Love Heals The World

Can it be that tomorrow is November already?

Today I'm grateful for heart hugs that help me heal.

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Texas Character Week 2020

Happy Wednesday! Today I'm grateful to celebrate character with you

and my PLN friends on Twitter as we connect to chat this evening.

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Kindness Catalysts

They say that imitation in the greatest compliment

and after seeing this mural on a wall in Canada, 

I'd have to agree.

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Taking Back To School By Storm

Today I'm excited because we had seven amazing back-to-school days before Hurricane Harvey stalled school for a spell and gave us today off.

Our staff did some team-building before the students showed up; check out this coverage of our Spot It! circle game that our character cam caught. 
Super fun to watch them laugh, connect, and reflect.

On Monday, we viewed the eclipse in our NASA-approved solar shades.

We spent the week reconnecting and getting to know one another better. 

I put one of these treats in each staff member's box ... 

 and got this bulletin board up inside of our learning space.

I received a beautiful note pad from my friend Tanya in Montana,

 so I used it to write these lunch invitations to our new students.

It's optional so I told their teachers to let them choose, because I get it if they'd rather stay in the cafeteria and eat lunch with their new class family friends. It was supposed to be today, so we'll be rescheduling for one day next week.

One of my superheroes brought me this bouquet of flowers, to cheer me up as I adjust to our empty nest. Won't they look pretty on our new-students lunch table?

And in the back-to-school mail this week, two special deliveries of thoughtfulness, one from a Twitter connection, a card thanking me for my inspiration, the other from my friend Maria, a note with prayers for comfort and strength as we make the transition to our new season at home by ourselves, with no kids living there. 

Small acts of kindness that made a big difference to my heart.

Yesterday afternoon, I tried using Zoom to go live with on We Are Teachers and give a tour of our learning space. A colleague of John's at NASA helped me so much the day prior by doing a practice chat with me and help allay a few of my fears as I stepped out of my comfort zone and used my iPad to connect and grow. 

It was a blast; thank you, We Are Teachers, for that fun opportunity.

On Twitter, one of our friends piggybacked our YET-goals idea; 

isn't it going to look amazingly colorful when it's up?

Speaking of colorful, check out this gem that a Bales alumni created at the end of May in her sixth-grade Language Arts class at Friendswood Junior High.

Using our Bales school True Colors theme, 

Caley wrote about a town that had lost its color, 

only to find it again when once they restored their core values.

Isn't it breath-taking? Thank you, Caley, for living your true colors!

Finally, we got three of these Gaga Ball Pits on our recess grounds.

I'm wondering as I type if they're mini-swimming pools right now.

So tonight, we stay inside while Harvey blows through.

Hopefully, we're back to class on Monday.

Then, on Tuesday night, join us to discuss these questions

on the #teacherfriends Twitter chat.

Happy 2017-2018; how will you take the new year by storm?

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Growth Plans

Today I'm thinking about these two words: Growth Plan.

What feeling does those words in concert conjure up? Is it negative or positive? Do you have a personal growth plan? How about a professional one? Do you want one? Do you need one? Do you have one? Might you benefit from one? Not one that's imposed on you, but one that you've adopted for yourself.

Today I'm excited about two upcoming Twitter opps that might help encourage your digital growth plan. If you've been wanting to try Twitter but just haven't taken the plunge yet, then this slow chat, led by edu-hero Julie Woodard, is for you. Sign up, log in and join the fun using the hashtag #fantabulosity. 

Inspired by the passionate Principal of Change, George Couros, we talked about innovation today. We were so blessed to have him in FISD two summers ago. 

The next two days we'll be discussing two of my favorite topics: kindness and empathy. On Thursday, we'll be talking about all things pirate! Won't you join us?

Then, on Tuesday night at 8 pm {CST}, we will be celebrating three years of our #teacherfriends chat. Can it be three years already? There will be thousands of dollars in prizes; two of them will be signed copies of my book. Again, all you have to do is log in and join in the chat for guaranteed growth and a chance to win. 

Have I mentioned that I won a wobble seat from the chat just a few weeks ago?

Click image for more info from Debbie Clement, proud distributor! 

Not on Twitter yet? What are you waiting for?

And once you get comfy on Twitter, download the Voxer app

and join our Poolside Peacemakers Voxer group!

Speaking of a growth plan and not putting things off, today we welcome 

Jeff Tierney from Boys Town with his thoughts on procrastination.

Why do today what you can put off 'til ... whenever?: 

How to help kids stop procrastinating

How many of us have had the joy of being told that science project, you know … the one with the flour plaster volcanoes … is actually due tomorrow? Yes, your child knew when it was due three weeks ago and even mentioned it once to you in passing, but did you really imagine that you would be reminded about it at 8:00 p.m. the night before it had to be done? I know you weren’t expecting it because my wife and I were never expecting the same sort of surprises when we became victims of our son’s procrastination.

Let’s see what tools in our parental arsenal we’ve tried up to this point to get our kids not to put off every important task until the last possible moments: Endless reminding hasn’t worked. Even threats of taking away privileges that will never be seen again didn’t fix it either. Some of our kids are just so good at procrastinating they’ve become pros at it. And it doesn’t just apply to schoolwork. There are always the bedrooms that never get cleaned and trash to be taken out despite solemn oaths that they will all get done “in just a little while.”

If our kids could articulate what their behavior has already told us they would say “But I can’t do it now, not when there are so many other things that I could be doing that would be so much more fun.” And that’s a big part of the problem. Kids are often distracted by opportunities to engage in more immediately rewarding activities than doing schoolwork or cleaning their rooms. Our task as parents becomes teaching them a strategy that allows them to do both.

Award winning children’s author Julia Cook addresses this very issue in her recent book The PROcrastinator, published by the Boys Town Press. The lead character Norman David Edward, better known as Noodle, finds it so hard to feed his cat, take out the trash, and (especially) get his homework done when there are a lot better things to do instead. So Noodle puts them off until he is hopelessly behind on homework and has a very hungry, angry cat. Noodle’s mom says he has become so good at procrastinating that now she considers him a pro at it. A PROcrastinator.

In the end, Noodle’s mom teaches him a strategy to manage his days and all of his responsibilities, all while still having plenty of time to play new video games with his friends. The trick is in figuring out what can be accomplished in under two minutes and getting those things done before anything else. Noodle also learns how to break bigger tasks into smaller parts that are easier to get done as well. This is a great strategy that all parents can use with their children who may be inclined to put things off until the last minute.

Of course, one of the most important things we parents can do is recognize when our kids are taking care of their responsibilities right away and really praise them for their efforts. This is especially true when we see them making steady progress on long-term goals such as working on a school project, studying for an upcoming test, etc. Parents can even set up rewards to be earned for their kids’ consistency in completing household responsibilities without being asked repeatedly. What happens when we use these sorts of strategies for encouraging responsibility and good planning? Less reminding and frustration on our part as parents and better teaching our children the skills they’ll need to be successful in school and out in the “real world.”

About the author: Jeff Tierney, M.Ed. has worked with children and families for over 35 years. He has been at Boys Town in Nebraska for the past 28 years working in the staff training and evaluation areas and, most recently, as Director of the Boys Town Press. Jeff is the author of Teaching Social Skills to Youth, Basic Social Skills for Youth, and articles in professional journals on reducing aggressive behavior in children and teens.

Click {here} for more information about the Boys Town’s award-winning resources for families, schools, and communities. 

Is procrastinating less part of your growth plan?

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Supercharging Self-Care

Hello spring break 2017.

Today I'm feeling joyful because yesterday I spent the entire day on National School of Character site visits and I am so inspired by how bright our future is with these passionate educators and their superheroes soaring into the future.

Tomorrow morning, I'm hosting #satchatwc at 9:30 am {CST}.

Whether you're a seasoned Tweeter or a newbie, I'd like to invite you to supercharge your self-care strategies with us.

Here are the questions we'll be discussing:

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And just so we can get started right away, 

we might even finish a few minutes early.

Join us tomorrow morning to weigh in and share your 

best-kept strategy for self-care just in time for spring break.

UPDATE: Here's the transcript in case you missed it.

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There You Are Empathy Chat

Today I'm excited because I've been invited to lead a Twitter chat on Sunday night for a group of educators in Texas and beyond whom I really admire. We are going to have seven questions, based on this acrostic I created.

UPDATE: Click picture for a transcript of the chat!

This week, I've been reflecting on something I heard on the radio about there being two kinds of people, those who enter a room and say, "Here I am." 

and those who enter the room and instead say, "There you are." 

And the latter sounded so much like empathy to me.

Here's a sneak peek at the questions we'll be discussing.

So this is your official invitation, to join us on Twitter Sunday night, April 17th, at 8 pm {CST}; use the hashtag #txeduchat to talk about elevating empathy. I'll be there, ready to welcome you enthusiastically and passionately with the words, 

"There you are!"

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The Gift Of Gratitude

Let's talk gratitude. A month or so ago, I was invited by Shelley Burgess to guest moderate a Twitter Chat {#satchatwc}. When I selected a November date, I just knew my topic would have something to do with thanks-giving. 

Today, I'm sharing how that chat yesterday went.

Click {here} to read the archives; enjoy these highlights.

First, I asked participants to introduce themselves and share a favorite quote, thought, or reflection about gratitude. Here's mine.

There were SO many inspirational quotes shared,

like this one from my Principal friend, Beth Houf.

After about 7 minutes of sharing, I posed the first question on this beautiful picture of last week's rainbow, taken by my friend Jen.

Here are just a few of their awesome answers:

Seven more minutes passed, and then came question two.

I shared this infographic from the Templeton Foundation:

After we talked about the benefits of gratitude, we moved on to

question three, which asked participants to share their promising practices for nurturing gratitude in their students.

From students, we went on to showing gratitude to faculty & staff.

Someone shared this cool idea for a staff WoW journal.

Then I challenged my Tweeps to go deeper ... 

... and deeper.

Some of the answers were heartbreaking.

Gratitude through cancer.

Gratitude through student suffering.

Gratitude through broken trust.

And yet, gratitude has gotten them through the tough times.

Now that's thanks-living.

And our final question:

Did you know there's an APPreciation app? 

Check out Gratitude 365.

Then it was action time. The Challenge:

How will you make gratitude a verb?

It was so much fun to come up with these questions and then experience the generosity of these gratitude gurus.

Click to learn more about The Zen Teacher book.

So today I'm celebrating the gift of gratitude and I thank you, dear reader, for being in my Corner. I'm grateful for you. Every day.

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