Choice Lit Topic: Self Care
When Choice Literacy was launched in 2006, we never imagined that wellness and balance would be a part of the conversation here. Yet how can anyone take care of students if they don’t learn how to take care of themselves? These features are all about being kind to yourself so that you can show grace and compassion to others.
Results
Recognizing the Need for Change
What comes to mind when you think about stepping stones? For me, it’s what our family nicknamed Blue Slide Park, a park we frequented as kids that had, you guessed...
Hidden Lessons: Why Do Relationships Matter? (Part 3)
By the time they reach high school, many students have learned how to survive change, but not always how to make sense of it. They’ve lost friendships, switched schools, experienced...
Dealing with Overwhelm
When school started in August, teachers returned to the building as always with big plans for all the amazing things they were going to do with their students. They were...
Stay Sharp: Christy Rush-Levine
Christy Rush-Levine shares tips on how teachers can stay sharp.
Stay Sharp: Bitsy Parks
Bitsy Parks shares the importance of reading professionally to stay sharp.
Stay Sharp Series: Seek Out Others
Dana Murphy shares the ways she seeks out educators who help her stay sharp. Her key sources are Twitter, the educators in her school, and reading the Big Fresh.
Maintaining an Adult Reading Life
One quick scroll through my Instagram feed will tell you what matters most to me: my family, my dog, knitting, and books. (All right, maybe tacos and cheeseburgers too.) These...
Books to Fuel Creativity and Imagination
It is only heavy because you are deciding over and over again to carry it. Embrace change, loosen up your sense of identity, let yourself walk a new path. You...
Pausing for Renewal Throughout the Day
Self-care means giving yourself permission to pause. —Cecilia Tran The buzz of everyday school life can easily have us running around without much focus. In my role as a teacher...
Doing the Writing in a Unit
It may seem simple to you, but every time I look at that shelf, I am filled with pride. The shelf hangs—perfectly straight at eye level in my bedroom. On...
Flipping Negative Teacher Emotions
I am generally a happy person. I am content in my home and work life, I usually look on the bright side, and I try to find the humor in...
Three-Word Meditation
Meditation is the clearing of the mind so you can proceed at your best. Many years ago, I was in my car listening to public radio on the way to...
Recharging with My Tribe
Being able to express myself is a huge part of my self-care routine. Cleo Wade When I reach the final days of the school year, I know I’m not...
Creating a Manifesto
The better you know yourself, the better your relationship with the rest of the world. —Toni Collette The words rattled around my ears and tapped the low beat of...
A Place to Belong
It is early spring, and like all teachers, I am gearing up for the wild ride of school days that race like two-track roller coasters starting in April through the...
Channeling Monet
She wanted to come into my class to “volunteer and observe.” I understood the desire to volunteer, but I struggled to make sense of her purpose in observing. Usually when...
New Words for the New Year
The clean slate of January 1 refreshes our visions of our higher selves. The potential of the New Year gives us energy and inspires newness: new diets, new interests, new...
Making Space: Entering Lessons Mindfully
If you enter a physical space, such as your home, with your right foot (literally), the act of pausing, deliberating, focusing—even if just for a few seconds—helps you focus on...
Giving Up Television
I try to be a super teacher. I really do. I’ll take every child with every alphabet soup of labels, your “nonreaders,” your “I’m not a writer!,” your class clown,...
Before and After Pictures: Documenting Progress
“Aww….,” groaned Nina’s third graders. She had just given the signal to end literature circle discussions. I completely understand why the third graders were so reluctant to stop. I had...
A Case of the Perennial Annuals
There is a flower Within my heart, Daisy, Daisy! Planted one day By a glancing dart, Planted by Daisy Bell! From "Daisy Bell" ("A Bicycle Built for Two") written by...
