Education Blog
Hot off the presses! IDEAS FOR EDUCATORS!
Well rock and roll!
I got to work this morning and there on my desk was a stack of CDs. But not just any ol’ CDs! Oh no. Today Ideas for Educators has arrived.
This is project I co-authored this winter with my dear friend and former English department colleague Adrienne Gilby. That’s me in the denim shirt. That’s her in front. (No height jokes please.)
Adrienne and I talk a bit more about the project on a podcast that you can get from the above link, so I won’t get into too much detail. Give it a listen.
But I’m really excited about what this new resource could do for schools. First, it can be a great weekly reminder to staff about how to be positive with youth. Second, it reminds staff about how to be positive with each other and good to themselves.
Read More >>"School Connectedness" on Capitol Hill
I’d like to send a big kudos to Jon Terry, a tireless advocate for positive youth development in Washington D.C. If you like guns, education, oil, and a host of other issues, you’re pretty well represented in Washington. If you’re rallying lawmakers around positive youth development? That’s a little more lonely.
Jon has organized a Capitol Hill briefing next Tuesday centered around the CDC’s report around school connectedness. Search President Peter Benson will be speaking. Lawmakers will be listening. This is a cool day.
Here’s a description on Jon’s blog about the event. We’ll report back on how it goes. Make sure to read the CDC’s report in Jon’s posting. Print it out. Forward it. Distribute it. And if you’re anywhere near Washington, get to the briefing. Call your state representatives and encourage them to go.
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When the BIG dots connect
This post will be an exercise in connecting dots. And in this regard, they’re pretty big dots. As some of you read last week in my post about my older son turning nine, I have a proclivity for recognizing (if not over-recognizing) transitional moments of life, especially with my own children.
Today is another one of those moments. After more than four years, my younger son Peter is at his last day at Calvary Lutheran Childcare. He started going there when he was around a year old, and now he’s there for his last day prior to starting kindergarten. And as is my wont, this day has brought on a flood of ruminations.
Read More >>The most important blog post ever.
Excuse the hyperbole in the title, but I needed your attention.
It’s that time of year. Schools are letting out for the summer. Graduations are occurring. Teachers are in their classrooms wrapping things up before leaving for the summer. But something even more important should be happening:
ALL PARENTS AND ALL STUDENTS SHOULD BE WRITING THANK YOU NOTES TO THEIR TEACHERS!
With this post, I’d like to start a national movement of people taking the time to write (handwritten preferred) letters to all the educators who just spent another year of their lives dedicated to our children.
The perks of teaching aren’t much. Some chocolates during the holidays. Maybe a card or two on birthdays. But a flood of thank you cards at the end of the year is about the greatest gift we can give to our educators.
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Teachers. Seriously. Have a great summer.
Okay. I know. I know that the whole “3 months off” thing is a bit of myth. First of all, with wrapping up the year and then going to fall workshops, it’s not even close to 3 months. Second, teachers work in the summer. Maybe a second job, maybe doing curriculum planning. I know that most of you are not going to be sitting in a hammock drinking lemonade everyday for the next 10 weeks.
But seriously. It’s summer. Let’s not kid ourselves here. It’s wonderful.
The new rhythms of slower days. Quiet. Reading for pleasure. Sleep. Fishing. You know. SUMMER!
Personally, I’m in my third year of no longer having “summer vacation.” I lived 29 consecutive years with an academic calendar. My internal clock is still set to a school year. But on Monday morning, the first day my two boys start their summer, I’m heading to work.
When I taught, the first few weeks of summer were always strange. They were marked by what was a sort of annual two week depression.
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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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