Education Blog
Top 12 Ways to Be Your Summer Self All Year Round
Hello everyone. Below is an article that I guest wrote for a wonderful website, Teachhub.com. Visit the site and poke around. It’s really well done.
The article I wrote is titled Top 12 Ways to Be Your Summer Self All Year Round. Here it is:
With summer ending and a new school year beginning, the change of pace and lifestyle can be pretty jarring. However, with some mindfulness and personal commitment, you don’t have to say goodbye to summer entirely just because school has started.
1. Stayin’ Fit & Lovin’ It
Summer is often the time teachers get back into a working out routine. You had the time to do it, the days were beautiful, and you weren’t squeezing a run or walk or swim onto your never-ending to-do list. Chances are, it felt pretty good and gave you energy.
Now that school has started, finding the time is hard and exercising can be the first thing to go.
Read More >>Self-efficacy
Lately, I’ve been reading about self-efficacy, the idea that our beliefs about our abilities influence the outcome of an event. Briefly stated, when you believe you can do something, you are more likely to work hard, persevere when the task becomes difficult, attempt multiple solutions… you’re more likely to succeed.
Self-efficacy can be a powerful tool in our classrooms. As educators, we deliver messages to students each day that either affirm or challenge their beliefs in their abilities. A primary influence is what others tell us about our abilities. This resonates with what we know about assets… When we focus on the strengths of young people, we promote thriving behaviors.
One of the really neat things about self-efficacy in the classroom is that it applies to us as well as to our students. The beliefs we have in ourselves as educators, in our peers, and in our school influence our behaviors and the actual outcomes of our actions.
Read More >>The Postcard Project: Goals for a New School Year
Ah! That new school year smell!
To those of you finishing your first week or two back at school – congrats! To those of you about to start back up – congrats! It’s time to reflect on the new year ahead.
I’m a bit of a baseball nut. I love the Minnesota Twins something fierce. One of my favorite things about baseball is Opening Day. Regardless of what reason and logic might say, every Opening Day comes with that hope that this year is the year. Pitching will be spot on, hitting will be consistent, and the Twins will claw their way to a World Championship. Every year I believe this. It’s one of the wonders of baseball.
A school year can have that same energy. We come off summer full of hopes and dreams for the year ahead. We’ve set goals for ourselves and our students. We’ve thought about how this year will be different or better.
Read More >>Beyond Statistics: Teachers Saying Goodbye to Teaching
We’ve all got our soap boxes, and usually for good reason. I certainly have mine. For the past three years, the bulk of my professional energy has gone towards efforts to increase the attention schools pay to the lives and wellness of educators, the attention educators pay to one another, and the care educators take of themselves.
All with a simple premise: if this doesn’t happen, the profession of teaching isn’t sustainable.
I’ve written a book about it. I travel around speaking about it. I write editorials about it (rarely published). And I tell just about anyone willing to listen that we’ve GOT to make this conversation front and center in our thinking about education.
Like many of you, the statistic I cite most often is that “50% of educators leave within the first five years of their careers.” By now, this stat has almost become the stuff of folklore. Almost everyone knows it. We fret about it. We hope to do something about it.
Read More >>Advice at the Start of a New Career
I got back from my morning run today, poured a cup of coffee, and read this great article in the paper. [Advice: working out with a partner is a good idea for those of you like me who would rather stay in bed.]
The writer, Joe McCannon, reflects on his first 10 years of his career and shares 11 things about your new career.
[Advice: it’s good to stop every so often and write your reflections down on paper. You’ll forget your good ideas otherwise.]
Here are his pieces of advice for those of you who don’t have time to go read the article. [Advice: read things in their entirety. Nuance and voice are lost in abridged versions.]
1. Seek interesting problems, not prestigious positions.
2. Seek responsibility, not income.
3. Work is all about relationships.
4. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
5. Be good to people.
6. Competence can be a trap.
7.
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As a former teacher, I’ve seen first-hand the issues that educators face every day. I hope that by writing this blog, I can share some insights (as well as a sense of humor) on teacher job satisfaction and school climate, and spark conversation about how to improve our schools.
—Nathan Eklund, M.Ed
Senior Education Consultant
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