Love Them Where They're At

It's been another great start to the school year. By following my plan from last year with just a few tweaks for The First 8 Days of our Leader in Me program, I have been able to touch on school rules, the 7 Habits, community building, classroom routines, and tech bootcamps each day. The two days were a blur; I just can't believe how fast the time went!

I enjoyed getting to know my morning group throughout the day yesterday, and today I enjoyed getting to learn about my afternoon friends for the first time.

And it was really hard.

But it's still great.

Thanks, 7 Habits and the trauma informed instruction I received.

I know in the past I would have been angry and reactive. I would have been complaining about the kids. I would have been shaking my head wondering how in the world I was going to make it through the year. I would have been exhausted.

Today, my actions were a little different:

I chose to pick my battles which meant not picking to battle at all and just seeing what happened.

Today, my thoughts were a little different:

I wonder what's causing this.

How can I make school work for this child?

Since I can only control myself, what can I do differently?

Maybe this child is nervous, scared, tired, angry, happy, confused, <insert your favorite feeling word here>, that's why I'm seeing this.

What can I do?

I'm not going to lie; I'm a little bit nervous. I'm not necessarily sure where to go next. I'm hopeful that the systems in place will be able to support me and the students I met today, but there's never any guarantee. I just hope that I can continue to remember to pause and think, and in that tiny pause I'll be able to be proactive and be the person these kids need in their lives right now.