It’s thankful season, but that’s not the reason I am reflecting on all the reasons I am grateful in this moment. Life’s in the principal’s office is sometimes hard, sometimes frustrating, and sometimes I feel like I am not accomplishing anything. There are days where sometimes I am a firefighter (metaphorically) and not really an educator….at least the to the eye that doesn’t know. But right now, and in general, I am grateful. I am grateful for Dawn, my administrative assistant. I joke that she I saw my work wife, because next to my husband, she is probably the person…
Reset/Refocus
If you have been following me, one of the things you know is that we have been working on self regulation and teaching students to identify their feelings, and practice strategies that help support ‘being on green’ emotionally. But sometimes, kids end up in red….and can’t get back to blue or yellow, much less green. What does all this mean? See below for information. When a student is in red, they can’t focus on learning, and chances are they are disrupting their classmates from learning as well. When a student is in red, their brain isn’t problem solving rationally, they…
The Importance of Self Care
As moms, educators or not, working out side the home moms and stay at home moms, we work hard. We are often the first ones up, and the last ones to bed. We do the work that doesn’t really count as ‘work’…meal preparation, house cleaning, laundry, organizing, yard care, child care, grocery shopping (ugh HATE grocery shopping), paying bills, running errands. If you work outside the home, you have 8 less hours in a day to do all the same tasks….and it is HARD. Some women make it look easy, some women have hired help- someone to come help with…
Crackhead Uncle John…and stories of addiction
Addiction carries such a heavy stigma, yet the affects of addiction reach far and wide. The Surgeon General estimates that one in seven people are directly affected by addiction, with only one in 10 seeking treatment. This means that more than 50% of the population is directly related to an addict. I am one of those 50%. This problem of addiction isn’t new or news. Years ago, when I was a classroom teacher, I started seeing the affects of addiction in my classroom: Parents in active addiction, care givers in active addiction, and children being raised by grandparents because their…