Ms. M's Tales of a Teacher: My Personal Teacher Blog

Hello again my fellow teacher friends! Welcome to another week of school and inspiration.  I'm sure by now we are starting to adjust to our schedule, settle into the routine, and get used to the surprises that pop up everyday. As teachers, we are used to this, and it often throws us off our game a bit. There's also this to consider; how many emails, spreadsheets, surveys, and other tasks do we have to complete in addition to the regular planning and organizing we have to do? If you think about it, we are always working through a sense of urgency, and many times the meaningful work is pushed to the side because we believe that the tasks deemed as "urgent" take preference.  This week I want us to consider an idea by Valorie Burton. She shares with us her wisdom on the John Maxwell podcast episode entitled 5 Questions Every Resilient Leader Asks Themselves. One of her recommendations was the idea of urgency vs. meaningful.  As teachers, we are asked frequently to complet

 Hello again readers and fellow teacher friends! Welcome to another week of my blog and of the 2023-2024 school year. Just a quick check in: did the week feel like it went by fast or slow? For me it was a mixture of both really.  Last week we thought about our 1% and how we can change or do one thing that can make a difference. This week let’s think about what we’ve learned so far getting back into the groove of the school year, and reflect how our first week (or few weeks if you started in late August,) went. If you’ve noticed that some routines may need adjusting, know that you’re not alone! As much as we wish things would work the say way ever year, they do not! Since our students are not the same, and each class is different, we have to be flexible with our thinking and make the routines fit the needs of our students.  Every year I reflect after the first few weeks to see what procedures/routines I can keep exactly the same, and which ones need adjusting (which tend to be most of t

  Welcome back to school and happy new (school) year! It’s great to be back for another year of inSpiration. I hope our time on Sundays this year is well spent, and I can add a bit of sunshine to get your week started. This year I'd like to use my blog to share some general advice and experiences, as well as narrow some posts to specifically reading topics. I hope this creates a balance for everyone who visits here!  T o start us off, I’d like to share some words of wisdom from Ron Clark that I heard this summer at the Educator Summit. Quick side note; the Educator Summit was amazing with keynotes by Ron Clark and Dave Burgess. The summit also had a lot of great resources for those just starting their journey to learn about the Science of Reading.  In his keynote address, Ron Clark stated "this year let’s try to think about what’s that 1% that we can do to make a positive impact and change.” That's all we need- 1%!  We often think in order to make a difference we need to d