Puzzled

 Principal ponderings...

On Friday night, I came home from the first week of hybrid and knew I needed to plan something with my family or else I might collapse in the middle of the family room or fall asleep standing up in my kitchen!  So I pulled out a puzzle and announced that it was family puzzle night.  This was an interesting Toy Story puzzle.  It was labeled as a "Together Time Puzzle" and had three different sizes of puzzle pieces, small, medium and large.  The idea is that the large pieces are for children, the medium pieces are for everyone, and the small pieces are for adults.  We spread out the 400 different sized pieces on our kitchen table and got to work.

As we were all working on the puzzle, I couldn't help but think about what we have been asked to do right now in school.  As I chat with teachers and read your parent emails and see you trying to figure this all out, I can't help but think we have been assigned a giant puzzle to try to complete.  There are so many pieces and they are in all different shapes and sizes.  

I found myself staring at my kitchen table and sometimes the connections would jump right out at me.  I see that when I watch you all teach or listen to you with your students.  Even though it may be only two pieces that you connect, I see glimpses of the joy that we all get when working with our students.  But then I would stare at the kitchen table and it would seem like finding a match or a connection was impossible.  And there were moments when I wanted to just give up, walk away from the puzzle and not think about it.  But then I would see my husband find several connecting pieces or I would see Emerson and Cayce helping each other and encouraging each other and cheering when they found one piece.  And  that helped me keep working at it.

We did not finish the puzzle that night.  But we accomplished a lot.  This puzzle that we are all working on right now...hybrid, remote, online, streaming, technology, teaching, learning...we are not going to finish it right now.  But last week, we accomplished a lot.  You all, once again, had the puzzle pieces dumped over your head and were told to just do it.  And of course, you did what you always do.  Rolled up your sleeves and started putting the pieces back together.  

This puzzle we are working on right now feels like one of those extremely challenging ones...the ones where it's 1,000 pieces that are all a similar shade or the ones where the straight edge pieces go within the puzzle and on the edge or one of the puzzles where the pieces are double sided.  It feels impossible.  It feels overwhelming.  It doesn't feel fun.  Just know that within the first week you put some pieces together.  And this week you will put some more pieces together.  And when you want to give up on this puzzle...look at the person across the hall or next door.  Watch them put some pieces together, let them motivate you.  Let them help you.  And when we get through this year and complete this puzzle...it's going to feel good.  

Which pieces will you put together today?

Currently reading:

I am still enjoying listening to former President Obama read his book A Promised Land.  I am also enjoying A Home for Goddesses and Dogs by Leslie Connor.

Events this week:

Monday - Cohort A day

Tuesday - Cohort A day, Fire drill in the AM

Wednesday - remote learning day for all, SIMCO meeting @ 3:30

Thursday - Cohort B day, Fire drill in the AM

Friday - Cohort B day, term 2 grades close, report cards will be available to parents in PS on Feb. 3

Check it out:

Check out this short video about 6 ways to be an anti-racist educator:

I get a Sunday blog from Dave Burgess Publishing and this snippet from a former classroom teacher and technology integration specialist, an incredible educational consultant, content developer, presenter, and the author of our newest release, Project-Based Learning Anywhere...Dr. Lori Elliot...definitely stuck with me.  The quote from her friend and the image of trying to carry all the groceries and add one more thing...yep.

3. Making Sense of Things

This past year has been tough. All of us can relate to the toll the pandemic has had on us emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. I was talking with a friend not too long ago, and she explained her mental state in a way that made total sense to me. She said, "You know when you get home with your groceries, and you don't want to make extra trips to the house, so you carry everything you can at once. Then you grab one more, small item and you drop the whole load. That's how I feel every single day. It is too much, and the small things seem to cause me to fall apart." Isn't that the truth. Things that would never bother us in "normal times" like forgetting a password or an email from a parent with a question seems to push us right off the side of a cliff. The situation my friend explained is really the struggle between Survival Brain and Learning Brain. I found a very helpful video from Dr. Jacob Ham that helps us as educators understand trauma and simple ways we can move ourselves and our students from Survival Brain to Learning Brain. This has been such a great reminder that our feelings are valid, and we are truly still living in survival mode.  Understanding Trauma: Learning Brain vs. Survival Brain

Ad Meliora

 Principal ponderings...

I don't have any photos on my new fridge, but recently as I was doing dishes, I looked over and saw this one hanging on the side.  My husband had found it while unpacking and placed it there without me knowing.  It's a much younger me in college with my beautiful mom.  

This year has been a tough year for everyone.  In the middle of a pandemic, life keeps happening.  For me, dealing with a diagnosis that is slowly stealing my mom and her amazing brain from me has certainly made this year monumentally more difficult.  But I look at this picture and I smile and some happy tears well up and I think "ad meliora."

My mother was a Latin teacher and spent her life teaching me the root of every word.  She could conjugate verbs like nobody's business and go on for hours about the history of the Greeks and Romans.  I know my mom dealt with eye rolls from her children when she said for the 100th time "do you know where this word comes from?"  And today, I would give anything to hear her break down a word or teach me a new Latin phrase.  But she spent her life sharing her love of language with me so now it's my turn to pick up the torch and carry it.  Today, I am thinking "ad meliora" is the Latin phrase that we all need right now.  It means "better things" or "things continuing to improve."  You may have heard of the English word "ameliorate" which means "make (something bad) better."  Sort of sounds like a spell from Harry Potter.

Today, I want to wave my wand and ameliorate this school year.  I want to ameliorate the pandemic.  I want to ameliorate what is happening to my mom.  Those are all lofty goals.  And believe it or not, I don't actually have a magic wand.  But we are taking a step forward and bringing some of our kids into the building.  It might not feel like this will make things better, but I truly believe it will.  Hopefully soon, educators will be able to get vaccinated and that will make this pandemic better.  And for me and my mom, well I am going to keep remembering all of the words and Latin phrases she taught me over the years because she can't.  And I am going to write down her memories for her and share her memories with others and be grateful that for now she is happy and healthy.  I am choosing to focus on "meliora" or better things.

What will you ameliorate today?

"Always towards better things"

Currently reading:

I have been listening to Obama's new book, A Promised Land.  It's quite long, but whenever I am in the car I try to listen to a little bit at a time.  I feel like I really need to hear his voice right now.  

Events this week:

Monday - MLK Day, No School

Tuesday - Hybrid learning begins, Cohort A in school

Wednesday - Remote day

Thursday - Cohort B in school

Friday - Cohort B in school

Staff Check In:

Feel free to fill out this optional Monday morning staff check-in form.

Check it out:

A friend posted this candle she just purchased...I love it!  Everyone, today, let's take a deep breath and inhale the future, then let's exhale the past.

Home Sweet Home

 Principal Ponderings...

This picture was made by my great grandmother, Marion Forbes Cossler,
and as I have been carrying it from room to room trying to decide the best location to hang it,
I thought it was fitting to add into my post about home.

Wow, I went back and read my post from one year ago...the one where I selected my one word...pause.  At the time, I was forced to pause when I slipped and fell on the ice.  And then we were all forced to pause when the pandemic took over our lives.  I never would have thought that a year later I would still be dealing with pain and injuries from that fall and that we would all still be surviving a pandemic.  Pause was certainly an appropriate word for 2020.

And when thinking about my one word for 2021, I certainly had a few choice words in mind, maybe even some involving expletives, but those are really directed at 2020.  New year, new focus, new mindset, new beginnings.  Saying Buh-Bye to 2020 and all the not so nice words that I associate with it now.  

I have decided that my one word for 2021 is HOME.

I know it seems like a crazy choice for a word.  We have just spent a little under a year, practically confined to our homes.  We have all certainly had our fair share of time to go stir crazy quarantined with our families; life as we knew it put on hold.  But for me, I have developed a new appreciation for my family, my children, my husband, and our home.  Yes, we did just sell our house and buy a new one...which I love...but my word is not house, it's home.  And I feel like home means so much more to me than a physical place where I live.  You know I love quotes, and the one that says "home is where the heart is" has popped into my head a lot as I was trying to decide on my word.  I am lucky enough to have a home where my heart is with my family, but I also feel like Mayo School is my home, and you people surely do have my heart as well!  

This year, I truly hope that we will see positive things happening.  Vaccines.  COVID numbers going down.  Communities coming together.  School back in session.  I don't know if we will ever "go back to normal."  We will simply have a new normal...whatever normal is!  But I don't want to lose what I have gained during this pandemic.  My new appreciation for home.  If I get technical and use the verb form of 'home' then I will certainly make sure to continue to "focus on" what is most important....my home and all of the people that make this school and my house...home.

Music is so good for the soul...here are two songs to go with my one word:

What will your one word be for 2021?

Currently reading:

I am slightly excited that my new home has a space that I am calling the office/library.  I am actually able to fit many of my books in this space...so many boxes of books that I unpacked!  And there is an upholstered rocking chair in it where I can sit and read and escape.  I have certainly had to work hard to keep my reading routine going during the pandemic.  Half the time I was either too exhausted to read or too busy trying to entertain my children to focus on my reading time.  But this space is going to help me get my reading life back.  Over the break, I finished reading Jacqueline Woodson's Before the Ever After.  A book written in verse about a pro football player who has some brain and memory issues after being tackled so many time.  It's told from the perspective of his teenage son.  

I also read another book written in verse called All He Knew.  This book takes place in the 1940s and is about a young boy who is deaf and is sent to an institution.  Thankfully a young man who objects to the war and comes to work at the institution helps the boy get back home where he belongs.

I just started a book called A Home for Goddesses and Dogs by Leslie Connor.  She is the author who wrote The Truth as Told By Mason Buttle.  

And I have several that I am excited about in my Audible account...

 Events this week:

Monday - Welcome back!  PD day for staff

Tuesday - Students start back with remote learning

Wednesday - Staff meeting at 8:00 am

Thursday - Liz meeting with Commissioner Riley @ 10:00

Staff Check In:

Feel free to fill out this optional Monday morning staff check-in form.

Check it out:

A blog post about supporting students' social emotional needs: https://www.daveburgessconsulting.com/2021/01/03/supporting-social-emotional-needs-with-a-feelings-check-in/

And I came across this image...good reminder for all of us, we all have the right to rest.  Let's remember that even when we aren't on a break.