On February 23-24, we held our Honolulu District ECET2 convening. We celebrated the work of our teachers and honored their expertise by giving them time to connect, problem solve, share practices, and learn together. We got the greatest gift from McKinley High School's Tiger Media Production students. Three students stayed all day with us, took footage, developed their story, and created this 5 minute video that we played at our celebration dinner. Their video is everything- it celebrates why we teach, and why a conference like this is so important for our profession.
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What's your (teaching) love story? What keeps you here- even with the never ending stack of papers to be graded, and the long, exhausting hours?
What fills your teaching heart? February 14 kicks off a full week of reflecting on the love teachers have for their profession. Check out the #LoveTeaching hashtag on Facebook, Twitter, and on the official #LoveTeaching website all week long for inspiration, and share your own love for teaching. Remember that this work is heart work- it's the work that will leave you and those around you changed for the better. It's the work that makes a difference daily. Let's celebrate together. Written by: Jamie Shioji On Sunday, 12/10/17, I walked the Honolulu Marathon. It was by far one of the craziest things I have done in my life not because it wasn’t doable, but because all of the components to it being successful were not there. But after it was completed, the experience brought me some perspective. I knew it was a bad idea because although I was training when I initially signed up to do this, my schedule did not permit time to devote enough training in the past three to four months. Ok, honestly, I maybe walked for a few hours on Sundays, if that. But even with that little effort, only got in possibly eight miles at most. In weighing my options, I decided to do it because I paid the $48 to participate and the monetary value was high enough that I figured I would walk as far as I could go then figure out what to do next. The first seven miles were not that bad, but by mile 8, I began to get blisters under my feet. Mile 12, I could feel the blisters growing with every step I took and the pain became unbearable. I thought “I think this is all I can do.” By then, my hamstrings, calves and behind my knees were tight and radiated pain. My friends kept cheering me on and due to peer pressure, I kept on going. About mile 14 was when one of my blisters popped. Luckily, one of my friends had a band aid that I could use. It was a little scary because, by this time, so many ambulances drove by that I began to lose count. The heat of the day made things worse but we kept going on. I tried to map it out in my mind about how much more I could go, but walking down Kalanianaole Highway I began to think I was not going to finish. All kinds of doubt came into my head and I wanted to give up. We found ourselves using strategies to keep our minds off the pain by playing music on our phones, talking to each other, cracking jokes to each other, and cheering each other on. Some relief came when we saw people cheering on the side of the road, playing music and dancing. We took a break to stretch and to apply Vaseline to our feet and readjust our shoes to relieve some of the pain in our feet. But to start walking again was painful and took a few steps to gain momentum. Before we knew it, we had circled around Hawaii Kai Drive and were on our way back to Kapiolani Park. After about 6.5 hours into the marathon, police were using their loudspeakers to tell us to move onto the sidewalk so that the street sweepers could clean the street before reopening the roads to traffic. The sidewalk was so narrow that the dust and debris were literally swept onto us as it went by. It was upsetting because we were still going through our own personal battle, but the cleanup had begun. It was very humbling and frustrating at the same time that all we could do was make jokes, like “WOW, we are so slow that they are starting to clean up.” Comments of “I wonder if we are the last people” or “what prize can we get for being last” came up. A little later we came across people who were cheering “Almost there, almost there.” It was a brief and temporary distraction from the ever so constant pain and struggle that we were enduring. But in our minds, we still had a long way to go. When we got to mile 18, one of my friends started to count the number of miles until the finish. I kept telling myself to “look up” and used different strategies to keep myself from becoming negative. We were looking for the mile 20 banner, but it was already taken down so it was a happy relief when we saw the mile 21 sign and realized that we went farther than we had thought. Around this time was when our feet were numb but strangely we could still feel the excruciating pain. Every body part from my chest down was hurting. Back, ribs, abs, thighs, knees, calves, feet and even the base of my toenails. I definitely wanted to quit but my friends told me that we had come so far that we had to finish. We were very far behind the majority of the participants in the marathon, that even more stations were beginning to close down. Water and Gatorade stands didn’t have much left. People were cleaning up. Police came by again and told us to walk on the sidewalk. Another street sweeper came through, then the roads were opened back up to traffic. The monotony of the pain was broken up when cars drove by and honked their horn in support of us. We began to live for any sort of relief or change to get us through to the next step, the next foot, and the next mile. Mile 24 was the walk uphill towards Diamond Head and my knee started to make a clicking noise. Upon reaching the top of the hill was when I first believed I could actually finish the race. All there was left was the downhill walk away from Diamond Head and the walk around Kapiolani Park. The walk down the final stretch made me very emotional, as I knew that I was about to accomplish something that felt like was impossible earlier in the day. When we reached the last stretch to the finish, there was no cheering crowd that I had pictured in my mind. I began to tear up, frustration and a rush of emotions came to me. I kept saying to myself, “It’s right there…it’s right there…” I was dehydrated and my vision was blurred so the banner that I thought was the finish line was about 50 feet before the actual finish. But the reality of “right there” was further than I had thought. There were people cheering at the very end of the race, we pretended they were cheering for us, but knew that they were family members of others behind us. My friend’s family was there to give her a hug before she finished, watching that overwhelmed me with emotions. Crossing the finish line felt so good…I had done it! I finished in 10 hours 19 minutes and 21 seconds. At that point, I didn’t care how long it took me, I was just happy that I finished!!!! In reflection I used many strategies to get through this seemingly impossible feat. I often “looked up” a strategy to use my peripheral vision to see the big picture and trick my brain to be in a light alpha state, depended on my friends where there was a comradery and we used laughter to keep thoughts positive. We utilized visualization of finishing and what we would do when we finished and we just took one step at a time. Throughout the race there were events that would have caused me to quit, but also strangers who were cheering gave us a dose of reinforcement that helped me to keep on going. As I reflect, some of the preparation done was bringing a camel pack with my own water (but ran out early), packing snacks and bringing along other necessities. However I should have done more prior to the marathon such as carbohydrate loading the day before, sleeping early, buying shoes one size bigger since my feet would swell, using dri-fit socks, hydrating starting a week before marathon day, and most importantly, training by gradually increasing distance and rate. The rewards for completion were crossing finish line, receiving my finisher shirt and medal, being treated to a Zippy’s mixed plate dinner, soaking in the tub and my family buying me a pair of dress pants that I’ve been wanting. I share with you this personal struggle as an example of the use (and not the best use) of strategies during, in preparation for the marathon and reflection of the process. We are all in a marathon of our own, dealing with our own struggles that are often times not apparent to others. This experience has brought me perspective about life and myself that I would have never thought I’d have if I did not go through it. Was it crazy? Yes, but I’m glad I did it because I learned that I am stronger than I thought. I’m realizing that we are never fully prepared for what life bring us due to the many factors or obstacles that we come across. I’ve learned to keep on trying and take things one step at a time. They say that when a person goes through change, there are phases of anticipation, survival, disillusionment, rejuvenation, reflection and anticipation. This marathon took me through all of those phases and really forced me to deal with my negative thoughts. Ben Franklin said, “You can do anything you set your mind to.” After completing the marathon, I feel like I can do just that! I am thankful for my friends who were my big supporters who pushed me through the pain and struggle through the marathon and my family who supported me before and after. If not for them, I would have probably given in to the negative thoughts and not finished. I hope that this will encourage everyone to keep on going, keep on striving to “do better as we learn better”. Keep those good people around you who cheer you on, acknowledge and reward yourself for progress and successes. Keep taking one step at a time AND look up!!! Enjoy the view because that’s when the best memories are made. How will you finish your race? It's been a good week.
Last weekend, on a Saturday afternoon, my 7 year old son Daniel, who was a bit of a late bloomer in reading and has always struggled with writing, cuddled up in bed and laughed out loud reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid for over an hour. He went from reading 20 minutes independently to over an hour literally overnight. On Sunday, he read for 100 minutes (he wanted me to time him), and fell asleep with his book on top of him. On Monday, Daniel shared that the best part of his day was publishing his first long writing piece at school, and that if he could have changed anything about the day, he would have liked to have finished it earlier so that he could start his second narrative writing. On Tuesday, Daniel asked me to get him a composition book so that he could start writing his own story, and he spent two hours that evening writing and illustrating the first 4 chapters of his book, titled Wizard World. And then on Wednesday morning, when I mentioned to Daniel that I'd always wanted to publish a book, too, he lit up. "I can help you, Mommy. Tell me about your idea. Have you thought of a title? I like to think of a title first because that helps me think about the story I'm going to write." That night, he brought it up again. "Soooo have you thought about your book today? Let's talk about your ideas more. We need to have a writing conference!" Daniel grabbed a couple pieces of paper and started writing notes as I answered his questions. "Talk about the characters- who's in your story?" "What's going to be the problem in the story?" "Is there a lesson in the story? I think there HAS to be a good lesson." At the end of our conference, he said, "Now you have to make sure you make time to write EVERY DAY." You need a goal. Every day you should have a goal. And it's okay if you get stuck. I'll write some reminders for you in case you get stuck." 15 minutes later, he handed me the index card above, and told me to put it in a "good place." My heart warmed as I read his words, and I knew that a "good place" to hold his card would be right here in this space, sharing it with teachers. I hope it serves as a reminder that: 1) The things that you do and what you say matters. Your students will go home tonight and use your language. At times, they'll even quote you verbatim. They'll surprise their parents with new knowledge and they'll be their little teachers. I have no doubt that Daniel was leading my writing conference in the same way that his teacher, Mr. K, led his earlier in the week. He was encouraging and supportive while offering sound advice, just as I know Mr. K must have done. 2) You are growing your students and making them even better than they were before they arrived at your door. You are turning on that switch that makes them scientists, mathematicians, readers, and writers. When you are passionate about what you're teaching, your students will be passionate about what they're learning. Sometimes it takes all year to turn on that switch, and sometimes it will flash on overnight, but know that you are a constant light for our children and sooner than later, they'll be lit, too. 3) You need to keep your goal in mind, always. When you start to get frustrated because progress seems slow, think about your goal, focus, and don't give up. 4) You must stay positive- attitude is everything! You've got this. 5) When you need help, reach out and ask for it. There is always someone who can help. You are not alone in this work. And last, but not least, remember that you are heroes not only to the kids in your classroom, but to their families at home as well. When I shared Daniel's index card with a friend and told him about Daniel's obsession with reading, newfound love for writing, his can-do attitude, and the inspiring words that he had for me, my friend commented, "You must be so proud." I answered, "Yes, I'm proud. But much more than that, I'm grateful. I owe it all to his teacher." The KMR Induction and Mentoring team would like to offer you a daily Moment of Zen (MoZ)- because trust me, you'll need it ;) Teaching is a fast-paced, sometimes crazy world to be in, and we would like to give you a moment of peace each day that will help ground you and remind you why you're here, and why you are so valued.
Please opt in by clicking on THIS LINK and inputting your name and the preferred e-mail address you'd like your MoZ (a simple, inspiring quote/image) to be delivered to each day. When things get a little crazy (whether it be in my own life or in our world), I start thinking about how to help our children make sense of things. I start thinking of ways to help them know that they are safe, valued, and have a voice in our world. I start small- in my home. I encourage my children ask questions, I answer them as honestly as I can, and I turn to books. No matter how I'm feeling, I can always find a book that will make me feel safer, stronger, less alone, and inspired. I want that for my children as well. I came across this wonderful resource- 13 books to teach children about protesting and activism AND for another list of 8 empowering middle grade novels for kids interested in social justice. Incredibly timely! Reading these books with your students is not about taking a political side. It's about taking their side. It's about teaching them the importance of standing up for what they believe is right and true, and using their voice to better our world. Sarah Brown Wessling, 2010 National Teacher of the Year, is referenced a lot on our website. Her writing is beautiful and what she does in the classroom with her students is real and inspiring. She writes this wonderful Ask Sarah column and just celebrated a year of her column with this compilation of her words of wisdom. So powerful! Enjoy.
I'm in love with this new toolkit from the Teacher2Teacher community.
This I know for sure: When teachers take the time to reflect on what's WORKING for them and their students, they fuel their light and spirit. When teachers SHARE what's working, they IGNITE others. I challenge you to check out this site explaining the #Lightbulbmoment Teacher2Teacher project, download the toolkit, and share your lightbulb moments with us. Let's light up our little community with inspiration! |
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