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Awakened Educator - Education & Personal Development
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Intention and Impact...Does Yours Align?
Happy Sunday Educators and welcome to our 4th posting! For those of you who are new to the Awakened Educator, a special welcome to you. We are happy to have you and invite you into a space where we push a heightened sense of awareness and empowerment which creates lasting change for those in the field of education. First…how are you doing?Before we dive into the post...time to check on you. How are you? Try not to give the ready answer of “fine” and keep it moving but really take a moment to che
Try Vulnerability...Unlock Freedom
Happy Sunday Educators and Happy Veterans Day! For those of you with the day off tomorrow…enjoy the extra day of weekend and please don’t use the entire day to catch up on work…smh. I know it’s tempting but…don’t.So, I recently had an experience where I was presenting on the topic of Feeding Your Spirit to a group of district leaders and teams. I constantly think about elements of this topic and didn’t think it would be too far outside my scope. I also had the opportunity to facilitate the sessi
Not Quite Living the Life You Imagined? Answering this question might help…
Happy Sunday Educators! You are likely familiar with the idea of backwards mapping. Get crystal clear about the outcome, the desired end, your North Star and begin to plan your strategy to land there. When we plan in this way, we typically land much closer to the intended outcome simply because it guides the process as we plan and implement. We reference the outcome with each planning strategy and seek to answer the question, “Will this planned segment get me closer or further from my goal?” W
Be Grateful...For You...
Happy Sunday Educators! I’m hoping you are looking forward to the short week and planning for your personal version of relaxation and reflection. This week I received the sad news of the passing of a college classmate of mine. She was in her early 40s. I didn’t know her well but recalled that she always had a beautiful smile on her face and a kindness about her that was memorable. She, like I and most others her age spend very little time thinking about our passing and are typically pretty cert
Is Your Immunity Healing or Harming You?
Recently I was out on my long weekend walk with my dog. Usually our walks in the morning are a quick 10 minutes, but I like to reserve at least one weekend morning to take about a 45-minute walk through the neighborhood. To keep my hands free during the walk, I took my house key off of the key chain and slid it inside my shoe. As I moved my foot around, I tried to find the perfect spot for the key so the discomfort would be less noticeable during the walk. It was to no avail. Each step prompted
Are You Truly Free?
Hello Educators! I sincerely hope that you and yours are well. It has been quite a bit of time since I have posted. I let life run its course, thereby causing my schedule to have minimal time for some of what I find most enriching and sustaining, writing. So, as I reenter my space of sustenance, I am making the conscious decision to continue to do what brings me balance and joy through a process of reflection. Oftentimes when our reality becomes all-consuming, we may find ourselves removing the
Thank You RBG...It's Our Turn Now...
Hello Educators. As I finally settled down on the couch for a mind break on Friday, after an incredibly long week, my phone chimed. It was a text from my sister forwarding breaking news that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had passed. You know that sense when you physically feel your heart drop? That sinking feeling that yet another complicated ball has been set in motion during the historic year that 2020 has become? A few hours later, another news alert that the process to fill her seat would begi
2021 is a Constant; We are the Change...
Happy New Year Educators and welcome to 2021! I hope you had one of the most relaxing and memorable holiday seasons and that you were able to create moments and memories that deepened the connections around you and supported your wellbeing. Breaks never seem long enough but I hope this one gave you a little of what you needed most at the end of 2020. As I thought about resuming my routine and returning to this blog in 2021, I found myself wondering about what my stance in life should be as I beg
Don't Miss This Opportunity To Be Inspired!
Happy Sunday Educators! What a week (last week), month, and year it has been. How are you doing? How are you being? Yes...that was said on purpose. There's the doing of life and there is also the being and when life is challenging, they are often both impacted, and from time to time, we need support. Join me and many others from 50 states and 16 countries as I host an event that will help us learn, grow, and be well together at the CASEL Social and Emotional Exchange Virtual Summit! On this blog
Touching Base...
Hello Educators. How are you doing? It has been a while since we've connected and today's post will be short. I decided a few weeks ago to take a break from writing just to regroup, recharge, and come back a bit refreshed. I am hoping you had the opportunity to do the same before starting a new school year. This season has quickly become one that feels like 24 hours just is not sufficient for the demands of the day. I will resume my full blog post writing next week as I take a bit of time to fin
Nothing About Us...Without Us
Hello Educators. Hoping that you are staying safe, healthy, and continuously inspired to be the change that our world needs right now. Last week I had the pleasure of moderating a webinar with four high school students as guests speaking about the importance and necessity of student voice and vision. If you have not had an opportunity to listen in on the recent CASEL Cares Webinar series, I highly recommend you listen to the recent webinar entitled, SEL as a Lever for Equity: Elevating Student V
Your Personal School Reopening Plan
Hello Educators. Welcome to another week. As always, I hope you and yours are well and that you continue to find moments of peace and joy even during this time. Over the past couple of weeks, most school districts have begun rolling out their school reopening plans. Whether the decision was made to go fully virtual, hybrid, or fully in-person, the implications are significant for everyone involved. The questions continue to swirl regarding whether to prioritize health or learning, public wellnes
Get Beyond the Sting of Feedback...
Hello Educators! As always, I send love and positivity to you and yours. Most of us are already over the halfway mark of this summer and are either deeply engaged in summer activities, planning for the upcoming school year, or a bit of both. Whichever end you are on, I hope you take time to unplug fully before the school year resumes because once it does, there is no recapturing of forfeited downtime. Question for you…how is your relationship with feedback? Do you seek it? Dread it? When it com
Last chance to join me...
Happy Sunday Educators and Happy Indigenous Peoples Day! I hope you are doing well. This week we honor and recognize the people native to the lands that we currently occupy and we acknowledge their true history of brilliance but also the reality of genocide and displacement which marked the lives of so many. This is the reality of our nation's history that I did not learn as I walked through my K-12 experience. As we seek to turn a new page in education and seek to right the injustices of an edu
Making Data-Informed Decisions…About Us…
Hello Educators. I hope you and yours remain well. I want you to know that it continues to be a pleasure and privilege to engage with you each week, particularly during our current times. If you find the postings helpful in addressing the ongoing challenges you face, be sure to share the blog with anyone that you believe would benefit from this conversation. Over the past week, I moderated a final webinar in a 5-part series entitled: SEL as a Lever for Equity: Policy & Data Practices that Disman
The Realism of Dr. King...
Happy Martin Luther King Day Educators! I hope you have been able to find a level of peace and calm to support you this weekend. Today I watched an interview where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was speaking about the current standing of the civil rights movement at the time and the “new phases” of the struggle for genuine equality. The interview occurred 11 months before his assassination and though MLK has always been held up as the non-violent dreamer, the omission of his stance and communicatio
Where has the Awakened Educator Blog been?!
Hello Educators. Does anyone else have a countdown to break in full swing? Hopefully, I am not alone on that one…lol. I hope you are hanging in there and continuing to push forward. Life has been tough and continues to be so but…you and I are tougher. So…it has been a while since I’ve written a post so I wanted to check in and let you know that the blog still lives and to update you on where I have been. Throughout this blog, I have continued to stress the importance of finding a sense of balanc
Ditch the Lie of Perfection
Hello Educators. It has been a bit since I’ve published a full post and as busy as it has been, I can honestly say that I’ve missed the space of writing with you in mind. This blog has become one of my self-care opportunities as I have been able to connect on a human level with others who are committed to the challenging work of transforming young lives through education. Thank you for coming back weekly to read and share. I count it an honor to impart and support in any way that I have done so
Your Learning is Critical to Our Collective Wellbeing
Hello Educators. Happy Sunday to you. I hope you are hanging in there and managing the ongoing complexity of this time well enough. It is always interesting to determine how to start each of these posts. When I just started writing this blog several months back, each started with an exclamation of greeting and talking through the challenges of education from a linear standpoint. These days, if there is an exclamation, it rests on the reality of yet another issue or challenge that calls us to rec
Haiti...Beyond the Newsfeed...
Hello Educators! I send love and positivity to you and yours. When I started this blog I found myself getting anxious about one thing…what if I run out of content? Will I have something to write about every other week, and now…every week. What I have found is that if I choose to live life with intention and pay attention to myself, others, and the world around me, the content will always emerge. This week it appeared in the sadness I felt and still feel regarding the home country of my parents,
Get in Good Trouble...Necessary Trouble - Congressman John Lewis
Hello Educators. I hope you and yours remain well and continuously motivated during our current context. On July 17, 2020, our world went dark for just a moment as we lost the light of an icon, a legend, a leader, an activist, an agitator, a visionary, and also an implementer. Congressman John Lewis was not solely an orator but a change agent. He not only talked about the shifts required for civil rights and social justice but he lived the challenges of the walk. He stepped into the discomfort o
Taking A Pause...
Happy Sunday Educators. I hope this post finds you and yours well. I've spoken often through this blog regarding the importance of taking time to unplug, decompress, and rejuvenate in order to remain effective in this work. For the next three weeks I'll be taking a pause from writing the blog just to recharge. I'll be back at it again on Sunday, August 30th, in time to rejoin the school reopening process as it unfolds throughout. I hope you too find ways to prioritize your wellbeing as you prepa
Are We Creating Space for Dissent?
Hello educators! Sending you much love and hoping that all is well with you and yours. I have been contemplating the skill of perspective taking, particularly in our current context, and have found myself wondering if we are less skilled in our ability to create space for differing viewpoints now than we were even 10 years ago. The level of divisiveness is concerning, to say the least, and the issues that are driving the greatest wedges in our society have found a comfortable place in our distri
Support for the Overwhelm
Hello Educators. I hope you are hanging in there and managing through the ups and downs of this season. Question for you…how many days until the next holiday break? Even during a typical school year, the countdown to the holidays would start right about now. This year is far from typical and as districts are working through reopening, you are likely feeling a myriad of emotions which may amount to a sense of overwhelm. If this is accurate for you, trust that you are not alone and that even those
Using this Moment in Time...
Hello Educators. How are you doing? I am going to suspend the notion that I can provide the correct words, to sum up or discuss the week we just completed. For those who thought that 2021 would be a fresh start, it became blatantly clear that the only fresh start that we can claim is the one that we choose to take on personally. I had a recent aha this weekend as I finished my weekend dog walk on Saturday. As I approached my home, I noticed an exposed bird’s nest within the bare branches of one