You Never Know What Someone is Dealing With

Everyone is dealing with something. 

Everyone is going through something….and you may never know. 

It never hurts to be little more patient, a little kinder to people because you don’t really know what’s going on in their lives.

Two examples:

Last Christmas Eve, my mother-in-law had a stroke - a blood vessel broke in her brain and caused extensive damage. She lost the ability to stand and walk. She could not feed herself and had difficulty communicating. As you can imagine, this was very difficult to cope with for my family and I. My students last spring and this fall, right up until she passed away, had no idea what was going on in my head and my heart. I showed up every day, taught my lessons, joked around with my 7th grade “llamas” just like I normally would. None of my students knew, but it was there all the time.

In another school, I had a student who was dealing with some serious anxiety. I didn’t know. He hid it well. One Friday, he seemed a little quieter than usual. I sat down at his table and asked if he was okay. He did not answer for about a full minute, then looked at me and said, “I’m really nervous. My dad’s been in jail and I haven’t seen him in three years. He’s picking me up from school today.” This 8th grader was dealing with some serious stuff and no one knew. 

You never know unless someone chooses to share. 

So it couldn’t hurt to just be a little kinder, a little more patient with everyone, because you just don’t know what they are going through. 

You May Have Noticed...

I am now in room 22 instead of room 23. I was in a room that was purpose-built as a science lab and now am in a room that was built to be an ELA room.  It’s a big change for a teacher to switch rooms. I spent five school years in room 23 and, despite its poor physical condition, I loved working in that space. 

Each room in a school is unique and it takes time to be able to use that room effectively - it may not make sense as a student but trust me, that’s the way it is from the teacher perspective.

When Mr. Holtz told me he was changing my room assignment, I went through a lot of different emotions. I was disappointed, angry and sad. For several weeks I was upset. Finally, I realized that all these negative feelings were not productive and would distract me from my mission - teaching science. I had to find a way to let them go and focus on the positive. 

So, here’s what I did. I intentionally reframed how I was thinking about the move. Instead of “I’m losing my science lab,” I starting thinking, “I get to build my own science lab.”

Flipping my internal thoughts from a negative place to a positive place has helped me prepare for the new year and the new space. I confess, it hasn’t been perfect. I still have some of that sadness and anger lingering under the surface, but I’ve been trying to maintain a positive thought pattern. It’s been good for me. 

This is a strategy you can adopt, too - sometimes, if you get in a dark headspace, one thing you can do is talk yourself out of it. You can literally fool your emotions by recasting your thoughts to the bright side. It won’t be perfect but it would be a step in the right direction. 

No one gains from negative thoughts - try to find the silver lining in what has you unhappy or upset. 

The past is the past and it’s over. Time to look to the future. 

For me, new space = new opportunities. 

Welcome to the 2021-2022 School Year!

Well, let’s hope this year is less weird than last year was - it kinda has to be. 

After a very difficult year, I’m hopeful we can have a fantastic, productive and fun year doing science tougher. 

Here are some positive developments to build on:

• We’re back in school together,

• Many of us have vaccinated against Covid-19,

• We all have chrome books or computers to do our work on,

• We have a bright, sunny new room (with an air conditioner!) to work in.

I write this blog for you and I try to post each week - usually on Sundays.

This is where I write about school, teaching, you folks and lots of other related subject. I encourage you to read my posts. Sometimes they’’ll be funny, sometimes serious and sometimes in between.  Sometimes, I will assign you a blog post to read. 

Let's work together to make this the best year ever for you. We’ll focus on all the great things and try to minimize the not-so-great things.