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Don’t get me wrong. I ❤️ a good tradition. *Especially* around the holidays...
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Thanksgiving dinner, my family draws from a hat their ‘Secret Santa’.
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On Xmas Eve, we sing the 12 Days of Christmas, w/ each holiday bulb assigned to a different soloist.
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Digging back even further...
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My Dad + I used to do this thing where we’d lay under the 🌲 tree after decorating it, just to watch the twinkling lights + bask in our delicate work.
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On the day after Christmas, *every year* *without fail* my Bro + I would head to the mall to buy a new pair of kicks and a new 📞 phone (remember the Razor?!).
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Some traditions feel SO good 🥰. But here comes the bomb-bomb…💣💣
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Not all of them SERVE us 🤯
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Consider the traditions of a 100+ year-old education system (ya know, the one made for Industrial Era compliance, yet hasn’t changed much since?):
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👉🏻single-row seats (admit it, you loved the front—or the back—row)
👉🏻 key concepts or skills in isolation
👉🏻 product > process
👉🏻 competition > collaboration
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I’m not posting to say ‘Damn the Man’ and all that garbage.
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I know well, that like the personal pieces that fill our ❤️s, there are plenty of timeless teaching traditions that’ll always hold space in our classrooms.
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But I’m ALL ABOUT the almighty power of the Audit 🧐
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SO...Honest-Talk: have you done a *genuine* audit of the lessons you’re so timelessly using?
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Some will stay, some will go...but the❓is:
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⁉️ are they still serving your students in ways that truly translate into TomorrowLand?
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⁉️...for the JOBS they’ll be doing that don’t 👏🏼 even 👏🏼 exist yet 👏🏼??
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I know it’s hard to let go of those activities that make our lives so easy.
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(But until you truly audit, DO NOT defer to the point that you ‘ain’t about to fix what ain’t broken’)
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Cuz tomorrow, there *ain’t* no more assembly line (we have Amazon 🤖 for that)
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Our ~students~ will be assembling (in their own, innovative minds) the next big thing since sliced br—, er...wireless AirPods 🧠
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So I leave you with this…
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Sticking to the status quo rarely gets us in trouble.
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But comfort never leads to innovation.
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Which road will you be walking down as we trapsy into 2020?
FACT: you can’t pour from an empty cup.
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This week’s blog post tackles a tender topic...mental health.
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More than ever, our students silently fight battles which are entirely unique to this era.
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From cyber-bullying, to the looming threat of campus shootings; the comparison effect inextricably tied to scroll-sessions on social media; and an inundation of data unlike any generation has ever witnessed before.
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As teachers and Leaders, we are 💯 here to protect their hearts and their minds...
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But if we’re going to do that, we’ve gotta put the proverbial oxygen mask on first, which is what today’s post is all about.
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In this season (be that holiday-mode or ‘season’ of life, in general), you’re on my mind, my fellow teacher peeps.
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Mental health is for us, too.
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🔗 in bio if you’re up for some real-talk. #iteachhighschool #iteachela #highschool #teachersofinsta #igteachers #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #teachertalk #mentalhealth #selfcare #madeformore
Right on 🎯 this weekend as we prep for the holidays…
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*giggles at silly, picture-related pun*
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Two Christmas tree-decorating operations later (one for the kids, one for the ‘rents), and we’re kinda-sorta ready to get the Christmas vibes on.
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Key word: kinda…
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‘Kids’ tree-decorating Op…
Great! Loved it! Mom-of-the-year patience!
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Letting go of the ‘main tree’ decorating?
Not so much…
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*Cue the Type A, control freak in me*
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Maybe it’s my Spirit Creative, my love for design, the Maker in my DNA mold....
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🤷🏼♀️ It’s freaking HARD to give up creative control, m’kay?!
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Even when I’m handing it over to my own kids. .
(And I’ll tell you straight...I got a D+ on that -ish tonight...at least I’m real about it.)
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Sometimes I think holiday memories are supposed to be ~just like~ they were when I was young.
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👁 (Admit: don’t we all?!) 👁
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Then it hits me: this is legit *no different* than the way we—teachers—get down in our own classrooms...(guilty as charged + right here with you, friends!)
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👩🏼🏫 From a TEACHER’s perspective:
Yeah, I want to detail the ~shit~ out of that rubric so my students can’t possibly eff it up…
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👩👧👦 From a MOM’s perspective:
I want to tell my babes ~exactly~ where to put those ornaments so as to meld the perfect holiday memory in their minds.
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But, YO...here’s the connect:
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Letting the younger Gen take the lead is what *real* learning and *genuine* memories are made of…
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So what IF we gave them license to design?
What if they DID make a big fat mess (my lil monsters, my learners, or *your* students)?
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Failing—actual experience—leads to learning, doesn’t it? Yet here I am, in all my decoratin’ glory, not applying this strategy to my OWN 👏🏼KiDS 👏🏼 ?!
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*kicks Self in gut where she deserves it*
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So ~today~, I CHOOSE to:
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a) own that mess as a Mom, but
b) inspire other teachers to embrace that mess in the classroom, too.
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Let the freakin’ Wildlings lead a lil’...
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We might have our own nostalgia (i.e. agenda!) for what’s worked in the past...
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...but I guarantee that *letting go* of some of that control just 👏🏼 might 👏🏼 turn out even better than we EVER could remember, imagine, or divine ourselves.
Every day, as I rev up my work day, I write it down:
💫 ‘I’m changing the world for my children.’
👩🏼💻 The birth of my daughter inspired the birth of my first blog.
📕 The birth of my son inspired the birth of my first published book.
🤩 The support of my husband—my best friend in the 🌎 inspires me to dream as big as I want.
🎯 And Chewy...he’s my ride-or-die in the office, cheering me on to hit those daily, needle-moving goals or *I* won’t get any (world changin’) treats, either.
🙌🏼 So I could be more GRATEFUL for what I’ve got goin’ on right here.
Happy 🦃 from the Pavich fam!
#grateful #familyfirst #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #itsabeautifullife #bossbabe #bizmom #changeagent #edPioneer #blazingthetrail
Me, too.
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And little known fact, I'm not just a writing teacher, I'm a writer...too.
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But no one's ever really read my work.
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Because back in the days when I was building brave, new worlds with words in pink ink (that tender age of 7, though), there wasn't really a way for my work to be read by, well, anyone other than my mama.
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So in keeping it all to myself for 30+ years, you better believe I never found any kind of confidence in sharing what I wrote.
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Hence that little novel I want to write, but the likes of it have *yet* to see the light of day...
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Sigh.
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But the part that makes the writing teacher in me smile, is that it's not like that for *my* students.
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Instead, the Digital Era brings the noise when it comes to sharing in an instant our work with those folks we could never reach before.
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Our four walls are far less limiting when it comes to getting student work out there and into the great, wide open.
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And they need that. They need authentic audiences. They need feedback and critique from more than just our audience of one.
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Because 'when our students create for the world, they make it good; when they create for us, they make it good enough.'
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(Rushton Hurley, I'm lookin' at you, man...#ballerquotes)
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So which would *you* rather they create?
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Well if you're down for the former, if you think there's worth in our writers writing for someone other than us or examinations officers, I've got the ultimate geek-sesh for you.
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Today, I'm goin' live and gettin' real about what it means to teach writing in today's digital era.
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And I'm shelling out 3 legit ways you can pivot your writing instruction in a more authentic direction.
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So if you teach writing, I look forward to meeting up and nerding out.
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Link in bio, yo. 'See' you there!
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #iteachhighschool #iteachela #highschool #teachersofinsta #igteachers #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #teachertalk #teacherpreneur #21stcenturyteaching
When I started teaching, this wasn’t a question I found myself asking.
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Apparently, in 2004, smart phones weren’t quite smarter than our 5th graders just yet.
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But fast forward to 2019...even now, lots of teachers will tell you, ‘well, that’s not *my* job.’
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Well, iTeacher here...I’m here to say, ‘oh, hecks yes it is, brave teacher’...
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Our ~job~ is to transform learners into good citizens, right?
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‘Productive members of society,’ we beam.
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Well the digital footprints they create *reflect directly* the humans we’re shaping them to be, academically, socially, and professionally.
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Think about it…
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In a world like this one, where technology + communication = ubiquitous 4ever...where much of our reading, writing, seeking, and finding is conducted online...
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N O T having a digital footprint just isn’t an option anymore.
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Being Google-able is what opens the proverbial doors these days.
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(And apologies here, but, ‘I’m going to Google a few of her formal essays,’ said no human-or-employer ever!)
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Being Google-able is our resume and our business card.
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But here’s the kicker for the status-quo classroom…
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One must C R E A T E something in order for it to be Googled.
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Instead of just finding the answer online, our writers need license + encouragement to *produce* the answers t h e m s e l v e s.
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And in giving them the space to figure out what’s worth sharing, they’re building a bridge toward who they are in the process.
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Right now, they share for self(ie). This is what they know.
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But they don’t know what they don’t know, right?
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What would it look like if we started teaching them to share online for others?
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Because #truthbomb of the school day...if it isn’t in our job description to do it, and unless they take the initiative to Google it themselves, who *else* will? #iteachhighschool #iteachela #highschool #teachersofinsta #igteachers #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #teachertalk #teacherpreneur #teacherpreneurtribe #21stcenturyteaching
