The Bailey Times
January 13, 2020
“Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which a person acquires and effectively applies the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, solve problems, make responsible decisions, and set/achieve positive goals.” (Casel.org)
My thoughts.......
We have talked on and off about SEL this year and we have spent time looking at the competencies of self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, relationship skills and social awareness. We had to first start with looking at ourselves and how we deal with life, how we deal with our own anger, and sadness before we could try and help our students! The more you start to dig into SEL the more you find things about yourself that you need to deal with.
This year is somewhat different because I am retiring and due to this, I think we are all on hold waiting to see what the future holds. I think this has affected what we are doing and the pace that we are doing it at! I try not to push you too much because I watch and listen to you and I see
teachers who are diligently working hard trying to make a difference for our students but at times so overwhelmed with life and the demands of school and parents that it is hard to ask you to put one more thing on your plate! Even so, I feel that I need to address this now and remind everyone of how important it is for our kids that we look at SEL and we work through the process.
First let's deal with my retirement and the real why! I am retiring because it is my time. I am not retiring because I am tired of being in education or because the parents and children are getting too crazy, or that central office and the state drive are driving me crazy with all the changes they keep making....I am retiring because it is my time. When I say it is my time what I mean is that I feel I have accomplished what I set out to do 10 years ago when I took this job. I think we are placed in positions for a purpose. I believe in God and I believe I was placed in this position in order to help parents, teachers, students, and co-workers in ways I may never know or understand, but I know that I have made a difference. I am not unhappy but rather concerned about what education looks like in this day and time. I am concerned about my students and what life will look like when they graduate. I am concerned about my teachers and the difficulties that you continue to face every day. There are many reasons why I have chosen to retire and why I know it is my time. I am being called to start another journey where I am needed. It may be to make sure that my Mother is taken care of in a way that she deserves, it may be that my children may need me to help them in future endeavors, it may be that my husband needs a wife that is not responsible every day for over 100 people! I know I am excited to unload this burden and it shows every day!!! LOL!
So, I say all of this to make sure you know that I may be retiring and I may be really happy about it, but I want you to take seriously what we are doing this year and for the years to come. We are putting into place a process that will help our students have a better life! The best way to help all of us is to embrace this process! We must help our students learn ways to deal with life and it starts with us! Teaching is hard! Our joy and passion for what we do gets damaged and we get discouraged but if we could start to really address the foundation of our anxiety and stress then our passion and joy for what we do will also flourish and our students will flourish as well!
We will start the second semester with the word Empathy! I think it is the foundation for a lot of skills that we and our children need to practice daily! The article I want you to read is below. I hope you will start discussing this word in your classroom if you have not already and we will talk about it in our faculty/PLC meetings in January and February.
The article I want you to read is attached below!
*****Okay, so I just opened my computer this morning having written the above last week and starting reading from George Couros' blog about his new twitter book study. The study is on his new book called Innovate Inside The Box. There was a link in the blog for a sample of a chapter titled "Empathetic". I decided reading this information this morning having already decided that we would use the word EMPATHY last week is a sign that we have chosen the right word for our school!! I will share throughout the next month some of his awesome points and ways to teach empathy in the classroom that he shares in this book study.*****
Thank you for reading and listening to me,
Cindy
Our word for January and February is EMPATHY!
Great resource for empathy vocabulary words and many other resources!
Here is a link to the powerpoint in case you would like to have more information now!
Professional Development/Coffee Chats Calendar
January 22nd - Teaching with Primary Resources - Boren - Library
Please take a moment to look at some of the articles/blogs that are below! You might find some great information that can help you in the classroom or in this profession!
a ** by a change as a reminder. I know that some of you do work before school and try to plan accordingly with the calendar given, but I cannot guarantee that there will not be changes so you will need to be flexible with that.
January & February 2020
January
Wednesday 1/15
Xtra Math Coffee Chat at 8:00
Principal Meeting
Thursday 1/16
Faculty Meeting @ 7:30
Classroom Group Pictures
Faculty & Staff Group Picture in the gym 8:15 am
PD & Popcorn 4:45 - 6:15
Monday 1/20
School Holiday
Tuesday 1/21
SPED Awareness Week - Wear Athletic Attire
Wednesday 1/22
SPED Awareness Week - Wear Camo
Coffee Chat - Teaching with Primary Resources - Boren
Thursday 1/23
SPED Awareness Week - Wear Medical Attire
Ellevation Meeting with Selected Teachers - Library @ 7:45
Friday 1/24
SPED Awareness Week - Wear a Hat
Tuesday 1/28
AP Meeting
Wednesday1/29
Club Picture Day
Thursday 1/30
BSE Leadership Meeting @ 7:45 in library
WCMS Orchestra Visits 5th grade at 10:00 am in cafe
Friday 1/31
Kindergarten 100th day celebration
February
Thursday 2/6
PTA Daddy/Daughter Dance 6:00 -7:30
Tuesday 2/11
Best Seller's Club @ Barnes & Nobel 6:00
Wednesday 2/12
Principal's Meeting
Thursday 2/13
Data Meeting 7:45 in library for Data Team
Friday 2/14
1/2 day for students - will leave at 12:15
Parent Conferences 1:00 - 4:00
Monday 2/17
Professional Development Day - no school for kids
Friday 2/21
Fourth Grade Pioneer Day
1st grade 120th day
Tuesday 2/25
5th grade visits WCMS at 9:15
Wednesday 2/26
Derrick Barnes Author - 9:15 - 12:00 for K and 1st
Thursday 2/27
Faculty Meeting 7:30 in library