How To Start Summer

Having to tell someone how to actually start a season may seem odd, but if you know educators, then you might know someone who needs this advice. We are in schools at least 9 months of the year, and at the end it is sometimes hard to say goodbye to our school year selves.  In…

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The Empathy Test

Since I’m blogging about empathy this month, I decided to take an online empathy quiz.  I ended up taking several and basically they all said the same thing.  I have a high level of empathy.  This didn’t surprise me to be honest.  However, the test I found most interesting was “The Empathy Test” by Greater…

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Building Compassion Under Duress

Imagine you’re a neurosurgery resident.  It’s your first time in the operating room with a world renowned surgeon.  You’re sweating profusely, and as it happens a bead of sweat drips down off of your face into the cavity of the man being operated on.  It, of course, contaminates the area.  The surgeon simply needs to…

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Give Them a Purpose

My youngest child has developed a love for horses.  This love has grown exponentially over the last few years and honestly, as a busy mom, I have provided the minimum amount of support for this hobby.  Despite this, I am becoming a barn mom.  Because she is young and inexperienced, I have stayed at the…

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Embrace the Mess

  “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end!”  – Robin Sharma I am living proof that learning is messy.  While rushing through my Saturday morning chores, I hurriedly threw the laundry into the machine.  There were just a couple more towels than usual – and I didn’t want…

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When Passion is the Problem

From the desk of Alice… I recently had a conversation with a teacher who is in her 6th year of teaching.  She is dedicated, professional, has non-instructional duties under control, has a growth mindset and is fully focused on best practices with teaching and learning.  This particular teacher taught several years ago and is back…

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In the Woods

From the desk of Alice… When I was a child, I played outside any chance I could.  These were the days before home computers and 500 TV channels, so playing outside was actually more fun than being inside on most days.  There were some woods behind our house that my sister and friends and I…

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A Passion for Read-Alouds

ERG’s theme for the month of January is Passion and I have a passion for children’s literature.   A great read-aloud, shared with tender loving care, can change the climate of a classroom in a heartbeat.  You know that quote, “Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast.”  Well, a good picture book hath the…

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People Who Need People

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to figure out what my passion in life is.  There are lots of things I enjoy doing, but figuring out what makes me tick, what I have to have to exist has been difficult to say the least.  Then one morning a friend called unexpectedly.  Suddenly…

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Why Broken Hearts Aren't A Bad Thing

From the desk of Alice… We have decided to take a cue from Brené Brown at ERG and spend a year daring greatly.  As part of our year, our theme for January is PASSION.  This is one of those things that draws educators right into the idea of teaching.  We have a passion of some…

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