How many of you remember the song “She Drives Me Crazy” by Fine Young Cannibals? Sorry if that song is stuck in your head now…
“…She drives me crazy And I can’t help myself…”
Well, consider everything that is going on around us and the differences of many opinions we each have; instead of opening the phrase with “she,” open it up with “whatever” drives me/you crazy…
I have a lot of pet peeves. I have so many; I have a zoo. The bad thing is, I feed every one of those peeves; messy little critters, they are. Just like any other pets, I love on them, play fetch, rub their belly, scratch their ears… You get the idea. Also, those peeves rub me the wrong way, make me cringe, get under my skin, pull what little hair I have out, wake me up at night, and shut down my breathing sometimes (my mom and dad should get a laugh out of that one).
But… what I have come to realize, while those peeves are always going to be there, it is ME that drives myself crazy. I have a choice as to if I feed them and welcome them into my life… or not. Also, I choose what I want to think about, and for some part, how I feel about them. I know it is hard to get “stuff” out of your mind, and for some reason, “things” will always linger around, triggered by something or someone to make you start thinking again.
I do acknowledge that there are real problems in people’s lives. I am not dismissing or diminishing that fact. What I am talking about is trying NOT driving yourself crazy with all those peeves.
Things that I have to sometimes tell myself… Go to sleep and don’t wake up at midnight about something you saw on social media. Quit keeping up with what all you have done wrong lately. Laugh at your trivial mistakes. Set some reasonable, attainable goals. Get things done early; that way, you can have accomplishments. Hang out with like-minded, kindred-spirited people. This is huge… Most of all, be thankful for the love of family and your real pets (not those peeves).
As we approach Thanksgiving, start thinking about your “thankfulness” and quit feeding the pet peeves. They don’t taste very well anyway, and they are tough to chew.
Yes, some things drive me crazy, and maybe, I can help myself…
Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…
As I look for ideas to write on each week, I find myself trying to make connections with about anything and education or leadership. Listening, reading, watching, experiencing… all these things help with topics that roll around in my mind. So, as I was mowing our yard yesterday evening, I started thinking…
First, let me say I enjoy mowing. Call me weird or a glutton for punishment, that’s ok. I put my headphones on, listen to a book on tape, and go at it. For three to four hours, I am lost in my own reality.
Well, how does mowing work its way into a blog regarding education or leadership? Today, mowing works its way into understanding and being a model centered around quality teaching of a lesson in a classroom or any other endeavor that can use the analogy.
When you get ready to mow your yard, what is the first thing you do? Please do not say grumble… That defeats the purpose because you are going to do it anyway. To answer, you plan and prepare… mower gassed up, weed-eater gassed up with enough chord and backup, etc.
The same goes for teaching; you prepare in advance. Why would you not? There is nothing worse than running out of gas on the backside of the yard away from the shed and the gas tank. The walk to and from is terrible enough, but mentally having to admit defeat of not planning “gets all over you.”
When you actually start a lesson, it is like mowing the yard—the big picture, per se. You mow “over” everything you want to be cut. That is what we do when we teach. We cover the lesson as we would mow the yard.
Next, I get out the weed-eater and start trimming around all the trees, the flowerbeds, up under bushes, etc. That is what I compare walking around, asking for verbal responses, or spot-checking for understanding in a classroom looks like. Cleaning up areas that I could not get the mower too. Is that not what we do with our instruction? How do you check for understanding?
By now, most people are finished, but not me. I like going for that “real clean” look. I get the edger out and start cutting the clean edge to the brick of flowerbeds or the concrete to the driveway. Usually, this is where I come back to almost wrap the lesson up. This might be where I give a connection to history or society in general. With the case of math, an opportunity to show how it is used or why it is needed. A lot of this depends on what subject matter you teach.
Gatorade Break…
Well, surely by now, you are tired, me too. But we still have two more details to discuss—first, hedging. Now, I do not do this everytime I mow, because sometimes it does not need it. However, every so often, some of the bushes begin to overgrow, and stems start sticking up. That’s when I go in and do a “knock off” of the rough edges of the bushes. As a teacher, you know when you need to do just a little more with your instruction. There are times when “one more example” or “let’s look at this again” gets your lesson exactly where you want it.
Lastly, blowing everything clean. Yes, the last step. Outside of actually mowing, getting the blower out to just clean up the area allows me to begin to see the finished product. Same with a lesson. This is where you can actually discuss what I call “take-a-ways” from the lesson with your students. For me, this is the “good sigh” moment. Almost looks like you never did anything, to begin with—just a perfect clean picture.
The smell of success. Nothing like that “fresh-cut” smell of a yard. Now I know we cannot smell good teaching, but deep down, you “sense” your finished product. As I go and sit on the front or back porch with a glass of good sweet tea, I see and smell success. An accomplishment of a finished project that is what I think good quality lessons can be.
I am sure you can find your own analogy for the steps of what you believe quality teaching is… but there is something about mowing… Yes, a time to be in your own reality.
Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…
For what it is worth, I am not a fan of “reposting” my blogs. However, I am reposting the blog “United or Divided” today. This blog was originally written on January 26, 2018. I believe that leadership stands and transcends time and many other things and ideas as well.
When I wrote the blog the first time, it was written with the idea that we are in a crossroads of education. Now, as a Nation, we are as well.
Only one sentence I will add for the blog is this… “We, as people, must find our likeness in Christ for healing to begin and to sustain.”
I hope you enjoy the re-post.
Below you will find the lyrics to the new song by Christian artist, Mandisa, “Bleed The Same.” The other day I heard it for the first time on KLOVE riding down the road. Like many things, it made me start thinking…
We say this, and we say that, only to get and keep the same results. We say we want more or better, but we do not put the effort in to change. Many times we might even be influenced by others who do not want to change. I/we want to…. I/we wish… I/we… The “want list” just goes on and on.
When it comes to the lives we live, they are the sum collections of thoughts created from experience or instilled as a way of life. However, the funny thing is, we are all in this together. At some point, we must acknowledge that everything in one way or another, affects everything else. The ripple effect might have diminished very small by the time it got to us but rippled it did.
Our world of humanity has its foundations based on morality. Sooner, rather than later, we should all know the difference between right and wrong. Yet we continue to make the same choices that enable our lives to stay the same, while at the same time always wanting more or better. The system can only be blamed so much. The issue becomes that we want the spotlight on others and their faults. We never want to turn the spotlight on ourselves. The last thing we want is for our inadequacies to be shown in the light.
I figure the best way to handle all of this, is to start with me. What am I doing to make it better? The “it” is anything that divides. It is united we stand. Can we (you, I, whoever) choose to work for a greater good? How many times does each of us have that one opportunity to do just that? Actually we have many opportunities. We just wait on someone else.
As you read the lyrics below, I would dare say that each of us would agree with everything it says. So many solid truths. Whatever change you want, let it start with you. Most of all, let others see it. Go out and prove it. Your essence of leadership does one of the two… it unites or divides.
Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…
Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…
If you want to listen to the song, click here:
We all bleed the same We’re more beautiful when we come together We all bleed the same So tell me why, tell me why We’re divided
Woke up today Another headline Another innocent life is taken In the name of hatred So hard to take (hey!) And if we think that it’s all good Then we’re mistaken ‘Cause my heart is breaking
Are you left? Are you right? Pointing fingers, taking sides When are we gonna realize?
We all bleed the same We’re more beautiful when we come together We all bleed the same So tell me why, tell me why We’re divided If we’re gonna fight Let’s fight for each other If we’re gonna shout Let love be the cry We all bleed the same So tell me why, tell me why We’re divided
Tell me, who are we To judge someone By the kind of clothes they’re wearing Or the color of their skin?
Are you black? (black) Are you white? (white) Aren’t we all the same inside? (the same inside) Father, open our eyes to see!
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same) We’re more beautiful when we come together We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same) So tell me why, tell me why We’re divided If we’re gonna fight Let’s fight for each other (fight for each other!) If we’re gonna shout Let love be the cry (be the cry!) We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same) So tell me why, tell me why We’re divided
Only love can drive out all the darkness What are we fighting for? We were made to carry one another We were made for more, said Only love can drive out all the darkness What are we fighting for? yeah We were made to carry one another We were made for more!
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same) We’re more beautiful when we come together (let’s stand united!) We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same) So tell me why, tell me why We’re divided If we’re gonna fight Let’s fight for each other (fight for each other!) If we’re gonna shout Let love be the cry (be the cry!) We all bleed the same(we all bleed the same) (bleed the same) Let’s stand united (let’s stand united) Let’s stand united!
So Father God, I pray That our families will come together right now And seek Your face You will forgive our sins And You will heal our incredible land In the name of the only Savior, Jesus Christ Amen
Thomas Paine penned these words in The American Crisis, dated December 1776, to convince people at the time to continue to support the American cause of the Revolution.
“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”
As I have read these words and thought much about them as of late, it seems that we are almost in the same spot when it comes to where we are in education, not only as a nation but as a state more importantly. As educators, who are in the schools, are our souls troubled? Yes. Do we need an educational revolution, per se? Yes. Education and educators need quality representation.
As we break down each one of the sentences of Thomas Paine’s great thought, let’s look at it through the lens of educators. We are at a point where it is time for those who make educational decisions to be convinced to support the cause of education.
THESE are the times that try men’s souls
Yes… These are the times that try educator’s souls. Why? Too many tests, too much time spent on paperwork, and too much anything else that gets in the way of actually allowing teachers to teach. It is too much, too many, too often, too… And let us not forgot that as educators, we have to pay for our on raises by completing the requirement for higher degrees or certifications.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
Let’s replace solider and patriot with educator… Yes, education, as a whole, is in a crisis, and many educators who are disheartened or contented fall away from its service. But oh, how we need educators who regardless of the crisis, will stand for what education should be – that is to educate truly. When that happens, yes, educators deserve the love and thanks of all.
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
I am not saying that where we are in education is suppressed by tyranny, but I will say it is very hard to conquer where education is right now. The tyranny I see is that we have non-educators making educational decisions. Educators are the ones who need to have the voice for what education should be. However, the consolation – for what it is worth… the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph of educators today as they continue to rise and meet the demands set before them. Those who continue this good fight are worthy.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
There might be some who really think that because teachers teach, they cannot do anything else. Too cheap – esteem too lightly? Well, my question would be to those who think this way… Why is there a teacher shortage? Why is teaching not valued by others? As long as there are teachers who care, education will have value, an intrinsic value only. Teaching is not easy – those who can, do, and they hold it dear.
Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.
Let’s replace freedom with education… Heaven knows how to put a price on proper goods? Yes, I believe that. I believe that education is a proper good, deserving of all, and it should continue to be highly rated. If educators decide not to teach, who will?
Many times we stand at a crossroad in our lives, and it is at those times, our soul is troubled. As we remember that education is for the future, we should be able to find some solace, knowing we teach for others. The future can only measure the value that educators bring. We need quality representation to hear our voices to make sure our souls are not troubled in the future. There are too many other “things” in life that try our souls… education should not be one of them.
The Book Chamber 