Courage Doesn't Always Roar: A Teacher's Quest to Be Better Each Day

"Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.  There have been so many stories about the lack of courtesy, the impatience of today's world, road rage and even restaurant rage.  Sometimes, all it takes is one kind word to nourish another person.  Think of the ripple effect that can be created when we nourish someone.  One kind empathetic word has a wonderful way of turning into many." -Mr. Rogers I've been overwhelmed with sadness at many of the stories I've been reading on Facebook.  Humans of New York has been featuring stories of the refugees in Syria and they are absolutely horrifying and heartbreaking.  I can't even fathom what other human beings are experiencing.  I read updates from Ana Marquez-Greene's family and am just astounded by their grace and courage, but their loss is so stunning in its' sadness that I am filled with despair that...

This week, I read Sandy Otto's blog post on sharing our failures. It was an excellent piece- check it out:  http://ottogoingagainstthegrain.blogspot.com/2015/09/owning-my-teacher-failures.html   Sandy wrote that we often share all of the good on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, but we don't share the flops, the failures, the lessons that went awry.  She courageously discussed what went wrong in her classroom that week and then what went right, too.  Thank you, Sandy, for starting this conversation! I happen to be a mentor to a new colleague at work.  She just joined Twitter and after seeing my "followers" commented that I'm "famous." Now the pressure is on! We have to observe each other as part of our mentor program and I am already petrified that she will think I am the biggest fraud.  ("People follow HER? IF only they could see her in action!)  I'm worried that since I started blogging about teaching and sharing my ideas, pe...

To Alex's Teacher, As a teacher myself, I know what it's like to get a class list, scan the names, and have a moment of recognition, and okay-dread, when you see a name that you've heard before.  Some students have a reputation that precedes them and like it or not, you already have some negative ideas about this student.  You might ask yourself: Will I be able to handle this student's behavior? How much extra stress will this student cause? Can I be the one to turn it around for him/her? By now, you know my son Alex has been added to your class roster.  He will join your class tomorrow.  He has been in your school since he was 11 months old and next month he will turn 5.  Most of the time, he does a great job.  Sometimes he has trouble listening.  Those times have been more frequent lately, part of the reason he is making a change and joining your group.   I'm worried you might be dreading this.  You surely have a lovely class and yo...

        Click on the link for my summer family photo montage!  Summer Memories "To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose under heaven." And so another summer ends, unofficially with Labor Day and the start of school.  It feels like just the other day I was posting about hellos and goodbyes as the school year was ending and I was joining the team at Two Writing Teachers. Now, summer is gone and a new school year beckons.   I will miss the easy pace of summer, the smell of coconut suntan lotion and the salty spray of the ocean on my lips. The barbecues and ketchup and hamburger smell filling the neighborhoods. The alarm clock-less days, flip flops, and leisurely time with my family.   I will not miss the mosquitoes.   Autumn is my favorite season.  Tonight I dream of pumpkins, a chill in the air, red, gold, and brown leaves drifting to the g...

Last year, many of us chose I Wish You More,  by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld   as a final read aloud, sending our students off with beautiful wishes for their lives. This summer, I was a participant in the Summer Literacy Institute in Merrick, NY. On our last day, the teachers in the group all composed wishes for our students and we created a poem for our hopes for the new year. Tomorrow is my first day of school and the students start on Wednesday. As I think about the year ahead and the challenges we teachers will face, I thought it would be nice to start the year with my own adapted version of I Wish You More . This one is for the teachers.... I Wish Us More I wish us more "get up and go" than can't get out of bed. I wish us more high fives than hurdles. I wish us more empowerment than compliance. I wish us more line-free times at the copy machine than long waits. I wish us more balance than burnout. I wish us more ...

Thanks to Michelle Haseltine for the inspiration to write this letter! Dear First Year Teacher, When I walk into Superintendent's Conference Day this September, it will be my 14th year of teaching.  I was in your shoes in September 2001, just a few days before the world changed forever on September 11th.  I remember my first sixth grader waiting for me outside the door. I said, "Hello, I'm Kathleen" and saw her face fall with confusion before I realized my mistake and said, "Oh, I mean Miss Neagle (my maiden name)." The other students hadn't even gotten to the door and I made my first mistake. It was the first of many.   When you are a new teacher, you are struggling mightily to stay afloat in the rough, stormy seas of education.  My friends, it was not smooth sailing for me at all, but I felt like I had to pretend it was.  I believed I needed to wear the mask of the seasoned captain in clear control, utterly calm and sure of each adjustment of the...

What I Did on My Summer Vacation:  Inspiration from #cyberPD     This was originally posted on  http://cyberpd.weebly.com/on-the-blog/what-i-did-on-my-summer-vacation-inspiration-from-cyberpd-by-kathleen-neagle-sokolowski “You’re a teacher- so you get summers off, right?” Well- kind of.  While not technically working or teaching, my summers are a chance for me to reflect, learn, and prepare for the new year ahead.  This used to be a solitary endeavor, but now that I found Twitter and a PLN of passionate educators eager to learn, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate and share my understandings through reading, blogging, tweeting, and Voxing.  In Learn Like a Pirate, Paul Solarz says, “Two brains are better than one” and it is quickly becoming my favorite new saying.  What I can do on my own is nice; what I can do when I share my ideas with others and listen and learn from their ideas….that’s the game-changer. T...

Saturday morning: The laundry baskets of clean laundry have piled up and so no more excuses- time to put the laundry away.  My almost 5 year old son Alex and my 2 year old Megan are playing Hide and Go Seek as I start putting away Alex's clothes.  Until he stops me and asks if HE can put away the laundry. "Mommy really wants to just get it done," I say as he grabs the neatly folded shirts, immediately unfolding them and making my blood pressure rise a notch or two. "I want to help.  Where does this one go?" he asks.  I sigh.  There are so many tasks I need to get done and it would be nice to just complete this one so I could tackle the next thing on the list.  I take a deep breath and tell him shirts go in the second drawer. He opens up the drawer and stuffs it in, not very neatly but with a lot of pride.   "What's next?" he asks and I show him where the shorts go.  We continue like this, putting away underwear, bathing suits, pajamas. ...

Missing: Back to School Anxiety Dreams Appearance: These dreams, really nightmares, usually look like boxes all over the place while students wander into the classroom, ignoring everything I say.  I am unprepared and unable to manage the class.   Frequency : Every year, since I started teaching in 2001.  Normally they appear in August but they have been known to also come in July.   If found : Feel free to send them away! They are not really missed at all.  It dawned on me the other day that I haven't had any back to school anxiety dreams yet.  This is WAY late in the season for them to have not made their ugly arrival.  Most of the time, the dreams center around the classroom being a mess and then the students coming while I am not ready.  I can never find the papers I need and I search through boxes while they run around the room.  The only good thing about waking up from these dreams is realizing that didn't really happen and I...

One of my favorite things about being a teacher is the chance you get each year to start again.  We are blessed with two New Years celebrations! With school starting in a few weeks, this fresh start brings all the hopes and resolutions we usually reserve for January when we usher in a new calendar year.   I loved reading about other teachers' One Little Words (OLW) that would help them focus on their priorities and dreams for themselves and their students. I decided to make a OLW for the new school year and it was a hard decision because there were so many words that were important.  Some words I considered were Connections, Believe, Bridges, Community, and Expectations. All important, excellent words.  But in the end, I chose Relationships as my OLW for 2015-2016. Last year was a year of many changes for me.  After 10 years of being a kindergarten teacher, I switched to third grade.  There was so much to learn and I think at times, I...