listening | Catching Readers Before They Fall

Happy New Year, friends!

Several years ago I was inspired by Ali Edwards, and her One Little Word and started a New Year’s Eve tradition of choosing a word to live into for the upcoming year. The past few years have been framed around peace, grow, balance, happy and brave. I’ve found these words to be an overarching mantra for how I live my life that year. I’ve thought a lot about my word for this year and I think I’ve found one that speaks to all aspects of my life – my teaching, my learning, my running, my relationships. That word is Now.

NOW. This moment is all we have. The word now inspires me to:

-focus on each child I am working with and pay attention to where they are right now; not where I wish they were, or where they need to be for the benchmark, or where they “should” be.

-give my full attention to the child I am with; not taking a picture or video or anecdotal notes or some other form of documentation, but fully listening and engaging with that child – making sure the child knows I am with them right now, and then after that moment I can record my thinking, but when I’m with a child – be fully present and with them right now.

-focus on myself and where I am and what I’m doing right now; not where I wish I was, or what’s on my to-do list, or what other things I should be doing, but focus on where I am right now and who I am with right now. Striving to be fully present in each moment makes me a better listener, a better teacher, a better friend, a better family member, a better runner and a better person. There’s a sense of calm and peacefulness in living in the moment, living in the now.

-stop procrastinating. If I am living in a now way of thinking, I will do what needs to be done now, not later, or when I feel like it, or when I have a spare moment. I will take care of what needs to be done now.

-put down the phone, the iPad, the laptop and be present to what is going on in the real world around me right now. I saw this video and it stuck in my head for days. How often do I pay more attention to my phone or device than what is going on in my world, or more importantly WHO is in my world right in front of me? It definitely made me rethink how digitally connected I am and how it may be more harmful than good at times.

As a reminder of my word, I am having a small necklace made with the word Now on it. My friend Jenny makes beautiful jewelry and I am excited to have a constant reminder of my word, and my promise to myself around my neck. It’s going to be a great year…starting NOW!

What’s your one little word for 2015? I hope it brings you great things in the upcoming year.

PS – Here is the beautiful necklace that Jenny Nichols at Mountain Prima Donna just finished and is en route to me now. So excited!

I recently read a blog post written by a mother, sharing how frustrating some days can be. I related to this post not as a mother, but as a teacher. It’s easy to get caught up in things that can suck the energy out of our teaching – the trainings that often don’t directly relate to the work we do with our students, the new mandates and requirements that are handed out, the lack of planning time, the lack of support from our administration, colleagues, (or even our nation), the slow response of systems that are supposedly in place to help our kids, the constant addition of things we must do, the lack of time to do these things, the endless assessments, the constant raising of the bar, the negative perception of how we do our jobs and how we all just need to work harder/better/faster. It can be exhausting.

When I find myself getting sucked into this frustration, I have to stop and get grounded again. It’s not all about my day and my huge to-do list and my deadlines, benchmarks and expectations. It’s about the kids. It’s about being present and in the moment. It’s about listening.

Our children come to us each day to learn, to grow, to have fun. To laugh, to explore, to be in awe of something. To discover things for the first time, to have that “a-ha” moment, to change perspectives, to open their eyes to a new way of thinking, to find a passion. It’s their day, too.

Some of my best days of teaching look nothing like what’s on the lesson plan. They come from listening to my kids, following their lead, and remembering why I am a teacher. Some days the lesson plans and assessments need to be pushed aside and I need to sit down with my kids while they explore worms in a nature box. I need to be there to help them find a worm book in the class library and listen as they wonder and investigate the worms crawling on their hands. I need to laugh with them, wonder with them and encourage them. I need to run to the art room for paper to cover our play stand because they decided a gingerbread house needs to be built today. Not next week, but NOW. Because NOW is where five year olds live. I need to stand back as they gather all the gingerbread men books we’ve read to decide what characters they should make to put inside the gingerbread house. I need to listen and be responsive to what they need.

Now. In this moment.

Because it’s their day, too.