Sunday's Words for the Week

  Yes, I can laugh about it now but  I am anticipating a hard week ahead. Students in my class will be taking the Virginia SOL tests in reading on Wednesday and Thursday. For the most part I feel they are prepared and ready but these tests are long and can be tricky. Students will need to bring it on and have the stamina to think through hard questions for an extended period of time. And I'll have to deal with the frustration of watching them make mistakes and not being able to coach them through their thinking.

Add to that, we will be giving these tests on the computer this year. I love using technology in my teaching but will flat out admit that I can not troubleshoot when I run into a problem..Yes,there is a definite potential for feeling stressed, frustrated, nervous and anxious next week.

As teachers, can we be present enough to stop the constriction and tension we feel when it first starts to happen within us? Can we keep the miserable from being more miserable?

I have been following the writings of Terri Cole recently. You should check her out! She is a licenced psychotherapist and transformation coach and is the founder of Live Fearless and Free. She is working on a book entitled: Flip Over and Float. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that title. I've been using this phrase and its visualization to help me check and change my feelings in times of stress lately.  Instead of  always struggling to swim upstream I am trying instead to stop, flip over and float. For me this means  take a deep breath and let it be.  . 

Trust this...Things will fall into place with ease and grace if we just allow them to.

So here is the challenge...I encourage all my teacher friends, when you are feeling that stress begin to build inside you (and you know you will)....

Just...

flip over and float

Best of luck to all the VA teachers giving the test next week!