeing was an issue - if not for me then for others - and although it must have existed, I think it looked different.

It was also a different era of life......

Difference between then and now: (There are many but I'll focus on the main ones!) 

Phones - you were only 'accessible' by phone if you were at home as we had landlines. These days, we have phones with us all the time and as soon as we hear the beep of a message, we pull out our phone and stop to check to read the 'urgent' message, no matter where we are or what we're doing. We 'have to' answer the phone or call the person back. When we had landlines, if we were out, we didn't even know someone had tried calling and especially didn't know who had tried calling!

Emails - non-existent so to communicate with someone about work-related topics, there were 3 choices: 

1. Call them on the phone during business hours (you didn't have their personal landline number. 
2. Make an appointment to go and meet with them - if they lived near you and/or you could drive there or get public transport
3. Mail them - which took a couple days.

Sick Days - if we were sick, we didn't email our lesson plans in although we had our work programs filled out the week before and on our desk. However, a relief teacher would come in, follow our program or even choose to do their own lessons, with a story, art work related etc. It was no big deal if a day didn't go as the classroom teacher had planned.

Colleagues - Generally speaking over my years of teaching, colleagues have become friends and we have done things together and had lots of fun. That can still happen today and with social media we can know what people had for dinner, breakfast, lunch, what they did an hour ago, or in the morning, or on the weekends. The relationships with our colleagues are very important whether they be 30 years ago or today. We need to build relationships of trust and respect and to look for ways to protect and support the wellbeing of our staff.

Got Your Back - When I was a leader at camp, even before I was teaching, one principle I learned and practised was, "No matter what, you don't ever undermine a colleague [fellow leader] to a person in your care or even to another staff member." If you disagreed with something your colleague said or did, you went to them in private and talked it over with them but you never argued or rebuked (humiliated) them in front of others. You didn't gossip about them behind their back because those words said in private, have a way of being heard and getting back to the person. (victim?)

Integrity - Closely following "got your back" is integrity. Being mindful of your colleagues, keeping promises, being consistent with what you say and what you do. It is so important to be trustworthy (worthy of their trust). It is important to me that I can trust my colleagues to have my back and trust them to be respectful behind my back.

Sadly, over the 30 years (or so) of teaching, there have been colleagues who have let me down and I have been hurt. One of my mentor colleagues once suggested I grow a thicker skin but another colleague reassured me that who I am as a person, doesn't mean I need to change because having a 'soft skin' makes me who I am. I've seen the hurt, the destruction and the ruined lives that gossip and rumours can cause and I don't think there's a place for it in the workplace. (Now I will get down off my soapbox)

My friend Karen once said to me, "Instead of tearing down bridges, we need to build bridges". We need to see how we can build bridges to restore relationships and build friendships and/or hope. We have resources that we can use to immediately contact others to build them up. We don't have to wait a few days for it to happen. Look back over the list I have just written and put it in today's scenario.

Phone Call - make the phone call, or text someone to ask them how they are.

Email - send an email of encouragement.

Colleagues - Show respect and kindness.

Got Your Back - Resist the temptation to gossip or undermine someone behind their back

Integrity - Never out-dated!

"As a leader, you have an incredible opportunity to change someone's life every single day. Leadership is never about tearing people down, it's all about helping people become the very best version of themselves."

Whether you are in a leadership role or not, you still have the opportunity to help others become the very best version of themselves. Make a difference. What may seem small and insignificant to you may be a huge blessing to someone else. It starts with us all choosing to build others up.

 

Report Writing Time

Report Writing Time - How I _________________ it. (Fill in the blanks with your own chosen word.) When I left to go to the States in 2010, I was not sure that I would continue teaching, in fact, I doubted it as I was looking to go into a different career opportunity. One of my first thoughts was, "Yay, no more report writing!" To me, it's a necessary 'evil' of teaching. 

So, my reports need to be completed shortly and as I'm a procrastinator I have found a myriad of ways to put it off. Some of it has been purposeful. I have been going full-pelt (which is British for with maximum energy or force; at top speed) for the last few weeks and I'm getting exhausted. 

Yesterday I headed to my friend's place for a horse ride. Just as I arrived, the rain poured down and we sheltered under the shed and watched the horses continue to graze. When it eased up, we went and moved fences to give the pony more grass to graze on and we moved the calf to a larger paddock so that she could frolic and dance in her new space. The horses all lined up to watch her antics over the fence. I have included the video clip here.

Today, when I needed to take a break from my writing, I put on "Steps with Rick" on YouTube to make sure I got my steps up and because I needed to do something physical. Let me encourage you, if you're feeling busy, stressed, overworked, overwhelmed (any and all of the above) stand with the horses, watch Opal explore her new paddock. Breathe in the fresh air after the rain, listen to the kookaburras, pat a horse and laugh at the calf as she dances after the storm.

As for me, I apologise in advance if my blog posts become sparce. End of year stuff compels me to prioritise activities until it's all done. If you have time, feel free to catch up on blog posts from the archives that you may have missed out on.