True belonging doesn’t require that we change who we are. It requires that we be who we are.
―Brené Brown
Be You
I missed a week at the gym because I was fighting a cold. It completely caught me off guard and disrupted my daily routine. When I finally had enough energy to show up, I walked in and was greeted with enthusiasm by the front desk worker. “Ruth! You’re back! I was starting to get worried. I heard you caught a bug.”
I smiled and felt a little better about pushing through the exhaustion to make it to my 6:00 am class. When I entered the room for the class, my classmates started clapping.
I’m not one who likes to be applauded, yet in that moment, I felt like I belonged. I pondered how a little thing like showing up and being wholly ourselves makes a big difference in belonging.
For many years, I thought that to be ready for the opening days of school, everything had to be perfect. As a teacher, I wanted each bulletin board decorated, all of the furniture arranged precisely, and each student’s name perfectly displayed. As a coach, I thought through the opening meeting and designed reflective practice activities that inspired big dreams and meaningful goal-setting.
Today, I realize that belonging isn’t about perfection. It’s about showing up and being who we are. We are educators who care about students and their families, people who love books and want others to love books, and among those who still get a little giddy about the first days of school.
Today, and every day, make no mistake that who you are is enough. You don’t have to change, you just need to show up and be wholly you. This week we look at belonging—plus more, as always.
Shine on,
Ruth Ayres
Editor in Chief
Suzy Kaback thinks deeply about the concept of belonging as an essential part of building a school community.
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share poems to start the year that touch a variety of needs, from building community to connecting with colleagues to hosting parents for back-to-school night.
If you’re unsure about working with multilingual learners, Stella Villalba has some reassuring advice for you.
Join Coach-to-Coach, a supportive and inspiring network just for instructional coaches. Meet virtually once a month to keep your professional goals fresh and stay accountable for your next steps as a coach. This free community is inspired by Choice Literacy articles and led by Ruth Ayres.
New members-only content is added each week to the Choice Literacy website. If you’re not yet a member, click here to explore membership options.
When a new student joins Becca Burk‘s kindergarten classroom and asks, “What’s a book?” Becca realizes some behaviors are new to even the most veteran teachers. This is the first installment of a four-part series chronicling the responses when a student with dysregulated behaviors joins Becca Burk’s kindergarten class mid-year.
Tammy Mulligan considers ways to help students feel and know that they belong in the classroom community. The more we broaden our knowledge of others and discover more about who we are and what we care about, the more our sense of belonging can grow.
In this video, Dana Murphy shares ways to nourish a sense of belonging in all students.
In this video, Stella Villalba encourages all educators to listen to students to understand how to create a culture of belonging.
New members-only content is added each week to the Choice Literacy website. If you’re not yet a member, click here to explore membership options.
Brian Sepe guides us in a reflective practice activity to help strengthen our mindsets as leaders who multiply and grow the intelligence of those around them. This article was inspired by Liz Wiseman’s book Multipliers.
Matt Renwick outlines a four-step process to engage in leadership coaching.
Ruth Ayres and Becca Burk share a necessary survey for your school community to begin engaging in conversations about managing emotional dysregulation in students. Drawing on their extensive experiences with managing emotional dysregulation as foster parents and educators, they make a case for beginning conversations among your faculty with this simple survey.
Quote It:
Today, if you have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
—Mother Teresa
That’s all for this week!
