The Good Fight

Principal ponderings...
A principal friend of mine recently shared this song with me...

I have to say, I may have spent a few mornings on my drive into work blaring this song.  It has been a good reminder and great motivator.  While I know this was written by a Christian group, I like the overall message that we are all fighting the "good fight."  

In our classrooms, sometimes we do have days where we feel like our "backs are against the wall" as the song says.  We feel like we have only so much time and the expectations of what we need to teach throughout the year are high.  And then there is that issue of every single student being unique and needing a specific type of support in order to learn and grow.  There are definitely days when I have thought about giving up or when I have just felt overwhelmed and questioned...will I ever get done what needs to get done or am I making a difference?

It seems appropriate to be sharing this song and talking about the good fight since we just spent the week last week talking to students about perseverance.  We talked with students and they shared stories with us about how they have persevered, how they have not given up.  Everything from learning to ride a bike, tie a shoe, hit a baseball, solve a math problem, or read a whole book series.  We talked about how it's so important to not give up.  I love that acronym people use for the word fail: First Attempt In Learning.  We want our students to recognize that failure means they are learning.  But sometimes, we have to remember that same advice for ourselves.  

We have to keep fighting the good fight for our students.  We need to do what is best for them.  We need to think about how we can reach each learner, even when the day before, we tried to reach them and it did not work.  Even when a parent is telling us that we aren't doing enough for their child.  Even when we have students who are dealing with lots of "stuff" and that "stuff" makes focusing on learning difficult.  Even when we are just, plain tired.  

We shall persevere.  When the going gets tough, educators keep going.  So crank up your speakers in the car, belt out the words..."keep fighting the good fight!"  Or maybe you have another song that motivates you?  Use that one.  Dance in your classroom before your students arrive.  Write yourself a "you can do it" sticky note for your laptop.  Whatever you need to do, do it.  Don't give up.  Our students always need you.

If you need more inspiration...Here's another short motivational clip for you...

Currently reading:
I am still enjoying The Wild Robot.  It's quite unusual reading about a robot interacting with animals and dealing with nature.  We had Emerson's birthday party on Sunday and she got some new books, so of course I enjoyed reading those!  We got the book If You Give a Pig a Party, always a fun read.  We also got a special personalized book...The Little Girl Who Lost Her Name...and in the end it spells out Emerson's name.  Her cousins gave her a whole bag of goodies from the Eric Carle Museum...perfect gift for my daughter! :)

Events this week:
Monday - Snow Day!
Tuesday - School Committee Meeting @ 7:00 at the High School
Wednesday - Dr. Rodriguez visits in the am, 4th grade chorus practice @ 2:25
Thursday - Staff Breakfast in the staff room...come hungry!
Friday - High School Chorus concert in the PAC at 9:30

Great things I noticed last week:

• This 3rd grader shared her amazing informational writing with me.  If you had 8 dogs, you would probably be a dog expert too!
  
• Some of our students enjoyed 'shop with a cop' after school on Thursday. 
  
• Mrs. Benkley's class has been focusing on spreading kindness within the classroom and throughout the school.  
  
• We have been working to fill up our perseverance bulletin board!  Check out what everyone is work to get better at...
  
• I had lots of fun talking with all of the grade levels about perseverance.  We sang and danced to the 'Power of Yet', did some book buzzing, and had students writing down something they were persevering with. 
  
  
  
  

Check it out:
We did not show this video clip during our perseverance talks, but it's a great one that your students might enjoy, all about trying your best and planning for potential failures before successes: