-
Your Work is Unfinished. Your Day Can Still Be Done.
My brain loves finished business. Check the box. Send the email. Make the phone call. Put the thing away. Cross it off the list. Done. Ahhhhh. I know I am not alone in this, and I was intrigued when I learned that there is science behind our dislike for things that feel unresolved. The American…
-
The Goal Isn’t Perfection. It’s Reconnection.
It is shockingly easy to forget that we are whole people beyond the roles we fill in a day. Teacher. Counselor. Administrator. Parent. Partner. Caregiver. Problem-solver. Keeper of the schedule. Finder of the missing Chromebook charger. From the moment we walk into school, our attention is pulled toward what needs to be taught, answered, corrected,…
-
I Didn’t Hate Teaching. I Hated That I Could Never Put It Down.
I loved teaching. I also hated teaching. Both statements are true, although neither one tells the whole story. Recently, I made a list of the things I loved during my thirty years in the classroom and the guidance office—and the things I hated. The “love” column was long. I loved helping kids understand something that…
-
Monday is Coming. It Doesn’t Get to Take Sunday With It
Why teachers experience the Sunday Scaries—and how to prepare for the week without living it in advance. A friend recently asked me about the “Sunday Scaries”—that creeping sense of dread that settles in when the weekend begins turning back toward the work week. You know the feeling. Sunday morning may start out pleasantly enough. You…
-
Not Everything Deserves Your A+
I grew up in a Mid-Michigan farm family where work ethic was next to godliness. If there was work to be done, you did it. If you started something, you finished it. And you did it well. Those weren’t just expectations—they were the foundation of who we were. When I became a parent, it was…
-
I Was Lost. For Years. And I Didn’t Even Know It.
People who knew me during my thirty years in education would probably have described me the same way. Hard worker. Determined. Idealistic. Pretty fun most of the time. They wouldn’t have been wrong. They just wouldn’t have known the whole story. Underneath all of that lived another version of me. Scared. Anxious. Lonely. A people…
-
Don’t Let September Steal Your August
Somewhere around the last week of July, something strange begins happening to teachers. The pool floats are still inflated. The tomatoes in the garden are finally doing their thing. You still have sunscreen in your beach bag. And yet… Your brain has quietly wandered back into the school building. It’s arranging desks and reading class…
-
The Prosecution Should Rest:How Our Own Thoughts Hijack Our Joy
Let’s play a quick game called Name That Profession. Who said this? “If everyone else would just do their job, mine wouldn’t be so hard.” Need another clue? “I’m over here busting my butt while other people are screwing around.” One more? “People just don’t seem to care about doing a good job.” Who said…
-
Your Brain is a Drama Queen (and it’s exhausting): How negativity bias keeps teachers stuck—and what to do about it.
Imagine your brain producing roughly 6,000 thoughts between the moment you wake up and the moment your head hits the pillow that night. One of the more conservative estimates of daily thinking comes from researchers at Queen’s University, who estimated that we experience around 6,000 thoughts each day. The fascinating part isn’t just the number.…
-
4 Little Rules That Change the Game
As educators, we spend a lot of time talking about what kids need to be successful. Curriculum matters. Instruction matters. Relationships matter. Interventions matter. All true. And if you stopped a group of teachers in the hallway and asked, “What are the most important life skills we want our students to learn?” I suspect most…
The Teacher Restoration Room 