Category: Mindfulness
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Shut up and just listen: taming the problem-solving teacher
Here it is Friday afternoon, and I find myself feeling out of sorts, wandering around the house, somewhat aimlessly. The reason? I’m obsessing over a class I had this week. Why? Well, I’m not proud of how I reacted and in fact, I’m tired of reacting this way. Here’s the deal: at the start of […]
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Wait, wait, kiss: the blurt struggle is real!
Teachers are not perfect. Even the best of us find ourselves struggling with the nasty growing slithery sensation of anxiety building up during a class. And then that awful moment, when it’s just too much and you blurt out some terribly inappropriate comment and dart off of the lesson plan path just because the discomfort […]
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Clarity in confinement?
It’s important to say things as they are. Love is the opposite of avoidance. And so, it is important to be able to say things as they are, beginning with our fears. (Boris Sirbey) I read that piece of wisdom this morning in a LinkedIn article entitled Le hamster épris de ciel bleu (The Hamster […]
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The Call of the Open Road
“No, I don’t know what I am going to do next, but that doesn’t bother me. It’s time [to go].” A friend and I were discussing her recent discussion to leave her job. She talked about the subsequent reactions from friends and colleagues: surprise, consternation and wonder, bordering on envy. She told me she was […]
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When saying good-bye is hard to do
‘There must be around ten people who have left the company lately‘, complained one of my students this week, as he went on to admit that he found it hard. As I asked questions, his colleague joined the conversation and I could feel the turmoil, questioning and well, sadness at the state of affairs. […]
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Teachers, you lead your students, but do you lead yourself, too?
Brené Brown defines a leader as one who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes and has the courage to develop that potential (Dare to Lead, Random House, NY, 2018, p. 4). That is what you, as a teacher, do every day. In and out of the classroom, during school hours and […]
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When you’re aiming for the moon…
Beresheet may have crashed, but for a moment we raised our eyes to the heavens. The headline of the Times of Israel article (first in links below) couldn’t help but grab my attention. I wondered what the article would say about ‘raising our eyes to the heavens’ and began to read. I was so glad […]
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Is lack of focus always that bad?
Last weekend, a friend of mine posted on Facebook an informative infographic about AD/HD (attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity) symptoms. An iceberg illustration showed the multi-level ways that the disorder can affect an individual’s life. A friend replied with the comment: “Most people possess at least one of these attributes! Does this therefore […]
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In a rut? Maybe it’s time to follow Sarah’s Script!
“ But I don’t want to follow the script! I hate scripts.”, I commented emphatically to a colleague while discussing a professional experience I had had a few years ago. “Me neither”, agreed my colleague Sarah, “Whenever I try a new recipe, I can’t just follow the instructions, I have to add my own personal […]
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What’s behind your name tag?
I couldn’t find my name tag. You know, those corporate name tags that open all the doors, just like magic – to get into the building, to your desk, to and from the coffee machine in the common area? I had checked in my computer bag, on the floor, at front desk, in the washroom […]
CLAIRE MARIA FORD 