A grateful heart........ #Reflect31

It's 6 pm and we literally just wrapped up two days of professional learning with our district colleagues. It's always so challenging for me, I feel like these are the two most important days of the year in my role. The lead up includes a lot of planning, a lot of schlepping and priority setting. The days of learning include a lot hopping from room to room, sharing, presenting, answering questions and PROBLEM SOLVING. One of the middle school art teachers said to me that she needed to get me a badge with a fire extinguisher on it and truly there are times I feel like a firefighter trying to extinguish the problems (many of them I wish I could fix but I know the chances are slim to none.)

I recognized this morning I was letting the "firefighting" affect my mood, in fact I was a total grouch. Instead of approaching the day with the excitement and happiness of the first day, I was beat down by all the problems and frustrations that I had no power to control. A friend called me on and I owned the fact that I was grouchy and took a minute to breathe. Because, I have no poker face and believe in transparency I shared with the teachers that I had heard a lot of problems and I just needed to work through them and get over my negative attitude. Passionate purpose filled people are often those most impacted by the ups and downs of approaching challenges, I have to remind myself to chill, to take a breath and try reflect on how to be better approach obstacles.

One way is to start each day and approach all colleagues with grateful heart and positive intent. Meaning that behind the challenges they might be presenting are their positive intentions to improve something for our students.

I am truly grateful for our district colleagues that they have chosen to be dedicated to our shared mission of growing the whole student.

So for days 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of #Reflect31 I ask you to reflect on gratitude, positive intent and your relationships with colleagues

8/7/19 - Day 7: Who were the colleagues that you were most grateful for this last school year? How could you share your gratitude for their support with them as we start the new year?

8/8/19 - Day 8: Was there a time at school when you were really frustrated with a colleague? Would taking a step back and taking the assumption that the other party was approaching the challenge with positive intent have helped you find a compromise or solution? How can you approach frustrations with colleagues from a position of positive intent?

8/9/19 - Day 9: Was there a colleague that needed empathy, an ear, an open heart or just someone to be honest with them? How would you support them if you had the opportunity this year?

8/10/19 - Day 10: Our passions can impact our interactions with colleagues, was there a time when your passion clouded an interaction with a colleague? How can we be true to your passion, remain authentic and yet be open-minded in order to build teamwork and trust?

8/11/19 - Day 11: Can you recall a time when you needed to be called out on your attitude? Was there someone who gently reminded you to breathe or if needed bluntly called you on your negativity? Who was that person or who do you wish that person was, could you reach out to that person and ask them to be your "call me on it" colleague?

8/12/19 - Day 12: Consider who you greeted each school day and how you greeted them? How could you start each day from a positive position and a grateful heart? How could you make it a point to greet a staff members in such a way that you help them to also start their day with a grateful heart?