One of the best parts of my job at ESSDACK is the opportunity to provide coaching support to teachers. My passion is helping other educators reignite their own passion for teaching. I believe that all of us need a coach. Someone to help us clarify our goals, identify multiple pathways, support us as we take risks, and to celebrate our successes. This is the work that gets me out of bed in the morning. The joy of coaching a teacher as they achieve their goals is the same as those glorious lightbulb moments that we strive for in the classroom.
However, sometimes being on the coachee side of this partnership doesn’t feel as awesome. Sometimes it brings on feelings of anxiety, anger, and stress. Fears of incompetence and judgment may rise to the surface. This is real. It is normal. I get it. I know, because I’ve been there.
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Do you remember when we used to write "notes" on Facebook? A friend would tag you in a silly challenge or series of questions, and since the status line was limited to "Katie is..." we placed these musings in our notes instead. This one popped up in my "On This Day" feature today, and it was interesting to reflect back on what my life was like halfway through my first year of teaching. I found some of my statements to be naive and others to be beyond my years in wisdom - while others were clearly a stretch to fill a count of 25... The eight statements below struck my heart deeply as I reflect on where I've been as an educator and how my life has grown to include a family over the past ten years. It also makes me hopeful for the person I will have grown to be in the year 2029.
When I was a child, my mom had one rule for public… “no whining, no crying, no begging, no fighting.” Ok, maybe that’s four, but she always said them together. If one of us dared to break this rule we were first given a stern look with quick snapping point of the finger, and on second infraction we were all quickly escorted back to the car where we waited for her to finish her shopping. I recall this happening once. At home if our behavior was considered out of line, we were told to go to our bedrooms to “renew our spirit.” For some reason I took this to mean “go to your room and change your clothes,” a strategy that works for me to this day. Never were we chastised for making mistakes in our behavior. My parents raised us with the belief that it was their responsibility to help us understand how to act in a socially acceptable manner, and when we didn’t, we were given time to refocus and reflect before they reminded us the family expectations.
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AuthorHope guides me in all endeavors. In both my professional and personal life I see opportunities to share and spread hope with others so that they too may develop pathways to see great possibilities in their lives. I believe in the power of engaged educators to build significant relationships with young people to encourage, inspire, and build great lives. This blog is a collection of my thoughts on education, hope, connecting, and engaging. Archives
July 2018
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