Brave Teacher Retreat Just Around The Corner

If you have been wondering if the Brave Teacher Fall Retreat, September 23 - 25, 2011, is for you, the answer is YES! YES! YES!

Claim your spot right now in this amazing experience HERE

I can't wait to spend time with you! It's going to be sooo good!

Check out the brochure HERE

• Do you wish you just had some time to journal? Brave Teachers Fall Retreat is for you.

• Do you like to spend time in peaceful setting by the water? Brave Teachers Fall Retreat is for you.

• Do you wish you had time to create art projects that will inspire and encourage you? Brave Teachers Fall Retreat is for you.

• Do you wish you could practice breathing and relaxing to reduce your stress? Brave Teachers Fall Retreat is for you.

• Do you wish you could spend time with like minded teachers? Brave Teachers Fall Retreat is for you.

• Do you enjoy delicious and nutritious meals? Brave Teachers Fall Retreat is for you.

• Do you long for someone to speak with courage and strength just for you? Brave Teachers Fall Retreat is for you.

And here is a little special treat for everyone who has signed up by the end of the Labor Day Weekend. You will receive a copy of Visioning The Best Year Ever via email for FREE! Sign up NOW!

And one super lucky retreat participant will receive a No Magic Wand Coaching Package with Brave Teacher Mim to be used at the time of your choosing--a $300 value!

Self Care and Computer Sabbath

So I'm making some really intentional choices to care for myself this year. I want to offer the people I care about the best of myself. That is only possible if I take good care of myself and am at my best.

One thing I've decided to do is to take a "computer sabbath." From the time I leave school on Friday until Saturday late afternoon/evening I will not use my computer. I won't check emails. I won't blog. Nada.

This past Friday was my first break. It was kinda' tough. I just wanted to catch up on some of my favorite blogs that I had missed since school started. Instead I grouped my students based on little assessments they did this week for both Reading and Math, I read bedtime stories to my little cutie pie. I went out to breakfast, went to a farmer's market, and I went hiking with my little family. I took lots of gorgeous photos on the hike.

I can already feel the benefits, but it doesn't mean it's easy.

What are you doing to take care of yourself that you know is right, but it might not always feel good or easy?

Download a self care worksheet HERE
and
a little poster where you can add your 10 Self Care Tips HERE.

Watercolor Painting With Kids

I LOVE to watercolor paint. I've had so many happy surprises, despite the fact that my skills are limited. I also love to share painting with kids. My two year old "needs" to watercolor at frequent intervals.

Here are some of the things I think kids gain from painting:

• patience with themselves and the paint
• focus on a specific task
• acceptance that things might not work out the way you expect
• confidence in their creative abilities
• appreciation for their work and improvement with practice
• joy in something that is neither immediate nor action packed nor technological

I know, I know. . .it sounds like I'm pinning a lot on one little activity. That's just it. It doesn't have to be just one little activity. It can happen regularly and frequently. It does not require lots of fancy tools or space.

I painted with 24 4th graders on Friday, and it was the absolute delight of my week. They did a great job at taking care of the materials. It was a gift to witness the variety with which they approached this experience. I'm already plotting future Friday paint dates! Students chose one of their little paintings to hang on their lockers with their first writing sample of the year. (This is how I justify this experience within the context of stifling standards driven school life.)

What delights you at work?

A Day Late and A Dollar Short

Over at Blog Hoppin' there's been an amazing week of all sorts of goodies, but if you're like me, you've been too busy, tired, and overwhelmed to read blogs and write blogs this week. So this is a day late, but I'd like to connect up to Freebie Friday. Here's what I have to offer:

Reading Street Focus Wall Labels--especially for 4th grade, but parts could be used in most grades. Stay tuned, as more will be added

and Labels for an Interactive Language Arts Notebook, based on Reading Street. I LOVED my students' Science Notebooks last year.

Over at my website, Brave Teachers, I have some free inspirational and affirming and planning printables, just for you, brave teacher. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.)

Head on over to Blog Hoppin' for TONS more goodies for FREE!

P.S. It's not too late to sign up for the Brave Teachers Fall Retreat. It's going to be a time of renewal and hope. Just like Fall, it's going to be a short season of letting go of the old ways of seeing and doing so that we can share our most amazing self in our teaching and our life.

Marvels On Monday

During the school year, Monday turns out to be my least favorite day. I feel dread on Sunday night. I think it's wrapped up in expectations of what I thought I should be able to do as a crazy worker bee.

In my process of visioning the best year ever I thought this Monday thing needed to change. I decided that I would expect less work from myself on the weekend and look for "marvels on Monday." These will be unexpected inspiration that flutter through my life. Since this was the first Monday (with just meetings) I can tell you I'm exhausted, but I have a couple things that really stuck out.

1. A teacher from another building gave me some brand new books to add to my class library--just because. That seemed pretty marvelous.

2. I received an amazing email of gratitude with a gift attached from a teacher, trainer, coach. I'll share more about this soon. This felt pretty marvelous.

What marvels are fluttering into your life?


P.S. I want to remind you it's not too late to sign up for the first ever Fall Brave Teachers Retreat.

Ending Summer With A Little Heart Goodness

What could be better for the human heart than an art project with a two year old? Let me think about this for a moment. . . nothing! One of my favorite art activities with my two year old is watercolor painting. It's really one of my all time favorite personal art activities, too.

It's fun to see how his process is changing over time. With the school year beginning I hold onto these moments. He is becoming so much more conversational. He has lots of creative and imaginative play that is changing from day to day. He's a little ornery and a lot lovable.

He does my heart good. He reminds me to slow down, not take myself or anyone else too seriously, to live in the moment. to enjoy where I am and who I'm with. This is all good for me with school starting in just a few days. {sigh}

What's making your heart feel good today?

Slow Down Martha Stewart-ish Teachers

Yep. You know who you are. Everything in your room is color coordinated--right down to the tissue box holder and adorable little homemade seats for your library area. And are those handwoven book baskets on handcrafted bookshelves, stained to match everything else? All those adorable alphabets all cut out and hanging from banners of recycled hand made paper across your classroom.

Slow down! I'm trying to keep up, but I just laminated my homemade posters for my focus wall--in all different colors of construction paper. My bulletin board trim has adorable polka dots, except for the stuff with frogs, and the other stuff with lizards, and the plain blue corrugated stuff.

Seriously I'm proud that today I put up locker tags and desk tags and lunch choice. The truth is no matter how fast I run, I will never catch up. There aren't enough hours in a day for me to catch up. I applaud your effort and investment. I look at the pictures on your blog and sigh longingly. It's just not me. I am preparing for the BEST YEAR EVER behind that great green door, but my room is not super cute.

I guess that's a really good thing to figure out. I have invested time in doing long range lesson planning for the year, creating an interactive notebook and focus wall for language arts. I'm still in the process of revamping my family handbook and creating a new powerpoint for the family meeting I'm hosting the night before kids begin. I'm doing all of this, and I'm trying to make peace with myself about it all being enough.

I suspect all of you might be feeling the same way--even if you have been making super cute goodness. You are enough, brave teacher. And if you are the Martha Stewartish type, I'll take any baked goods or cute projects you want to send my way!