Earrings

 Principal ponderings...

I have always loved earrings.  I am pretty sure I get that from my mom.  She was always a big jewelry fan and always loved wearing bold, colorful, different jewelry.  I got my ears pierced when I was 4 years old, but it wasn't until high school and college that I started to use earrings as a form of expression.  Little known fact about me...I used to have a lot of piercings in my ears.  And I wore all kinds of hoops, studs, and funky earrings.  These days...I have scaled back and only wear one earring in each ear, but I still try to find and wear all kinds of fun earrings.

Why am I talking about earrings?  Well in a crazy year where connections and relationships are even more important, my earrings have helped me realize how crucial connections with students are right now.  It's not every year that 4th and 5th grade boys can list off many of the different earrings I own!  When they started talking to me about my earrings during lunch, I realized...they are paying attention.  Definitely need to capitalize on that.  So I am very conscious of the earrings I pick out to wear and sometimes the earrings have a story that goes along with them so I share that story with students.  For example, I told a 5th grade class that I own a pair of earrings where one is an exclamation point and one is a question mark.  When I was a high school biology teacher, I would wear those earrings when I was going to give a "pop quiz."  Kids figured it out and news would travel fast as soon as someone spotted me wearing those earrings.  

Since a majority of the time, students are seeing me and hearing me through video with my morning announcements, it's clear that they only see a small part of me.  My earring collection is coming in handy this year!  

I am not saying that the way to connect with students is to go buy a bunch of earrings.  Trust me it's an expensive addiction!  (If you haven't checked out https://thesunriseshopnesloney.com/ yet and you want some awesome earrings...check her site out!) But I am saying find something, whatever it is, to connect with kids.  They are paying attention.  They are craving that attention.  They want to connect.  They want to see you and they want you to see them.  They want to hear your stories and they need to be able to share their stories with us.  

How did you connect with our students today?

Currently reading:

It was so good to have several days over the vacation where I could take time to sit in my favorite reading chair or lie on my couch and read!  I finished A Home for Goddesses and Dogs.  It's another great story by Leslie Connor.  There is loss in it, but it's also full of love and belonging and a family taking care of each other.  If anyone wants to borrow it, let me know.  And it was fitting that I started reading Gordon Korman's book, Unplugged this week.  Always love how he creates different characters.  This book takes place at a Mind and Wellness Retreat in the middle of nowhere Arkansas...no devices allowed!  And I just read Allergic this weekend, a perfect graphic novel for so many of our students who are frustrated with being allergic to different things. 

Events this week:

Monday - Happy March!  Announcement of our March Read-a-Thon!

Tuesday - Read Across America Day! (But really it's Read Across America Month!)

Wednesday - Remote learning day, Staff Meeting @ 8:00am, Liz in a leadership meeting from 12:30-2:30, Laura in a team chair meeting from 2:30-3:30

**Read-a-Thon will take place next week March 8-March 14.

Check it out:

Saturday morning I joined an EdCamp with several teachers from Mayo and educators from across the state and across the country.  Here is a newsletter where there is a link to the collaborative notes that were taken during the event.  So much amazing information shared!

And because Gerry Brooks always knows how to say it better... https://youtu.be/xmsoFewV1Fw