Three Tips and Three Goals for Back to School
It is my hope that you’ve all had a good Summer. Let me encourage you to soak up as much of the sun as possible as we approach the end of July with renewed excitement for a new school year. Yes, it is that time of year again as the stores fill up their displays with fresh, new notebooks, unsharpened pencils, backpacks and trapper keepers. Athletes wrap up their Summer workouts as their upcoming season seems to creep closer and closer. As a teacher and coach these thoughts bring some great memories to mind and also challenge me to be a better educator this year. I’d like to share with you some tips and challenges I’ve learned in my experience as we return to school. They are applicable to every day but especially school days.
Prayer, Meditation and Visualization
These are all amazing tools that I’ve used throughout the years. Some of them I am better at than others. Prayer/Meditation is a place we should all start. These activities help us to be mindful, connect with the circumstances we are in and remind us “this too shall pass”. Visualization is a tool I learned first as a Senior in high school playing football. The mind is still the most powerful computer on the planet and if we use our mind's eye to paint the picture of how we should react throughout the day’s activities we can be better prepared for when the difficulties of life reveal themselves.
Read Something Positive and Check Your “Self-Speak”.
As usual, there is an app for that. Several years ago I downloaded the Bible app on my phone and in the past few years I’ve made it a habit to open it first thing in the morning and read the “Daily Refresh” Verse of the Day. I can always tell the difference when I’m successful in that task. My family, students and coworkers can tell the difference too.
The world will always meet its quota of negative news and I’m not saying stick your head in the sand. You can’t ignore all of it but you can control how much you expose yourself too.
All of these contribute to the way we talk to ourselves. I grew up thinking that if you talk to yourself then something might be wrong but what I’ve come to understand is that how you talk to yourself influences how you speak to others. It is difficult to give affirmation and positive feedback to your family, students, teachers or anyone else if you can’t be kind to yourself.
Listen to or Read Something Motivating to Serve Others.
Something that helps with our self-speak is making sure our influences are positive and help us think of others. The first step is understanding that we are all influenced by something. From the music we listen to, books we read and people we pay attention to- all the way down to the food we eat, we are susceptible. Then we must decide if those influences are overall positives or negatives. Will they assist me in getting where I want to be? If not, can I change them and if I can make changes, how? One small, practical step I take in this process is to read at least 10 pages of a good book everyday. We’ve also recently discovered the Abide app in our home and it's great. Whatever avenue you choose it can be a game changer on how we view ourselves and those around us.
All of these tips can fall under the description of Jesus’ early life in Luke 2:52
“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” (NIV)
Regardless of our faith background as teacher or parents, we all want our kids to
Grow in wisdom
One of my utmost goals for this school year is to assist my students in discernment and using the knowledge given to them for their good and those around them. The number one way that I can do that is to model it for them everyday. Wisdom can be lived through the good, the bad and the ugly circumstances that accompany every school year.
Grow in stature
This may be the only area we do not want to grow with our students. Most of them will be growing vertically while most of us educators have a hard time not growing horizontally. Either way we can once again model good behavior. Exercise goes a long way with how we feel. Do what you can, when you can and take care of yourself the best you know how. It is hard to be your best for someone else when you are not the best for yourself. There is a reason they tell you to put the oxygen mask on yourself before assisting others on an airplane.
Grow in favor
Similar to the last point, we must put our best foot forward. As a Christian, my love for God (the greatest command) can be measured by my love for others (the second greatest command). My love for others can be shown by my willingness to serve others. Depending on what day it is, service to others can look very different. Some days it can be as simple as dressing our best and the next it is simply being present when someone is going through a difficulty. Whatever that looks like throughout the next year may our students know we are genuine in our expectations, appreciation and affection for them. They will not care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Travis