Category: Strategies

Linda Markley

Overwhelmed?

communication, creating community, i am enough, Introspection, Maslow before Blooms, overwhelmed, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher self-care

I am hearing this word used more and MORE these days to answer the question, “How are you doing?”

I get it, especially for teachers!

The word “overwhelm” comes from a combination of the Old English word ofer meaning “beyond, past or more than” and the Middle English word whelmen meaning “to turn upside down”. (etymonline.com)

In the 15th Century, the word “overwhelm” came to be used to mean “to submerge completely” and probably was used to describe boats and other sea-going vessels that were “washed over and overset by a big wave”. (etymonline.com)

As always, word origins and etymology helps us gain insights and make connections that can possibly help us with solving problems and finding solutions!

Yay for the power of language!

But here is also a graphic, “picture”, that will help use see how the feelings and subsequent use of the word “overwhelmed” to describe these feelings has grown over time.

Amazing, huh, but not surprising given our current culture of technology, the internet, social media, etc.

Another way to help people understand a concept is to use a metaphor or analogy to which people can relate.

So, using the imagery of a boat sailing along on calm seas, and all of a sudden, a big wave comes and washes over it and the boat is now submerged, off course and struggling to “right itself” can be a powerful metaphor for the teacher to understand how they are feeling and, subsequently, how to manage the “vast ocean and rough seas” of teaching.

On any given day of the school year, teachers feel submerged and like they are drowning in an ocean of paperwork, emails, parent and admin demands, challenges of not having enough resources or support to do their jobs, not being appreciated enough and being criticized too much (sometimes quite viciously and inhumanely by parents).

Every day becomes an emotional roller coaster ride for teachers in the classroom.

And as in the real world, these roller coasters are becoming higher, more complicated and more scary to endure for more than a few minutes.

This submerged, drowning feeling like they are all alone in a little boat in a vast ocean of rough weather, rough seas and no help in sight is causing many teachers to send up an S.O.S. signal of despair, disappointment and disillusionment.

Other teachers are just jumping ship altogether.

So. what can we do to help teachers “right their boats” (a boating expression used to describe the process/action of turning the boat right side up after it has capsized)?

But more importantly, what can teachers do to not get overwhelmed and capsize?

How can they navigate the rough seas of teaching for more “smooth sailing” ahead?

Warning: there is a big wave of sailing metaphors ahead, but don’t jump ship yet! Read on… (more…)

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Linda Markley

Teacher Inosculation

calling to make a difference, Can do's, communication, creating community, Learning Lessons, making connections, Purpose, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher self-care, teacher vulnerability, Wholehearted teaching

I came across an article recently entitled “Nature’s Eternal Embrace: The Extraordinary Bond of Inosculation” by Hasan Jasim. 

You can read the article here.

I have found myself longing to be outside in the healing context of Mother Nature.

But alas, it has been so hot, buggy and uncomfortable to spend more than five minutes outside. So, I have found myself hibernating and somewhat isolating in reading things and also in my thoughts.

First of all, it reminds me of how we do this as teachers in our classrooms.

For whatever reasons, we isolate in our classrooms with “our kids” and don’t get outside much to interact with our colleagues or teammates.

I witnessed the danger of this firsthand when a first year teacher in my school struggled to adjust to all the demands of teaching, and isolated herself in her classroom. She was afraid to get help because she felt she would be judged as not enough or incompetent.

After three months, she had a nervous breakdown and had to leave the profession.

This had a HUGE IMPACT on me.

I felt I had not done my part as a “seasoned veteran teacher” to help her.

Small things such as…

Stop by her classroom and see how she was doing.

Ask her how I could support her in her new teacher role.

Encourage, inspire and uplift her…just listen and offer hugs and words of affirmation.

Something, somehow to let her know she was not alone and that we had ALL been there (and maybe some of us still were!)

I decided I needed to do something to help connect with these new teachers and build a supportive school community…as much for the newbies as for those of us who were perhaps struggling with burnout and our own form of isolation.

Now, what does all of this backstory mean and how does it connect to Mother Nature, teachers and this new word “inosculation”? (more…)

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Linda Markley

Travel as Teacher

Essential questions, Learning Lessons, making connections, Passion, professional development, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher self-care, Wholehearted teaching

School is out for the summer, and there is a massive movement of people heading out on vacations all over the world…especially teachers!

Travel is one of the greatest teachers there is. 

I never traveled until I was eighteen-years-old, which is hard to believe in this day and age.

No, I didn’t grow up in the Stone Age when travel consisted of putting one foot in front of the other. Ha! 

However, I did travel the Camino de Santiago in Spain, which was one of the greatest and most life changing experiences of my life. 

It was basically putting one foot in front of the other.

BUT…it was also about getting out of my head, out of fear and into faith and believing in myself….that I could figure things out and overcome all obstacles.

I once read that travel does that, and that is why so many people love to travel and do so often. 

It makes us use all our senses to live in the present moment in order to take in all the sights, sounds, sensations, emotions, etc. and to experience life to its fullest.

So, how does that work? 

AND more importantly, do I have to travel far or internationally 

or even physically to have this life experience?

Of course, as a language teacher, I am a big fan of travel internationally in order to experience and learn more about culture and language. 

That kind of travel has taught me a lot, both personally and professionally.

But it is costly, and I have been fortunate enough to take student groups abroad and share this travel with them as a sort of second line of “teacher”.

They learn so much more from these experiences than I could ever have taught them in the classroom and from a book.

A lot of teachers travel during the summer in order to learn and gain more experiences that they can then use as resources and as inspiration for lessons in order to pass this knowledge on to their students and broaden their horizons, so to speak.

But what if one can’t afford to travel far or have no one to go with or no resources to do so?

We can travel in other ways, which clearly is not as effective.

However, and more importantly, perhaps taking advantage of the opportunity to travel in our minds and in our souls…to experience and learn more about ourselves…is the more important lesson and the real teacher.

For example, on the Camino, I met a lady who was really lost in life and miserable. 

One night, in the middle of the night, she came across the movie The Way, which is about the experiences and both the inner and outer landscapes of four pilgrims walking the Camino.

She felt the connection. She longed for similar experiences…to get out into Nature. To walk more. To meet more people. To find herself again.

So, she saved and saved until she was able to finally TRAVEL to Spain and start walking the Camino. It was life-changing, as it was for me.

What about books, especially adventure books that travel to faraway lands or even just travel to our inner dimension and get us in touch with our feelings?

LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow encouraged children to do this:

Butterfly in the sky
I can go twice as high
Take a look
It’s in a book
A reading rainbow

I can go anywhere
Friends to know
And ways to grow
A reading rainbow

I can be anything
Take a look
It’s in a book
A reading rainbow (A reading rainbow)
A reading rainbow (A reading rainbow, a reading rainbow)           (credit Reading Rainbow)

We can travel in our minds through meditation or yoga or tai chi or forest sound baths and visualizations.  I actually do this with students and teachers in workshops using a scenic picture and asking them to close their eyes and imagine they are there. 

Next, I ask them to describe what they see in the picture and how that makes them feel. Then, we go bigger picture, and we talk about where that place is, how to get there, what would we say when we get there, who would we meet, what would we do?

Check out some of the resources I have here for these kinds of “spirit/soul” travel experiences.

So, this summer, I hope you are able to travel somewhere and somehow in order to tap into your inner and outer landscape of life experiences and grow from there because travel truly is the greatest teacher!

Perhaps you would like to travel to Spain on the Camino by reading my book, Learning Lessons.

It is available on Amazon, B&N, BAM and all other major booksellers. I hope you check it out!

 

Image credit:

“Globe-Map-Suitcase-Travel-1800×2880” by Will Spark is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

 

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Linda Markley

May Days

calling to make a difference, Can do's, i am enough, Intention, Joy, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher self-care

May is a special month.

It is the end of another school year for most.

It is a beginning of the summer break, warmer temps and travel.

May is not just the fifth month of the calendar year, however.

It is also a verb, from the Old English mæg “am able”.

We use the word “may” also to ask permission…an old favorite of teachers everywhere.

Student – “Can I go to the bathroom?”

Teacher – “I don’t know, can you?”

After a confused look or eye roll from the student, the teacher then replies: “Yes, you MAY go to the bathroom”.

So, why am I going on and on about the word “may”?

Because I want to send teachers off into their summer with 
some permissions, abilities and “may days” (as opposed to “may daze”). (more…)

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Linda Markley

The Teacher SPIRIT

calling to make a difference, Can do's, creating community, Essential questions, i am enough, Intention, Introspection, Intuition, Joy, Learning Lessons, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Passion, Purpose, Resources, Sincerity, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher hero, teacher self-care, teacher vulnerability, Wholehearted teaching

Like so many educators today, I left the educational profession because my school “SPIRIT” was suffering.

I didn’t know what that meant at the time or exactly how to describe it because really I was focused on my poor health and inability to walk very far without my legs giving out on me.

I left the profession “broken” both physically and mentally.

I literally had “fallen”, and I could’t get up.

I was lost with no sense or real direction(s).

So, when I walked across Spain on the Camino Francés, with each step I took and each person I met and each experience I had, I learned a lesson.

And these lessons eventually led me back to my true teaching SPIRIT.

I wanted to share the lessons from my journey with others, especially teachers, to somehow help them find their way back to their true SPIRIT.

I founded The Spirit of Teaching, created a website of resources and started a podcast called Teacher Tales in which teachers can tell their stories of teaching and what makes up a true teaching SPIRIT.

Of course being a teacher and in the field of education, I developed an acronym to help remember the qualities and aspirations of a true teaching SPIRIT (which is why it is capitalized and really should have periods in between each letter).

They can be found on this website and shared with others.

Check them out here.  

Print them out and put them in your plan book.

Journal about them.

Post the mantras and “yellow arrow” guides around your classroom, home, office, car, etc.

There are even more resources that can help guide you and keep you on your intended path.

Check them out here.

You also might want to purchase my book Learning Lessons which is a real treasure trove of insight, resources, guidance and activities that you can use to help inspire and guide you back to your own True Self and the teaching SPIRIT in all of us!

Link to purchase Learning Lessons.

 

Photo credit:

created by Linda Markley in Canva

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Linda Markley

Learning Lessons

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

I have witnessed so many changes in education, especially in the past few years and most definitely since the pandemic.

More and more teachers are leaving the classroom.

Teacher burnout, anxiety and health related issues are at an all time high.

As well, fewer and fewer people are choosing to enter the teaching profession.

You can check out some of the stats and data here:

Reluctantly, I left the teaching profession due to a serious illness brought on by the stress I was experiencing in my position.

It took me a few years to recover physically, however, I still needed to heal mentally and in my teacher spirit.

So, I decided to walk across Spain on the Camino Francés, alone!
It was a pilgrimage of the body, mind and spirit with each step I took (usually 15-20 miles per day!)
Time for reflection, soul-searching, self-discovery, interpersonal connections and many, MANY lessons that would heal the deep wounds I had experienced on my life’s journey, both in and out of the classroom.

How do we learn lessons in life?
What are the best ways for students to learn lessons in the classroom?
And finally, how do the lessons we learn create our path in life?

I discovered the answers to these questions (and so many more!) during my walk across Spain, and I would like to share the lessons I learned with all of you.  Please read on… (more…)

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Linda Markley

I Beg to Differ

calling to make a difference, Can do's, communication, Maslow before Blooms, Passion, Purpose, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

Happy New Year 2024!

As we move into a new calendar year and the second half of another school year, I wanted to reflect a little with you about our differences.

The great Fred Rogers once said:

“Something else children need is the understanding that 

every person is 

DIFFERENT.

With that understanding can come children’s appreciation

of their own differences and the courage to 

be who they are – 

each one different from everybody else.”

Sometimes variations of this word DIFFERENT can get confusing in education and in how it is implemented into a school’s best practices.

There is an enormous focus and demand for DIFFERENTiation in the classroom as a result of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act).

We need to meet a student where they are. Then, we can figure out and accommodate all the different ways that child learns and succeeds. We don’t want to leave any child behind, and we do want them to succeed. 

However, I feel that what is said and what is practiced in education sometimes are very far apart. In fact, they are usually quite opposite.

I am a like a broken record now with voicing my perspective that we are preaching out of the box, differentiated and accommodating strategies for learning, YET…we are standardizing everything and expecting every child to jump into the same box WE have created for them.

AND, there is now a current trend to allow for fewer and fewer differences among children. 

There is even legislation being passed to not allow children to see something or someone different from themselves because of fear of indoctrinating them to a different way of thinking or being.

It is a fact that our brain is wired to see differences first before similarities. Perhaps that is so that we can be curious to learn more about those differences rather than be afraid of them?

Or is it for survival – what is different is a threat to my safety, well being, etc.?

As Fred Rogers says, it takes COURAGE, and as we know, there is a lot of fear permeating the walls of the classroom today.

So, how can we differentiate as well as allow for differences in the classroom 

in order to create a more nurturing, supportive learning environment 

for children (and teachers, for that matter!) and therefore,

MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

Happy Endings

calling to make a difference, Can do's, creating community, Essential questions, i am enough, Intention, Introspection, Intuition, Joy, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Passion, Purpose, Resources, Sincerity, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher hero, Wholehearted teaching

The end of the first semester of classes is upon us.

We have all been working hard for almost 18 weeks now trying to teach, learn and achieve goals.

We have had good days.

We have had bad days.

We have had ups.

We have had downs.

We have had fun.

We have had drama.

We have been sad, happy, angry, frustrated and all around the emotional block many times…in one day even!

Just like a story playing out in a movie.

The classroom is a reflection of life and the world we live in.

The question is…will we make our story this semester into a horror story, a drama, a comedy, a tale of super-human powers or will we choose to make it a love story with a happy ending?

It IS the season of Hallmark movies, you know!

There is a lot of push-back about toxic positivity in education.

There is also a lot of push-back about calling teachers heroes.

Nonetheless, I will always be in the positive charge for energy in the classroom.

AND, I also know a lot about the Hero’s Journey as described by Joseph Campbell, and I will always believe that each and every one of us is the hero of our own story and journey in life.

So, how can we have a happy ending to this first semester, even though it may not have met all our expectations or we haven’t met all our goals or the students have not measured up to our standards? (more…)

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Linda Markley

Overwhelmed?

calling to make a difference, Can do's, i am enough, Maslow before Blooms, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies

Most of us know the definition of overwhelm.

Most of us, who will admit it, have experienced the feelings of overwhelm.

This word, OVERWHELMED, is probably one of the most common words teachers use to describe teaching today.

Teachers are overwhelmed.

Students are overwhelmed.

Administrators are overwhelmed.

Parents are overwhelmed.

The etymology of the word overwhelmed is from Old English overwhelmen

     over = to turn upside down +  whelmen = to submerge completely

Yep, that pretty much describes life in the classroom today.

Everyone and everything seems turned upside down, and life as we know it in the classroom will never be the same, especially since the pandemic.

AND, everyone feels like they are submerged and drowning and not even treading water anymore.

etymonline.com states that “perhaps the connecting notion of being overwhelmed is a boat, etc., washed over, and overset, by a big wave. In a figurative sense of ‘to bring to ruin’ is attested from 1520s.” 

I’m getting a visual…stormy, rough seas, small boat, alone and adrift with little to no crew to help keep the boat upright, a big wave of walking the plank-jumping ship-betrayal-mutiny, the feeling of being in the doldrums with no breath of inspiration or compass of hope to guide us safely and surely to our destination.

How do we keep from getting overwhelmed by everything going on outside of the classroom and outside of ourselves?

How do we navigate the stormy seas of teaching (and life)?

What can we do about the tsunami that keeps us submerged with feelings of drowning and gasping for air or the feelings of abandoning ship or the feelings of mutiny and betrayal that can come up in our daily interactions with students, colleagues, admin and especially with parents? (more…)

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Linda Markley

Classroom Behavior

calling to make a difference, Can do's, creating community, i am enough, Intention, Introspection, Intuition, Joy, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Resources, Sincerity, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

There are many reasons teachers are leaving the profession.

One of those reasons is classroom behavior…BOTH teacher and student behavior.

The pressures, demands, excessive expectations, negative and hostile culture in which many teachers and students find themselves these days are causing behavior in the classroom to also get out of control.

In a school district in Florida, a large group of teachers quit stating that student behavior was out of control and unbearable. 

Since then, many prominent persons in the district, including the sheriff and local school board members have publicly stated their opinions about students in the district. These opinions have included many “childish” behaviors such as name calling and suggestions for “whipping students’ a****”.

As adults, we must be the role models for children, and this kind of behavior is just not acceptable.

Teaching is the hardest job there is nowadays!

So many critics and so little respect. Too many expectations and not enough support.

 And being a kid is hard too with all the pressures from social media, high stakes testing and socio-economic challenges at home.

All of these pressures are playing out in the classroom and manifesting in extreme human behaviors like violence, insolence, aggression, belligerence and defiance stemming from human emotions such as anger, frustration, anxiety, depression, sadness, grief, fear, jealousy, rejection and especially an overwhelming feeling of not being or doing enough.

What can we do as teachers, as parents, as ADULTS to help turn
this classroom behavior around from a negative to a positive?

And YES…IT STARTS WITH US!!!

(more…)

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Linda Markley

The Second Semester Slide

Can do's, creating community, Intention, Introspection, Joy, making connections, Passion, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

Teachers and students across the world are coming back to school from a winter break.

After a couple of weeks of festivities, taking a break and ending the first semester of school, teachers and students hopefully return refreshed, recharged and renewed.

Things are so calm and sleepy the first few days back as everyone is re-adjusting to being back in the routine of getting up early and immersing themselves in the everyday demands of being back in the classroom.

I used to think to myself “Oh my gosh! The kids matured and everything that I tried to teach them the first semester has finally magically sunk in! “

Or…”Oh my gosh! Somehow taking a break, recharging and contemplating all that stuff about Santa and coal in the stocking has finally had a positive affect on the students! They are so well behaved and matured since I last saw them two weeks ago!”

It didn’t take long to realize that it was just temporary as the kids were really just sleep deprived, off schedule, still buzzing on a holiday sugar high or in a lingering euphoria from all the gifts they had received for Christmas.

Was the second semester doomed? Were things hopeless? Should I just give up on them and myself and the whole educational thing?

As my years of teaching went by, I came to fondly name the beginning of the second half of the school year when we returned after the Winter holiday break as the “Second Semester Slide”.

So, what do I mean by this? (more…)

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Linda Markley

Hocus-Pocus Teaching in Scary Times

calling to make a difference, Can do's, creating community, making connections, Purpose, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher vulnerability, Wholehearted teaching

It is October, and things are heating up for teachers as the weather cools down.

FALL is in the air.

Teachers may feel like things are not “falling” into place or that they are “falling” down on the job because it is the end of the grading period, and they are having a hard time keeping up with…

…too many students trying to make up work they should have done weeks ago

…too many parents reacting negatively, and yes, even aggressively (bullying) because their    child does not have the grade they want them to have and, somehow, that’s the teacher’s fault

…too many emails, meetings, papers to grade, parent conferences, admin visits for evaluation

…too many things to JUGGLE

Teachers maybe need a little bit of HOCUS-POCUS.

Did you know that the origin of the phrase HOCUS-POCUS is from the Latin phrase hicce es doctus, which means here is the learned man. (etymonline.com). 

The phrase eventually became used by jugglers and magicians to refer to their craft/sleight of hand.

Nowadays, the phrase “hocus-pocus” conjures up the wildly popular Disney film of the same name, which has just released a part 2.

So, what do Fall, Hocus-Pocus, October, jugglers, magicians and teachers have in common?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

Let’s Celebrate!

Can do's, communication, creating community, i am enough, Intention, Introspection, Passion, Purpose, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Teacher Appreciation, Wholehearted teaching

As an extremely difficult school year for all comes to a close, I call everyone together to CELEBRATE.

(key up the Celebration song by Kool and the Gang???)

The end of the year does signal a feeling of “good times” coming…a.k.a. = the summer!

Well, for some maybe. I know many school districts are having summer school to help those students who have a “learning gap” or are somehow considered “behind”.

Many teachers are celebrating because they are leaving the profession all together and don’t have to put up with the stress and unreasonable demands that are causing them poor mental and physical health.

Seniors and their families are celebrating because they have reached a milestone in their educational journey and are graduating from high school.

The etymology of the word celebrate is from Latin celebrare meaning “to assemble to honor and sing praises of”

No matter how teachers, parents, admin, students, districts 
or anyone else may view this past school year, 
there is always something to celebrate!

Let’s honor and sing the praises of all the teachers, students, parents and everyone in the educational system for getting through the school year the best way they knew how, with the circumstances and obstacles they faced and with the limited resources of time, money, energy and sometimes support that they received.

Celebrate, honor and praise all the little things that became big things like:

(more…)

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Linda Markley

The Kindness Game

calling to make a difference, creating community, Intention, Joy, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Purpose, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies

Happy World Kindness Day 2021!  

World Kindness Day is celebrated all around the world every year on November 13th. It was introduced in 1998 by the World’s Kindness Movement, a coalition of nations’ kindness NGO’s.

You can learn more about it here.

I am a HUGE proponent of bringing more kindness into this world!

Want to bring more kindness into your world? (more…)

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Linda Markley

Curiosity

calling to make a difference, Can do's, making connections, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies

Curiosity comes from the Latin word, curiosus, and is akin to the word “cura” or care/cure.  According to Etymonline, to be curious means to be “careful, diligent and to inquire eagerly”.

When one hears the word “curiosity”, people often think of the expression “curiosity killed the cat”, which totally does not conger up a positive image or motivation to inspire one to become more curious.

But if we think about cats and how they are inquisitive, yet careful, when something new is introduced into their environment, the concept is magical. 

How many cat videos and memes have been uploaded and viewed on the internet as a way to seek calm, practice self-care of de-stressing and to get a dopamine hit of “ahhhhh, how cute!”?… especially during the pandemic!

In any personal or spiritual growth practice, the first step is to get curious. What is coming up? How am I feeling? When does this happen? Who is involved? 

This is what I call the “WWWWWH?” We can’t pounce on a problem or challenge or situation like a cat who is not practicing curiosity. Maybe that’s when there are dire consequences.

We need to be careful, yet diligent and inquire eagerly at all angles through WWWWWH?

WWWWWH? = Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

These are the basics of Bloom’s Taxonomy for learning and growth.

But in the real world, it is just the basis and foundation of living and moving forward one step at a time.

We have to find the answers to the WWWWWH? of life for ourselves. No prescription, no multiple choice, no true/false, no “one-size-fits-all”. 

So, what does curiosity look like in the classroom, 

and why is it the essential and critical first step on the learning journey?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

Grace

calling to make a difference, Can do's, Essential questions, Intention, Introspection, Passion, Purpose, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

One of my favorite quotes, and one by which I try to live my life is:

“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.

You don’t have to have a college degree to serve.

You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.

You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I tried to live by this wisdom in the classroom and teach it to my students as well.

To me, grace is the sweet nectar that can bring bliss to our lives. 
It is what makes us whole.

Another quote about grace that has had an impact on me too is from Anne Lamott.  

“I do not understand the mystery of grace –

only that it meets us where we are, but does not leave us where it found us.”  

 

I believe that grace is one of the greatest needs we have in the classroom today in order to achieve real growth and learning gains as human beings.

We don’t need more technology, testing, checklists, standards, evaluations or money.

We desperately need more grace in the classroom…especially now as we move forward after a very difficult school year trying to make our way teaching and learning in a pandemic.

“Grace” comes from the Latin word “gratia” meaning “favor, mercy, good will, gratitude”.

In Spanish, the expression for “please” is “por favor” or “by favor”. It implies the potential “pleasing” or “favorite” nature of the act.

In French, the expression for “thank you” is “merci”. In Italian, it is “grazie”; in Spanish, “gracias”.

Grace is an interaction, a communication, an intention from the heart. 

Grace is the love and mercy we have received from others and that we, in turn, give back to the world.

Grace is a choice that we make in every single moment of our lives. 

Grace is a conscious choice we make to bring more mercy, goodwill and gratitude into the world through our thoughts and actions.

So, what does grace look like in the classroom, and why is is so critical? (more…)

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Linda Markley

Joy

calling to make a difference, Can do's, communication, creating community, Essential questions, i am enough, Joy, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Purpose, Spirit of teaching, Strategies, Teacher Appreciation, Wholehearted teaching

Do you remember the song, Joy in My Heart?

It starts like this:  “I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.” 

So many teachers and students do not feel the joy down in their hearts these days.

It is a struggle now more than ever for everyone because of the pandemic. Joy seems to have left the classroom like “Elvis has left the building”. Especially at this time of the school year, there is a prevalent feeling of “the music has stopped, and the concert is over!”  A mood of “I’m done!”

I won’t go into detail and describe the atmosphere and culture of current feelings in the classroom because I think everyone already knows and understands what it is like. 

I want to focus more on how we can dig deep down in our hearts and find that joy again.

This is what Maya Angelou has to say about joy:

“Joy is a freedom. It helps a person to find his/her own liberation. The person who is joyous takes responsibility for the time he/she takes up and the space that he/she occupies.You share it! When you continue to give it away, you will still have so much more of it!”

There is an overwhelming cry from the hearts of teachers to be free. “I just want to teach.” has become an ironic cliché in education. Teachers feel so burdened and overwhelmed and unappreciated and unsupported and….(name the emotion).

So, how can we bring forth more joy into the classroom, and why is it so important?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: Trust

Can do's, Essential questions, i am enough, Intention, Introspection, Intuition, Maslow before Blooms, Passion, Purpose, Sincerity, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies

Oh boy, this is a BIG one! 

It all starts the minute we’re born. And it ebbs and flows as we move through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in life.

Base level of Maslow’s Hierarchy = are our basic physiological needs being met? Food, water, shelter, clothing, rest…

As children, if we are left to cry when we are hungry or there simply isn’t enough food available to eat, what does that teach us about trusting the adult who is supposed to help meet our needs?

Next level of Maslow’s = are our basic safety and security needs being met? 

Do we feel safe physically, emotionally and psychologically? As we are learning our way in the world, how do others support us? Do they guide, encourage and celebrate our efforts or do they use guilt, shame and physical punishment as a method to control us?

We learn and develop trust through our experiences in the world
...good and bad.

That means all our experiences with people, places and things…ALL the nouns.

PLUS the actions that go with the nouns.

Then comes all the feelings and emotions, the adjectives and adverbs, that describe our experiences and create the memories and the stories that we associate with those experiences.

 

Good experiences = good feelings, memories and stories (and therefore, I should trust them?)

Bad experiences = bad feelings, memories and stories (and therefore, I shouldn’t trust them?)

(note that when it is a REALLY bad experience = trauma, which is a whole other topic to explore. I just want to mention here that there is a lot of attention on the trauma sensitive classroom these days, and with reason. Again, to be explored more at another time).

 

So, maybe instead of looking at trust as something that is developed through good and bad experiences, such as a good experience means I can trust the person or what has happened and a bad experience means I can’t trust the person or what has happened, maybe we can explore trust in another way.

Perhaps we can look at trust as a contract that is established

 between the two parties involved: 

the first party who has the needs and 

the second party who is meeting the needs of the first party.

 

Sounds so legal and not my usual heart-centered, emotional, Vagus-nerve flowing approach, no?

Stay with me here as we explore this a little more. Or should I say, trust me?  (more…)

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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: Introspection

calling to make a difference, Can do's, Essential questions, Introspection, Purpose, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

When I was deciding on what concepts each letter of SPIRIT would represent, I considered “reflection” as one for the “R”. However, the more I pondered my experience on the Camino and the lessons I had learned in life, the more I realized that reflection was not enough. There was a deeper learning; a deeper journey; a deeper knowing.

So, like any teacher, who is also a lifelong learner, I did some research. I also asked some friends what they thought about their learning journeys. This is what I discovered.

Some people use the terms self-awareness, self-reflection and introspection interchangeably. There has been a lot of research done on all three, and it has been determined that they are really not the same. My personal and professional experiences tell me they are not the same either.

According to Positive Psychology, 

     “Self-reflection is one’s ability to willingly examine one’s thought and feelings and reflect on what they mean”.

     “Introspection is the examination of one’s own conscious thoughts and feelings”.

     “Self-awareness is the achievement of practicing self-reflection and the exercise of introspection.”

Clear as mud, right?  Stay with me here because it is a process that, when understood, leads to a more spiritual and fulfilling path to peace and bliss. Also, it is one of the greatest lessons I have learned in life. (more…)

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