heathercphipps Back to School, Positivity, Uncategorized

Make Your Kids Feel Special

Often the first time students and families get to see the school each year is at Open House or Fall Orientation.  For some, this is the third or fourth or fifth time they’ve been to back-to-school events in a building.  For others, it is their first time.  This is our chance to set the tone for the year, to make families feel welcome and to make students feel special.  

And boy did our schools get that job done.  Teachers handed out Blow Pops that said, “thanks for popping in.”  They had remarkable door decorations.  There were balloons and music and mascots.  It was energizing.

Then on Wednesday we had what is, for me, the most exciting day of the year, the first day of school.  One of the things I like most about working in education is that we get a fresh start every year.  The quote below is one of my favorites.  It is an excellent reminder for me some nights. 

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” Ralph Waldo Emmerson

I think it is also important in education.  Finish each year and be done with it.  You did what you could.  The first day of school is a new day, a new start.  We shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with our old nonsense.  That’s what I want for our students too, a new year, and I want more than anything for them to feel special.

And boy did our schools and our families get that done too.  

Beadle Middle School clapped students in as they arrived for the first day.  Sandoz laid out a literal red carpet.  At Hitchcock the students worked together to develop the rules and expectations for the year.  Disney had a community partner who provided school supplies for their students.  Every single student has what they need for the year.  At Central Middle School a teacher was playing piano and entertaining the students outside as they arrived.  Our administrators dressed in matching school gear.  There were giant yard signs where parents could snap creative first day pictures.  

At the end of the day, when I logged on to social media, I was showered with post after post of those first day of pictures.  Collages of the first day of kindergarten compared to the first day of senior year.  Shots of moms and dads ready for their first day of teaching posing with their children ready for their first day of learning.  You flooded my feeds with pictures of your own children and pictures of your school children being loved and being nurtured and being made to feel special.

And that is what the first week of school is all about!

 

heathercphipps Back to School, Balance, Uncategorized

The Climb

There’s a reason I stop blogging for the summer. Our minds need time to rest and reflect in order to do their best thinking. Part of what I enjoy the most about working in education is the cycle of the school year. I love the excitement of a new year, and I love the renewal of the summer season.

It also helps that summer vacations are ripe with ideas for the blogging mind.

This summer I got to go back to Estes Park in Colorado. It’s one of my favorite places but getting there (especially when you are pulling a 5th wheel) is quite a climb.

You’ve no doubt heard the expression. You’ve seen it on motivational posters. You’ve probably even said it from time to time.

It’s not about the destination. It’s about the journey.

It’s not about reaching the mountain top. It’s about the climb.

Great thought. Learning, training, improving at anything is truly a journey worthy in its own right. The value lies in how we grow and change and get better as human beings, not in the kudos or in the win. (Although the win feels pretty good when you’ve worked hard for it.)

I do believe that life is about the journey.

But sometimes, it is also about the destination.

I don’t really like travel days. I like to travel; I just don’t like the drive or the flight. Not many do I suppose. It is the price we pay to explore new places, to re-visit old favorites, and to look at the world through new eyes.

And it is totally worth it.

Life is that way. Sometimes we have to do things that aren’t a lot of fun. At work, at home, we have to run errands and do paperwork and spend countless hours on seemingly endless tasks. It is not fun. But the job, the home, the life is worth every second of it.

Yes, many times it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.

But sometimes, it really is about the reward for the effort.

I know that the end of summer can be hard. Hopefully you have been relaxing and playing and spending time with the people you love. Rest is a gift.

I also know that work with purpose and meaning done with like-minded people who you truly enjoy is also a gift. At least it is for me.

Embrace the journey, and embrace the destination. Remember your why and the rest tends to take care of itself.

heathercphipps Uncategorized

Inspiration 

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It’s Aaron Sorkin for me.  He does it every time.  West Wing is the best.  Hands down.  No comparison.  Every episode, almost every scene of every episode, moves me and makes me want to do more, be more.  Newsroom does not disappoint.  A Few Good Men.  Steve Jobs.  The list goes on and on.  His stories, his words inspire me and make me want to be a better person.

I want to believe that I can be one of the people he writes about.  I want to believe that I can do things that matter and that make the world a better place.

What inspires you?

Books, music, film, television.  These are powerful tools for changing the stories we tell.  Authors and actors, photographers and artists are the storytellers of our time.

I am a movie fanatic.  I see almost everything.  I love to sit in a dark theatre and lose myself in a story.  I love to reflect on what is and imagine what could be.  Movies about the underdog rising up and winning against all odds help us believe that we too can win.  Stories about adventure, creativity, and love can warm our hearts and ignite a spark in us.

Television shows about teachers, politicians, reporters, doctors inspire us to dream and to do.  There is nothing as powerful as the real stories of athletes, scholars, leaders who challenged the status quo and pushed for making things better.

It’s cold outside. It’s a great time to snuggle up with a good book, to light a fire and turn on a movie, to spend an afternoon in a museum.

Read!

Listen to old music and new music!

Tour museums!

Watch movies no one else has heard of!

See plays, watch documentaries, attend the ballet.  Find the things that educate you, challenge you, inspire you.

 

heathercphipps Education, Mentor, Optimism, Positivity, Teachers, Uncategorized

Imagine Something of Everyone

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I was overcome with pride this week as I watched elementary students working during Genius Hour in one of our schools.  Those boys and girls are passionate about saving endangered species and Mine Craft and teaching dogs tricks.  They lit up when they talked about what they were researching and what they cared most about right now.  And I watched their teachers empower each and every one of them.

Then I got online and found a video that some of our high school students made called Mean Tweets about cyber-bullying. It is remarkable.  They are taking tangible, powerful action to address a very real concern for young people.  They saw a problem, and they took steps to address it.  And I watched as their superintendent and their teachers and their administrators shared the video on social media, empowering them even further.

“Sometimes it’s the very people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one imagines.” Alan Turing

When I first heard this quote, I was sure it would end up in a blog.  I was sure it would be a retelling of the many people who have accomplished great things despite this or that.  I thought it would be about the people who overcame great challenges to rise in their fields or achieve great success.  But in the end, as I rolled the quote around and around in my head, it is not about that at all.  Because in the end, I do not agree with the quote.

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Deeper examination of the people who have achieved great things in spite of overwhelming obstacles will always reveal someone who believed in them.  There was a parent who told them that they were smart.  There was a friend who read their stories or looked at their drawings and appreciated them.  There was a teacher.  So many times there was a teacher.  Someone looked at them and saw what I like to call the sparkle, that inner glow that shines when they dance or run or sing or solve math problems.  Someone told them that they sparkle, and that someone ignited a flame…even if it was just once in passing long ago and the flame stayed hidden deep down inside.

I cannot, will not, live in a world where there are people that no one imagines anything of. I cannot, will not, allow anyone to go through life with no one believing in them.  I want to imagine something of EVERYONE.  I want us all to imagine something of everyone.

In my profession, this is not a nice to have trait, it is a have to have trait.

Every day children walk into our schools and spend their days with people who should imagine something of them.  Teachers are entrusted with the care and nurturing of minds and hearts and souls.  It is our job to see the sparkle, to know our students so well that we can help identify their passions and encourage them.  It is our job to do this for EVERY student in our classrooms, even the ones who are angry or quiet or difficult to like at times.  In fact, it is our job to find it most in those students.  We have the opportunity, the gift, to be the person who imagined something of the next great artist, the doctor who cures cancer, the President.  It is our job to imagine something of these future parents, neighbors, colleagues.

Reflect on the people who saw something in you.  Thank them.

Then look around for the people whose sparkle you should be seeing.  Reach out to them. Encourage them.  Nurture that sparkle.  Do not allow a single person to go through life with no one imaging something of them.

Imagine something of everyone.