My New Goal

As teachers, we know that reaching out to a parent can be very beneficial. This week, I would say that I had an above-average amount of parent communication, for a variety of purposes. Changes to student schedules, doctor and dentist appointments, aches and pains, an IEP meeting, a behavior issue, an emotional issue, and a schoolwork issue all made for a heavy week of communication, and all were very helpful. I'm generally an email guy--convenient, no need to play phone tag, and, in some cases, it is helpful to have a "document trail" of communication. This week's communications, though, required a few extra phone calls. Some things just need to be talked through.
However, as I was sitting down to write this week's blog post, something jumped out at me--not one single piece of communication that I made this week was simply for the purpose of sharing a piece of good news/pass on a positive message. Now, I have to be perfectly honest that there have been occasional reminders during school meetings about sharing positive feedback with families on a more regular basis, and there have even been a few times when that has been the sole goal of the meeting. And it is during these times that I tell myself that I'm going to make this a regular habit. We all can have the best of intentions, but it is one thing to have an intention to do something and another to actually do it.
Even just recently I was reminded of the importance of sharing a positive message. Over winter break, I was watching some TED Talks, and I came across this one:

After watching it, I said to myself, "Self, you need to remember to do this for your students and make some phone calls." Unless it is a habit, though, it's not going to stick. So that's my goal--to make it a habit. Each week, I'm going to reach out to at least one parent with something good to pass onto them. I'm asking for your help with this, though, so that it can become a habit. If we cross paths, ask me if I have met my goal for the week. Or shoot me an email. You could even give me a call :-)

Mindfulness thought for the week: You can't change the people around you, but you can change the people around you. 
I saw this posted on Facebook, shared by Tom J. Deters, the host of the ProYou Podcast, and I knew instantly that this needed to be the thought for the week for my students. Since I have been listening to the podcast for quite a while now, I knew right away what meant. It was a fun one to discuss with the students because most of them were missing the point that you can surround yourself with people that are positive rather than trying to change the people who are negative.