Welcome Back! "Making Dreams Happen" Thinking About our Teacher Dreams!

 Greetings everyone! Welcome back to another school year with my blog! I'm so happy you are here! I'm ready to spend time with you this school year through my blog. As I always share, I am fairly new at writing blogs, and my main goal for this one is to help teachers with all different levels of experience feel seen, heard, valued, understood, and supported. If my blog helps even just one person feel lifted and motivated, then it's purpose has been justified. 

This month I shared a quote by Leroy Iams: "Never let go of a dream until you're ready to wake up and make it happen." 

What is your dream teacher friends? What do you hope for yourself as an educator? Perhaps your dream is solely focused on the work you do in the classroom. For others, it may be something bigger for themselves; going back for an advanced degree, learning something new, refining a craft or skill... the possibilities are endless, and they are unique to you. The important thing is that we continue to have dreams for ourselves, both personally and professionally. Dreams are the "performers" and motivation is the "backstage crew." They both work together to create something magical and positive. If you have motivation with out a dream, there will be no show to watch, and dreams without motivation can't appear on stage to begin with. It's like never turning the lights on or opening the curtain. 

We have to be our own stage crew and performer for our dream. We have to be ready to make it happen. Like Leroy Iams stated in his quote, we should only let go of the dream when we are ready to put in the work and watch it take off. There are times my friends where we know what our dream is, but we also know we need to catch our breath and reserve our energy for it. That's ok too! I believe if we start the work prematurely, we may be at risk of stopping or loosing sight of what our dream is. Pausing until we are ready also gives us the time to reflect on it and make a plan to help see the dream through. 

Teachers are the most giving, kind, and humble people I know. Some may even question if their dream is selfish if it doesn't directly involve their class. The answer to this is a hard no! If we want to be the best for our students, model for them how to bring their dreams to life, then we better set the example the right way; by having dreams for ourselves. It's ok to want to be a teacher for yourself as much as your students, and it's more than ok to have a dream that is focused on you! Our students will benefit from this and see the positive effects it can have on them if they focus on their own dreams, as well as the ripple effect it can have on others when they support one another. 

Let's take some time this week to reflect on our own dreams. What are they? Are you ready to "let it go" so it can happen? What motivates you to get started? Have you asked others about their dreams? if not, ask someone this week and share yours. We are all in this together! 

Final thoughts: Keep thinking about what dreams you have. Keep working on what motivates you for your dreams. Keep up with when you are ready to let go of your dream to make it happen. Keep in mind you need both the dream and motivation to have the "show" go on and achieve the dream. Finally, keep the positive spirit that you will in fact achieve this dream, and for you! When you focus on you, you'll automatically be focusing on your students. 

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