With extra pressure taking its toll on all of us who work in schools, it’s time to take a step back and consider what’s really important. Taking care of yourself is first on the list, so be honest when you have needs to express. Focus on the essentials, live your life as fully as you can. Breathe. More helpful advice for improving mental health can be found in this quick read:
The pianist featured in this article is 107 years old and has played piano for more than 100 years. I admit that I only looked her up to see if the titles were exaggerations, but they’re not. Watching this video inspired me, especially the quote, “Youth is eternal; you have it or you don’t.” Of course, the subtitles at the bottom didn’t actually render it the same way, opting for something more socially acceptable, “Staying young isn’t a question of age, either you’re young or you’re not.”
Long ago, this blog article originally caught my interest because having a rule for hats and hoodies to be removed inside the school building previously came up for discussion every year. I remember teachers saying they felt they were being aggressive when they were expected to enforce that rule. Same as many of the readers, I found some comments more interesting than the article itself. It’s clear to see how the article could inspire some worthwhile discussion, especially now that we are continually faced with microaggressions both in and out of school with the enforcement of Covid regulations. It would be an interesting exercise to rewrite the article from either perspective, whether in terms of people aggressively stopping us on the way through doors of stores in bigger cities, or in terms of individuals attacking us when we obediently enforce regulations set by outside organizations.
We have explored different stereotypes on previous PD days, so this video review of a book (“Whistling Vivaldi”) offers a simple summary of what stereotypes consist of and how to mitigate the threats of stereotypes. The easy suggestions could help us in the classroom:
If you’d like to find out more about the story behind the title of the book (“Whistling Vivaldi”), read about it here:
We use Google so much that we have turned it into a verb, yet many of us do not use it like a pro. Here are two links to help you either use Google better, or use it worse to play tricks on your class:
Since it’s almost summer vacation, I’ll give you a bonus link. This one could potentially take you on a treasure hunt to explore all the possibilities, even in Microsoft Word:
The EdCan network has many offerings that include articles, magazines, videos, and collaboration opportunities. You can read up to five articles without a subscription, and it could be well worth your while. This month’s magazine is a flipbook edition, getting people ready for a soon-to-be-normal school experience. Here’s the link:
Mes mots hebdo 