My Personal Bill Of Rights

Today I'm excited because I met one of my Twitter peeps in person; she treated me to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. As we visited, I felt like we'd known each other forever, even though we were just now meeting for the first time.

Her name is Jessica Chandler; I've talked about her before. She just finished her 7th year teaching first grade and now she's headed out of the big city to a smaller, more rural school to grow alongside some very lucky fifth-grade learners.

We initially connected because, after purchasing some of my recommendations from our Books That Teach list of faves, this passionate, connected educator reached out to me on Twitter and invited me to read one of my favorite books to her class via Skype. We ended up connecting three times, her super-safe-keepers and I, to enjoy Dream Big, Little Pig, King Calm, and Flight School together.

Thank you, Jessica, for a wonderful lunch;

I recognize and am inspired by your grace, grit and growth.

I'm also pretty jazzed about a reflection exercise I've been working on, this personal Bill of Rights that I wrote as a part of the #nowitsup2me campaign.

What would yours say if you took the time to write one?

What do you have the right to . . . and to be free from?

Start with twenty rights or so, then whittle it down to 15-ish.

I have the feeling that mine is going to be a work in progress

as I've already edited it ~~three four~~ five times.

For fun, superimpose it onto a favorite picture that you snapped,

like this one from that stormy sunset last Saturday.

I used PicMonkey.com but you could also create it as a powerpoint slide.

When you're done writing, share it out and invite

your mentors, role models and friends to do the same.

Ask your teammates or your students to write one.

It might even be a fun idea for your immediate family,

first everyone's individual rights, then your collective rights.

Once you've completed the challenge, take a moment to enjoy this Mindful Minute. Listen to the cicadas while you imagine the heavy humidity hanging eerily in the air. Breathe in the remnants of the storm that just blew through and exhale any stress your body may be experiencing or holding on to.