May is mental health awareness month. Mental health has typically had a stigma attached to it, especially in my home state of Texas. Being real, this is a topic near and dear to my heart. Full transparency, three of my wife and I’s family members have committed suicide and I’m not talking some distant relatives. One was my cousin, who was my next-door neighbor growing up and more like a brother to me, and the other two were my wife’s uncles. As an educator, I also routinely encounter students struggling with mental illness and I have two former students that took their own lives. Just to be frank, those aren’t the only 5 that have struggled with mental health issues, those are just the five that ended it. In our family alone, we have addictions/substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, just to name a few. I personally struggled with an eating disorder from the ages of 16-19, talk about stigma, a teenage male with an eating disorder. The impact mental health has pers...
If you have read my blog, my tweets, or watched my videos, you know I am passionate about education and I think that overall schools, administration, teachers, students, and parents have absolutely hung the moon! I am surrounded by real-life superheroes! So many in education are ROCKSTARS! There has been a theme the past month and I personally think it is a GREAT trend! Below are some of the amazing things taking place during the current situation: There has been an increased focus on well-being! This is teacher well-being, student well-being, parent well-being! We are checking on and worried about EVERYONE’S well-being! This is a phenomenal development! There has been an increased importance placed on relationships and supporting the whole child. There has been an increase in the buzz of SEL and making sure our stakeholders’ needs are taken care of. Making connections has come to the forefront of education! Providing grace for our students, our teachers, and our...
Words matter. Words aren’t just words, they are building blocks or a wrecking ball. Many things in life are made or destroyed by what we say. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. This is straight-up false! Words are powerful. Broken bones heal, I’m not sure emotional wounds ever do. This isn’t just a message for kids, although it is an important one for them as well. This is a message for us all. The words we use determine so much of the successes or failures in our lives. When rolling out a new initiative, the words you use to present the idea can go a long way to determining buy-in. The way you handle a “growth” opportunity with a teacher or student determines how the information is processed. If you correct in a positive manner, you promote growth, if you correct punitively, you promote resentment and have taken a sledgehammer to the relationship. Our words verbally, in written format, and digitally have the ability to change the world. They can a...
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