teaching life
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A Must Watch Video
I don’t share video clips around her very often but this one recently popped up in my facebook feed and I feel like everyone needs to see it. Click here to view This video is an interview with Preschool Teacher Rachel Giannini for attn: Parenting Today, and while her message is not news to those of us who are in this field, it is shocking to most of society just how little preschool teachers and child care staff at all levels earn. We can’t make a difference if others don’t realize that there is a problem, so please share share share!
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Take care of yourself!
If I learned only one thing in 2017, it was the importance of taking care of yourself. In this field, so much of our time and attention are demanded. We must be present at all times and consistently observing and recording, all while preparing for what will come next. We have to do this with a smile on our face, while dealing with difficult behaviors and unrealistic expectations. It’s exhausting and it can really take a toll on you. I firmly believe that you can’t care for anyone else until you have cared for yourself. Unfortunately, it can feel selfish to tell others no in order to do something nice…
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Strategies for balancing work and personal life
I just typed that title and started laughing – who am I to write about balancing my work and personal life?! I definitely don’t have it all figured out. I spend more nights typing this little blog than I care to admit – and that’s on top of working a full time job, so I feel you! Honestly, I think we’re all just doing the best that we can. I know that might not sound helpful if you’re really looking for some strategies, but my mantra over the last six months has been “Give yourself some credit.” Seriously, I bet there are a ton of things that you’re doing really…
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Teacher Inspiration
It’s definitely that time of year when I feel myself needing a little extra inspiration. The weather is so nice, my weekends are so busy, and I just want to do fun summer things – even though it’s not quite summer yet. If you’re feeling the same way, here are some quotes to help you get through the rest of the spring! Optimist Quote Follow their lead Quote Be who you needed Quote Funny teaching Quote Silly Quote
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Procrastination
I know that I usually write about preschool – some kind of activity, or assessment, or curriculum, or something at least slightly related to teaching so this one is a little bit of a stretch, but let’s get real for a minute. It’s usually pretty easy for me to sit down and write a blog post. I enjoy it, and I love the topics that I write about – but this week I can’t seem to get out anything that I want to share. I had a bunch of posts about seeds planned, but I must not be very excited about them. This is probably because I’m a terrible gardener,…
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Great Gadgets for Teachers
Since I shared how wonderful and amazing my sewing machine has been for the classroom in yesterdays post, today I wanted to share a post that I originally wrote for the blog two years ago about some of my favorite gadgets for the classroom. I still love love love all of these items so I’m sharing this post from July of 2014 below: There are a few tools that I have collected over the years that have made my job a million times easier. Now is the perfect time to share my list of awesome tools because you still have time to splurge on a couple of these before school…
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So close I can feel it!
I have always worked for schools that are open year-round, so the week between Christmas and New Year is the longest break I get, and it goes way too fast! This year I have plans to get some work done and do some major relaxing! Sleeping in! Sleeping in is one of my favorite things in the world, I love waking up and knowing that I can lay there for as long as I want. My body would naturally sleep until 11am and stay up until 2am if I let it. spending time with family and friends. This is huge for me, I have 8 days off and I already…
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Christmas Questionnaire
I love any opportunity to share a little of myself with all of you, so I’m linking up with Fabulous in First, here are my answers to the Christmas Questionnaire; 1. When do you decorate?I always decorate the day after Thanksgiving. My house is pretty tiny, and I only decorate my living room and my kitchen, so it only takes a couple of hours. I love to turn on Christmas music or find a cheesy Christmas movie on Lifetime to listen to while I decorate. When it’s finished everything feels so festive, I love being able to enjoy it for an entire month! 2. Elf or no Elf?No elf for…
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Wisdom for the overwhelmed
I try to keep my posts at least somewhat related to preschool, but we are all multifaceted individuals, and the things that are on my mind at the moment have nothing to do with school. This fall is a bit overwhelming for me personally – My sister and my husbands brother are both getting married within a month of each other, and in between those two events I also have two big marketing events for school, oh yeah, and I’ll be speaking at the NAEYC Conference in Dallas (Eeeek!). All of these events are awesome, but there is a lot of prep on my end, and I’m already feeling like…
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Practicing Professionalism
How many times have you heard “Oh, your job is so fun, you get to play with little kids all day!” Yeah, and can you still manage to keep from rolling your eyes? I’ve found that the more professionally I behave, the more that my job, and the challenges it presents, are taken seriously. I’ve always worked at lab schools (with ECE students from local colleges and universities), and I’ve often had students who don’t take my work seriously because I am young, and in some cases, younger than they are. So over the years I’ve come up with some tried and true methods for being taken seriously, which has…
