This Is A Post

This is a post about the people who notice.  About the kids that ask questions.  About the adults that care.  This is a post about how we all need to take more time.  How we all need to slow down.  How we all need to smile because that is the cheapest thing we can do to make someone else’s day.

This is a post about how when we think the students don’t care.  When we think they don’t listen.  When we think they hate everything we do.  That’s when we need to pay attention.  Because they don’t.  They won’t tell us, because telling involves words, and words involve time.  And if there is one thing none of us seem to have enough of; time would be the one.

This is a post about how when we feel really alone.  When we find ourselves just doing one more thing before we breathe.   When we think lunch is another prep period.  When we hear others laugh and wonder how on earth they found the time to stop, to relax, to shut it off.  That’s when we need to pay attention.  Because they aren’t magical.  They don’t have more hours in the day, nor do they have less responsibility, stress, or to-do’s.  They stopped because they decided they would and so can we.

This is a post about being kind.  About greeting every person you see with a smile, whether you know them or not.  Smiles don’t care who they are given to, trust me.  This is a post about using the time you have better.  To pay it forward.  To laugh more.  To help more.  To give more so that you can receive more.  To quiet your mind and awaken your heart and allow yourself to find the joy that we rush by every single moment. This is a post about being grateful for all that we have and all that we can do.  We make the choices.  We have more control than we think.  This is a post about all of that, I wish I coiuld find a way to write it right.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 5th, and 7th grade.  Proud techy geek, and mass consumer of incredible books. Creator of the Global Read Aloud Project, Co-founder of EdCamp MadWI, and believer in all children.  The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students” will be published by Routledge in the fall.   Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.