Self-Compassion and Other Musings on a Rainy Sunday

So, I haven't written a blog post in a long time.

Maybe I'm going to have to accept the fact that no matter how hard I try I may not able to stick to any kind of regular writing schedule. At least not yet. Not right now. Or maybe I need to accept that I will be able to do so for a while, but then something comes up that will force me to go off my schedule. This doesn't mean I'm not a writer or that I don't have anything to say. It just means that life happens and I have to let it get in the way.

Today I read an article that I had bookmarked in 2012 about self-compassion. It was from a podcast interview from The Greater Good Science Centre at UC Berkeley. It was just what I needed to read today as I often feel bad about myself for not writing regularly, not being the perfect teacher, and for making mistakes. Sort of what we end up doing to our students (and some administrators to teachers) when we make them set goals that are not borne of their own needs and interests. Neither students or teachers will live up to these goals because they are meaningless to them. But because they are important to someone, we all jump through hoops and then lament about how the goals were never met.

So, this time around I have been feeling down on myself for not writing lately and for missing the last week of school due to a very, very nasty cold.

But, that is how I treat myself sometimes. So, this self-compassion article really resonated with me. It's about being compassionate with yourself in the same way we are with others when they're not feeling too good about themselves. What was interesting to me is that the author of this book was saying that we never hesitate to be compassionate with others when we need to be, but rarely offer the same kind of TLC to ourselves. In fact, we are harsh with ourselves when what we most need is to be compassionate.

That would be me.

Once we start to practice self-compassion, then we can pick ourselves up and move on rather than remaining stuck on whatever it was that made us feel bad about ourselves in the first place.

Sounds good to me.

And, if that wasn't enough, self-compassion is necessary for a healthy self-esteem.

I also read a blog post today by Jess Lipschitz where she talks about feeling lonely as a teacher. I felt that she was speaking directly to me and so did a few others judging by the comments left on her blog. But, more than lonely, I feel as if I've lost my voice. I've allowed my teacher voice to be stifled and I'm being unforgiving of myself for having done so. At least, that is how it feels to me. At this moment. In this time.

So, I'm thinking that self-compassion could help me find my voice again.

It's OK that I'm still looking for my unique contribution (voice) to education and it's equally possible that I have already found it, but I am not able to recognize it because I've let others silence me. I've been less than compassionate with myself. It's just very possible that by being hard on myself, rather than kind, I have missed many opportunities to add my voice, my singular perspective, to education.

Can. It. Be. That. Simple?

Could it be that finding my unique contribution as an educator is all about speaking out about how I see things? In my classroom? In education today? Is my own unique perspective enough? Or, am I completely off here?

Partner Reading and Content, Too Routine (PRC2)

I'm a hoarder. There, I've said it. I try to deny that I'm a hoarder but it comes back to haunt me every time I move houses, or pack up my classroom at the end of the school year. I have old articles, lesson plans, handouts, folders brimming with teaching ideas, past issues of profesional journals. I hardly throw anything out though I've learned to be more selective over the years. My one rule of thumb, and I really try to stick to this, is that if I haven't used or referred to something in a year, then it's time to toss it into the recycle bin. One exception to this rule (you knew this was coming, didn't you?) is past issues of journals from professional organizations. However, with the ability to locate articles online through my professional memberships, even this exception is becoming less and less useful, which brings me to the topic of this blog post. I am currently reading a copy of The Reading Teacher from 2010. I've clipped a cou...

The Reading Strategies Book - Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension

The strategy lessons highlighted in Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension, in The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo are critical to students’ engagement and comprehension, as well as their ability to write literary essays, or even book reviews, summaries and reflective pieces about books. If students aren’t able to talk about books in a way that is invigorating and joyful, they will be less likely to develop an interest in growing ideas for writing about books. In her introduction to this chapter, Jennifer Serravallo, reminds us that when conversations go well, children are inspired by what they read and are motivated to keep reading. However, when conversations fall flat, then kids get bored and tune out. How do we avoid this situation and teach kids to have focused conversations about books? The answer is easy: teach kids strategies to help them develop effective conversa...

Are we listening?

A child sits alone with a ripped worksheet packet on his desk. He appears to be singing or subvocalizing something though no one hears him. Or, perhaps they're ignoring him. The teacher stands at the front of the room teaching on the SmartBoard. The children follow along in their worksheets. Except the child sitting alone. He is in his own world. No one engages him and he engages no one. My heart aches for this child. He is physically and emotionally removed from the class. I ask him why his paper is ripped. (It's not an accidental rip.) He says he did that on a different day. When he had been frustrated about the work. He tells me that he sometimes sits by himself because the work is too hard for him. He later tells me that he sits by himself because the teacher thinks he talks too much during the lesson. He says he does that because he wants to find out about the "lives of the other children". My first impulse is to rescue him from the wrongheade...

A Teacher's Ruminations

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