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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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One Crisis, Three Questions
Going into Week 8 of confinement, how’s the morale? I don’t know for you, but for me it’s been such a roller-coaster of emotions! Sometimes, I feel short-tempered and irritable (especially when watching the news or reading other people’s reactions to government decisions). Then I swing to frustration at not being able to go running […]
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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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An ESL Teacher in Quarantine
I didn’t see it coming. But then again, did anyone? The topic of the Covid19 came up in class. Or rather, the topic of how the company would react, preparing an emergency plan of action if an employee was found to be infected. We all thought it was perhaps exaggerated. We logged onto the WorldMeter […]
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Opportunity, or just an opening?
There’s a difference between an opportunity and an opening. While pondering a change of employment lately, I realized these three things: An opportunity pushes you to grow. An opening just lets you continue being as you are. An opportunity pushes you to do new things. An opening just lets you continue doing the same-old tasks […]
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What’s in a decade?
I thought I’d sit down and take stock since, after all, just about every social media feed has been telling me to do so for the past couple of weeks. I clicked open my Pictures file and scrolled down to 2010. I then opened up my journal and wrote Last Decade at the top of […]
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Just be real!
Reclaiming humanity in the workplace… that sounds interesting! A student and I were checking out the website of one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming Best Business Practices Tradeshow to take place in Montreal. Her name is Patty Azzarello and is a northern New Jersey native who has risen to become a Silicon Valley […]
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Who do you choose to be?
Tomorrow is November 11, Remembrance Day; it’s a time to remember the soldiers that gave their lives to counter the forces that were jeopardizing the freedoms we take for granted today. As I ponder their sacrifice, I can’t help but see a certain, though obviously not so dramatic, parallel between the challenges they braved and […]
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How’s your company’s heart?
No, I’m not talking about the profit margin, sales, or ROI. I’m talking about how your company supports employees when they are under the weather, down and out, or fighting an uphill battle. What’s the plan when a manager realizes that one of the employees in their department is no longer cutting it? It’s when […]
CLAIRE MARIA FORD 