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

Greetings fellow teachers, teacher leaders, and literacy leaders! Whatever you consider yourself, and wherever your journey currently is, I am so glad you are here taking a few minutes of your time to be here and get some information and inspiration! This week I’d like to share some insights to my Work-Life Balance virtual workshop I recently held with my KDP chapter! Truth be told, I don’t consider myself to be the SEL/Work-life balance expert. In fact, I always avoided workshops like these because I found the advice to be the same; teachers should drink more water, get more sleep, say “no” more often, and learn to put themselves first. These are important however, I was always looking for something more... something I could actually attain and utilize. Sometimes getting more sleep and exercise is just not in the cards.  I am blessed to have a trusted colleague and educator friend Dr. Clinton Smith who is always sharing his latest research with me. He is a special education guru...

Welcome back friends! I know it's been two weeks since the last post, but you will soon see why I purposely gave myself the two weeks for a break. The theme this week is to be present, and I wanted to fully embrace that mindset as I set off on my travel/presentation/conference adventures!  I am fully inspired this November as I attended KDP Convocation and NJEA Convention. From presenting to networking, learning from others, and traveling, it’s been a worthwhile experience! I wish you all could've been there with me, so  I ’d like to share a few take-aways this week to get us motivated and inspired to continue our own journeys as lifelong learners- together! We all know the importance of professional development, but what it means is different for everyone. For me, it represents the idea that professionally we all have room to grow, refine our practice and skills, and learn from others. In other words, let's spin around "professional development" into "develo...