No image or editing. Sent from a camping trip.
Im texting my 750 words tonight from the middle of the East Canyon state park. My normal editing tool is not on my phone and that tool makes me look much better than I really am.
After a late night we choose to get up early to make pancakes for the staff. It’s a tradition. The tradition outlasts me and many other teachers in the school. There is something powerful about traditions and even more when the tradition transforms the reason why we do the the thing in the first place.
It’s more about the people and the conversations than the paycheck and the day of the month. The name payday pancakes stocks though.
Today we ended the first week of school. It was an up and down week like most weeks in public education. We had some huge successes and some minor mistakes which is better than some minor successes and some major mistakes.
Our new assistant held more than his own and is going to be just fine. I wish I could just give him glass of information and share what I have in my head, but that would also take a way the learning process for him.
I don’t want to take that way from anyone. It’s the flavor of life. I’m not talking about leaning from others mistakes. I’m talking about the learning process.
If I want to teach kids about baseball, I don’t give them an oral history of the fastball and its different variations within specific ballparks.
I get a ball, a glove, and go outside. I let them figure the basics out on their own.
It’s the same with teaching and leadership. All the classroom time and research will help a little, but they need to know how it feels to have 35 students waiting for instruction. That’s learning.
It’s on my sleeve/face.
My wife, kids, and now teachers know when I’m not present, or have pressing things on my mind. As much as I try to push things in a positive direction or/and be present. At times, it’s clear that there other ideas, solutions, problems, things in my mind.
I have the habit of assuming that my brain connects things in a way that should be obvious to others during conversations and throughout the day. This is not the case.
Here’s how I think things are going in my head.
Let’s say my principal and I are having a conversation about which class we want to have school pictures in. Not a big deal.
We get interuppted and don’t come to a decision.
In a somewhat weird negative way, my lizard brain continues to have a conversation with Wyatt even though we aren’t talking or interacting.
This happens regularly. Then my subconscious brains comes to a decision all the while telling my conscious brain that the conversation really took place. Like a self help revisionist history.
My conscious brain nows that the conversation didn’t play out in real life , but acts like it did anyway.
So when the principal or my spouseand I have a conversation a few hours later my conscious brain acts like the conversation never skipped a beat. And it assumes that the other person in the conversation knows exactly where we are at.
So I assume that they have come to the same conclusions in the same process and pattern that I have. When I talk out loud I realize that it never happened. A good indicator that this had happened is the weirdooon the person gives me.
I really hope this makes sense. I went down the rabbit hole on that one.
Appreciation
We recieved two letters from two pafrons this week. Both positive and reaffirming our school culture, goals and direction.
It’s nice when people outside of your particular field notice the hard work you do, but even more so that they take the time to let you know about it. It’s really freaking cool.
Moving
I found out today that two students who I have been able to work with over the past few years are moving. I took it harder than I thought I would.
There are great kids who are kind, polite and occasionally get a little out of hand, but nothing crazy . The thing I love about them is that they are always appreciative and go out of their way to say thank you and recognize your efforts of kindness.
They are kind to each other and everyone around them. When you remove people like that in the equation of life, life gets a lot harder to solve.