The Sunrise Story

I've been thinking a lot about the world today and how different it is from the world when I grew up. This leads me to consider my upbringing and my parents. My parents always taught me and my sister to be kind...to everyone. They taught us this lesson with their actions more than anything. We watched them. We noticed. We followed. I'm grateful to my mom and my dad for teaching us this valuable lesson. This world needs kindness more than ever. Today would have been my dad's seventy-first birthday. He died almost eleven years ago. It's important to me to remember my dad and to honor him on his birthday.   Last year, I assigned special "Dad Homework". It was ice cream for all. That was certainly a hit! You can read about it here . This year, I want to go bigger. My original idea was to complete 71 acts of kindness. Immediately, I panicked! How could I do that and keep track of it? That's when it hit me...I don't have to do it alone.  ...

One of my favorite things about school is the opportunity to finish and begin again. Friday marked the end of first quarter and on Wednesday, we begin second quarter. It's a fresh start. We will set new goals and begin new projects and our journey as learners will continue. I've never thought about how a school year is organized and the importance of quarters before today. The delineation of a clear beginning and ending makes any long journey more manageable. It gives everyone a chance to stop and notice. As I pause in this journey, I reflect on what went well and what I can do better as a teacher. Guiding my middle-school students through that process is powerful and will help them set goals for themselves as learners. These teacher work days provide opportunity to reflect on where we've been and set goals for where we will go next. While these work days are a gift, I miss working with my students. I miss our silly attendance questions and trips to the library a...

November is a time when I bring the practice of gratitude to my daily routine. Each day I share one reason for which I'm grateful on social media. It's simple. It's small, but it's powerful. Spending time searching for the good changes my perspective. We live in a world of pain and struggle where sometimes hope seems lost. Those feelings can be overwhelming, so instead, I spend my energy working on finding the grace in my world. When you look for gratitude, you begin to see it more and more. Here are some reasons for my gratitude: Thank you to Ruth Ayres for providing this space for sharing our celebrations. Please join us and share your own!