Category: making connections

Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: Intention

calling to make a difference, Can do's, Essential questions, Intention, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

Once we dig deeper into our souls through the practice of introspection, we must then become consciously aware of the essence of who we truly are and, from there, set our intentions.

It is all about alignment and balance.  

We are able to make an action plan to align our actions and words with the essence of our being…who we truly are and how we want to show up in the world.

Ask Deepak Chopra teaches us, “where our intention goes, energy flows”. 

It is a basic principle of our True Spirit. And keep in mind, it is applicable to both positive and negative energy. 

From etymonline.com:

…..“Intention” from “late 14c., entencioun, “purpose, design, aim, object, will, wish, desire

…..noun of action from intendere “to turn one’s attention,” literally “to stretch out” 

…..In Middle English “emotion, feelings; heart, mind, mental faculties, understanding.” 

So many meaningful and powerful words here behind “intention”.

 

If my attention is on who I truly am, my purpose, my wishes and my heart, 

then I CAN CHOOSE 

a conscious and well-meant (intended) response as opposed to a reaction.

“Response” comes from Latin “responsum” meaning “an answer” or “a promise in return” or “to pledge back” 

As opposed to “reaction” which is “an action in resistance or response to another action or power”.  

 

When we set our intentions from who we truly are and we respond with a choice from there, from our soul, from our True Spirit, we are setting a promise to ourselves to bring things into alignment with our integrity and maintain balance in our lives. Remember the origin of “integrity” being from “whole” and “pure”?

However, when we choose to react, like a knee-jerk reaction, it is an automated response from a conditioned painful place that is residing deep in the shadows of our subconscious mind.

I find it real interesting that the term “reaction time” came into our lexicon during the late 1800’s when the great psychologists like Wundt, Freud, Pavlov and Jung began exploring the psychology of humans.  Were they onto something? 

Reaction time is the “time elapsing between the action of an external stimulus and the giving of a signal in reply” 

So, it is in that magic moment of time 

between the EXTERNAL STIMULUS and the INTERNAL SIGNAL 

that makes all the difference in the world.  

In that magic moment of time, the power behind our intention rules the outcome and determines the experience we will have.

Our intentions create our reality!!!

Let that sink in a minute, and then, let’s dig deeper… (more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: Resilience

Can do's, Essential questions, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher hero, teacher vulnerability, Wholehearted teaching

“Resilience” is from Latin resiliens, “to rebound, recoil, to jump, leap” Also, used in 1800’s to mean “elasticity”.

For me, resilience means to move forward even when faced with challenges, obstacles and shortcomings. However, it does not mean to keep pushing and pushing to the point of burnout.

Resilience is not measured in terms of suffering. 

It is not about reaching a goal no matter what toll it takes on us. 

It is not about the price we think we have to pay 
or the sacrifices we have to make to move forward. 

There has been so much research done on resilience to determine what makes someone “succeed” or “triumph in the face of adversity”. As well, there have been many connections made between our level of happiness and well-being as correlated to our level of resilience. 

You ask most people what they want most in life, and they say “to be happy”.  And, for me, there are as many definitions and pathways to happiness as there are people in the world. Perhaps that is what I finally found on the Camino was true happiness…bliss.  I found my way back to my True Self and the core of my (well) being.  

But the truth is that since returning from the Camino, I have lost my way a couple of times when there were big life changes and challenges. Fear came up again, and I had to be curious and discover new ways to cope with those fears by getting out of my mind and checking in with my heart through courage to find the “right” answers that would work for me. 

I was stretched beyond my comfort zone of beliefs and best practices, but through courage and all the aspects of SPIRIT lessons that I am always talking about, I have been able to take leaps of faith to bounce back from all adversity. SPIRIT creates the elasticity I need to cope, survive and overcome so that I can take that next step into my well-being and find my way back home.

What does it mean to be “resilient” and  “triumph in the face of adversity”?  Here are some interpretations of this expression through my “lentes”.  (more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: Reality

calling to make a difference, Can do's, communication, creating community, Essential questions, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Purpose, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

“Reality” means “the quality of being real.” It is also defined as “sincerity”.

REAL  has its roots in Latin, from “res” meaning “thing”.  Then, in the early 14c., “actually existing, true;” mid-15c., “relating to things”.   

“Real” meaning “genuine” is recorded from the 1550s, and today, we use it to mean “authentic”, like when we say “are you for real?” 

We also use “real” to emphasize the significance of something, like when we say something is a real problem or a real pain in the…well, you get the picture! 

Perhaps, in summary, I could say that 
to be REAL means to be AUTHENTIC, TRUE and SIGNIFICANT.

I spent my entire teaching career trying to make learning for students real and meaningful, full of purpose and connections to the real world and relating everything to their personal worlds and how that fit into the bigger picture of humanity. 

Years of research and personal experience taught me that if students don’t see a “REAL reason to learn this stuff”, then, they will not own it. It just becomes part of a virtual reality. I think that is what is going on right now with online learning. It doesn’t feel or seem like “real school”, but even more so, what they are being asked to “learn” is rote, prescribed, computer-generated, impersonal and disconnected…not real.  

The same is true for teachers. Teaching has become so prescribed and scripted that most teachers don’t REALly understand what they are supposed to be teaching or what the students are REALly supposed to be learning. 

What is important, significant and meaningful for students to learn in school? 
What is for real, and what is just for a test? 
What are we teaching them about being kind and loving human beings? 
Where are the connections and the community?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: Integration

calling to make a difference, Can do's, communication, creating community, Essential questions, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher vulnerability, Wholehearted teaching

“Integration”, means “the act of bringing together the parts of a whole,” from Late Latin integrationem  “renewal, restoration,” and from past participle stem of Latin integrare “make whole, renew, begin again”.

There is a lot of talk in education about integration, 
but in many different, and sometimes confusing, ways.

Integration (with inclusion) means that exceptional students are being partially taught in the mainstream classroom and that activities are adapted so that these students can “fit in” with their mainstream peers…to make part of the whole.

Then, there is an integrated curriculum, which allows children to pursue learning in a holistic (whole) way and brings out the interconnectedness of all curricular areas.

Integrated skills focuses on the four language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking through a holistic communicative language teaching approach bringing all these skills together and not used in isolation.

There’s also integrated lessons, integrated technology, integrated classroom, integrated schools, integrated teaching, integrated learning, integrated data, integrated systems, integrated “you name it”.

There are so many buzz words in education that incorporate the word "integrated".  
So, why is that? 
And is the word "integration" related to the word "integrity"?

The concept of making connections and bringing those parts together to make a whole lot of sense out of things when learning so that we can move up Bloom’s Taxonomy and apply them to our lives and the real world is the key to lifelong learning and becoming a whole, well-rounded, self-actualized (Maslow’s Hierarchy) human being.

But are we truly applying the concept of integration faithfully and truly in education? 
Are we maintaining our integrity in the use and application of the word?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: PURPOSE

Can do's, creating community, Essential questions, making connections, Purpose, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Wholehearted teaching

The use of the word “purpose” has come to be used and explored in bigger philosophical terms such as “What is my purpose in life? Who am I?, and why am I here?”  These are big life questions. 

We tend to think of purpose in terms of an “end” goal 
or the reason why we do something.
 Reflecting on purpose can give us direction and meaning 
in our lives to attain those goals.

According to the dictionary, the definition of purpose is “the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists”.

The origin of the word purpose is “intention, aim, goal,” from Anglo-French purpos, from porposer “to put forth,” from por– “forth” (from Latin) + Old French poser “to put, place”. (etymonline.com)

Research has shown that, when asked “what is your goal in life?”, most people answer “to be happy”. When asked, “what does that look like?”, they might give a list of material things acquired, accomplishments, titles, superlatives, accolades, etc. to be checked off.

Too often we get lost in a checklist of things to do and get caught up in a whirlwind of striving for one goal after another. We focus more on purpose as defined by goals. We begin to believe that our purpose in life is equivalent to our accomplishments, things we accumulate, titles we acquire, status that we achieve or bucket list experiences that we check off. This path will surely lead to happiness, right?

The educational system helps to propagate this illusion that if we just achieve a certain score, get a certain grade, receive a certain accolade or award, go to a certain university, pursue a certain career or status, we will be successful and, therefore, happy.

Our purpose, our goals, our reasons for doing anything 
have become formulaic and prescriptive. 

So, if there is a formula that we can follow, and a prescription we can take, why do so many people feel lost, unhappy and not clearly see their purpose on Earth?

Why are so many teachers and students disillusioned and not fulfilled with school and learning and the checklists that are being placed before them? (more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: PASSION

Can do's, Essential questions, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Passion, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Wholehearted teaching

The origin of the word passion and its subsequent meanings is a complicated one. Like the evolution of the meaning, the application in real life is just as complicated and something that we humans seek our entire lives as we pursue education, employment, meaning and purpose in life.

The word passion originally comes from
 the Latin word "patior", which means “to suffer”.  

The idea was that there was some force outside of you that would cause you to do something, in some way to suffer. It was used to describe an intense desire that originated in a wide range of emotions such as joy, grief, hope, fear, love and hatred. It definitely had a more religious context and use.  

Today, passion is used in so many somewhat controversial ways. It still is used to describe an intense desire and love for something or someone, but perhaps it focuses more on a force coming from within you rather than externally. To feel passionately about something today evokes either a strong love or a strong hatred. 

So, I like to think of my passion in this way: 
Rearranging the letters of passion = I pass on.

In every moment, we must be aware and make conscious choices of what we are choosing to pass on to others. It is a critical to who we want to be and how we want to show up in the world. (more…)

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Linda Markley

The Teacher Voice

calling to make a difference, making connections, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

How do teachers use their voice both in the classroom and beyond?  Too often the voice of the teacher is portrayed by the “wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah” sound that echoed in the classroom of the Peanuts characters created by Charles Shultz. 

          The teacher voice is so much more.  What we say and how we 
          say it holds enormous power and potential impact on children…
          ....for better or for worse...!  How do you use your teacher voice?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

Our Path(ways)

Can do's, communication, creating community, Essential questions, making connections

Like many teachers today, my heart was crushed by a system of mind-centered, data-driven, tech-stressful, competition-focused path of never enough-ness.  We have lost ourselves and the real school spirit in all of this.  Our hearts are broken.  My heart was broken, and as a result, I got very sick and had to leave my beloved profession.  I literally couldn’t stand being in my job any more and my legs would give out on me at any moment.  The doctor tested me for MS and ALS and finally said, “if you don’t get out of that job, you will be in a wheelchair in five years!”   It took three years of physical and mental therapies to get back on my feet, but my heart was still broken.  I was lost, and I felt like my inner compass was broken.  So, I decided to set out on a journey to find my way back home to the heart of my true self. 

(more…)

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