Resolutions

It's 2020 and I spent some time over the holiday break reflecting on 2019.  There were many things worth celebrating, but I was disappointed to find that I had let the blog slip away to some degree, and I am starting recommitted to writing it more regularly.  With new beginnings comes the opportunity for recreation.  While the blog had focused on edtech integration in my time as a librarian, I would like it to have a wider focus since I have a new role.

With that idea came a post from my friend Lauren, a special educator in New Orleans, LA.  She posted about her word for 2020 and what she would strive for as an educator.  Being a member of a professional organization allows me to feel empowered by like-minded educators, which is why I felt so inspired by her word: catalyst.  She seeks to be the catalyst for positive change in education.  What a goal!

While I would love to steal her word, when I look up the definition of catalyst, it mentions that it "speeds up the rate of change without being changed itself", which just doesn't fit for me.  I recognize that there is no change that I could be asking or leading for others that would not impact me in some way.  So I need to find my own word.

So I will spend some time reflecting over the next week on my word.  I'm going to pour over some websites related to creating goals:

• Word of the Year
• What's your guiding word for 2020?
• One Word 365

What will your word be?  Share it on the padlet below.  You may choose to share your name as well or leave it off.

Mindfulness

Yesterday I had a wonderful collaborative meeting after school with our secondary English department.  During that time, we discussed the impacts of technology on how students write, including their planning and execution.  They were in agreement that technology has not been the best influence when it comes to getting students to have an attention to detail in their writing.  This is probably why mindfulness has become such a popular topic in schools.  With that in mind, I'd like to share some resources K-12 related to Mindfulness.

Giulia Forsythe via Flickr

According to UC Berkeley, Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens.  You can watch the expert Jon Kabat-Zinn discuss it further here.

At the elementary level, we see students get overstimulated and then begin to act out.  At the middle school level, the students are changing physically and emotionally and cannot always tell you what they are feeling.  At the high school level, we have seen students get so stressed and overwhelmed that they shut down.  Mindfulness can assist them in managing their emotions and their stress.  Here are some resources to incorporate it into your daily classroom instruction:

• Mind Yeti - A cute program for elementary with videos and animations
• Calm - shared previously by teachers from Opening Days
• Mindful Schools - perfect for educating yourself more on the topic, including videos and techniques
• PBS Mindfulness Teacher's Guide
• MindUP Resources - an SEL curriculum program that also shares small teacher resources on teaching Mindfulness (from Goldie Hawn's Foundation - who knew?!)
• Still Quiet Place - from Amy Saltzman, practice breathing videos