Hello CONNECTors!
My calendar alerted me to the fact that I have a Math Bits article due tomorrow. In all honesty, I haven’t thought about it since I signed up for it at the beginning of the summer. Like many of you, my “summer” has not been “summer.” I’ve been representing the teachers on my district’s back to school planning committee and representing my local union as a negotiator for COVID specific obligations. It’s been a learning experience. It’s been heavy.
As our world shifts with monumental change (George Floyd, COVID 19, 2020 Election – really, take your pick), I can feel the shift within me. I have taught in my current district for 4 years. It was my first teaching job out of college. I always told myself that I would give it 5 years and reevaluate. Well, here I am…starting year 5 without a clue of what I will want to do at the end of this year.
This is what I do know and I’d like to remind all of us as we enter the 2020 school year.
- “Having time is not the same as having capacity” -Sarah Nicole Landry
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- This is applicable in a non-pandemic year and even more so now. Protect your time. Protect your health. If you are a person who doesn’t like to say “no” (I am speaking to myself a bit here), give yourself permission to say no. And if you need someone else to say it, I will: You have permission to say no. Stay tuned into what is your responsibility and what isn’t (Elizabeth DiAlto).
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- “You can make changes in your life without changing everything at the same time and still see progress and growth.” -Morgan Harper Nichols
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- Many of us have heard/seen Geoff Krall’s quote from Necessary Conditions: “It is unreasonable to ask a professional to change more than 10% a year, but it is unprofessional to change by much less than 10% a year.” This school year already has at least 10% change embedded in it. As I’m writing this, I glanced at the quote I have on the back of my phone: Most big transformations come about from the hundreds of tiny, almost imperceptible, steps we take along the way (Lori Gottlieb). Find time and space to celebrate the “tiny, imperceptible steps we take along the way.”
- Your best is enough.
- Our school board met last night via zoom to determine what learning model our district would use to start school. The meeting lasted over 3 hours. Just as we see divisions in the public, the same divisions were present on the board. One quote from our school board chair stood out: “They’re [teachers] people too. They’re professionals.” In the moment, it brought tears to my eyes. We are people. And we are professionals. And we all give our best to this job. OUR. BEST. IS. ENOUGH.
Be Well,
Megan Rubbelke