Fanning the Flame

I had one of those days.  The kind where you just wonder if you are making any progress at all.  When kids have crazy behavior and lack focus during instruction, it really drains me as a teacher. 

I have learned to draw upon the wisdom of professional colleagues near and far on these kind of days.  I independently practice reframing my thoughts to stay positive most days, but sometimes it's difficult to power through on my own. That's when I know it's time to fan the flame of inspiration and find the strength to keep on keeping on by tapping into the incredible resources of educators I deeply respect. One of those educators is Dave Burgess.

When I first read Dave's book "Teach Like a PIRATE", I received an instant rush of inspiration to try new things, affirmation that creativity is a lot of work and SO worth it, and encouragement that my vision of developing lifelong learners continues to be more important than ANY standard and to keep that in the forefront of my mind every day. It encouraged me to embrace my desire to be remarkable and leverage all the resources at my disposal because my students deserve THE BEST.

So tonight, when I feel like "I just can't even", I know it's time to roll through some of my favorite quotes from this great book and fill my teaching tank up so I have the gas to energize myself to BRING IT to my students tomorrow. Because it's not okay with me to muddle through until I get to the weekend. What kind of life is that?!  I consider myself to have one of the most important jobs in the world.  I'm geared to THRIVE, not just survive. Reading these powerful quotes are like a breath of fresh air when my teaching spirit gets a little stale.

 No wishing for the weekend before it's time. My kids need me to show up tomorrow and keep making a difference. No mailing it in. I'm there to provide a uncommon learning experience because I expect uncommon effort and attitude from my students. I already feel like I'm getting my second wind by putting my focus on creating a unique twist to grab their attention for the science lesson tomorrow.  I have faith in myself and my passion for teaching to believe that my little flickering flame will be a roaring blaze in the morning- ready to start a fire of inspiration because my students deserve it.