Dr. Elizabeth Green

Instructional Designer, Writer, and Free Spirit

Back to School Envy

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Teachers have the real joy in our profession.  Now that I teach more teachers and administrators rather than students, I envy teachers on the first day of school.  The first day of school is incredibly taxing.  No one sleeps well the night before, wondering what the year holds.  Teachers wonder if they really prepared enough, as no one seems to have enough time to prepare to get the year off to a smooth start, even those of you who started working a month before school actually started.  Students hope they have friends and as I heard one child say, “I hope I don’t have any mean kids in my class.”

On the first day, most students are on their best behavior a no one wants a discipline referral to the office on the first day.  All but the most broken children try their best as everyone has a fresh start and a new page in the grade book.  School leaders have the task of what to do with all the children on the first day, hoping there are no major glitches in class schedules, bus assignments, and cafeteria logistics.  Heaven help us if a teacher calls in sick and we have to deal with placing substitutes with new students.

While in the midst of the first day jitters, I hope those working in the schools take mental pictures of the first day of school for later reflection.  Even with the back to school jitters, educators are the most blessed people in the world on the first day of school.  The kindergarten teacher gets to hug the child who misses his mother and eventually forms a bond with the child.  The bond can build memories for an entire lifetime as everyone remembers her first teacher.  The middle school teachers and administrators experience the awkward pre-teen fear of changing classes, getting lost, and if he listened to older students trying to scare him, the fear of being locked in a locker all day or being tormented in the locker room.  Hopefully, the student figures out he won’t fit in the locker and most of the scare stories are not true.  Watching this child grow in the next few years is amazing.  He changes from a child to a teenager and the teacher and school leaders gets to be a part of his or life.  High school educators get to watch the most dramatic change of all.  The squirrely, immature freshman boy with the squeaky voice, enormous feet, and silly antics – like making underarm gas noises – becomes a young man ready for the world by the time he graduates.  The insecure freshman girl with the shy smile may become a poised, confident, college co-ed in a very short four years.

Those of you, who have the honor of influencing the lives of our nation’s students, please take a few moments to savor the first day of school, the feeling of walking on the freshly waxed floor, the eagerness on your students’ faces, the smells of the hot rolls in the cafeteria, the sounds of the bells, buses, announcements.  Love every moment of it. You are making a difference and an indelible imprint on a student’s life.  Today, I envy you.

Guns and Mental Illness

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According to a CNN report this week, a DeKalb County, Georgia man slips into a school with an “AK-47 type weapon” ready for a shootout with police, prepared to take his own life.  This story is sickingly too familiar to me as my son’s final minutes on earth played out in a similar fashion.  The man was a convicted felon with a violent past and according to the report a history of mental illness.  According to the report, the man took the assault rifle from the house of an acquaintance.

The news shows story after story of individuals going to schools and other public buildings with guns intending to harm others or themselves. As the story unfolds, we see similar patterns, mentally ill or disturbed individuals intending to end their suffering or take vengeance on real or perceived threats.

Fortunately, for everyone concerned in DeKalb County, a school employee talked the man into surrendering by telling him she loved him, revealing some of her own personal stories, and offering to surrender with him so the police would not shoot.  Thank God, all are safe!  This includes the mentally unstable individual with the gun.  His mother did not have to bury a child this week.  If the scenario had turned for the worse with a loss of life, the rhetoric in the news and social media would include an insane discussion of the need for arming school officials with more guns.

The rhetoric is so passionate from gun owners and organizations that stir the gun owners into a frenzy that many people are afraid to speak for any type of gun control.  Any discussion of holding those accountable who give children, teens, felons, or unstable individuals access to guns is met with loud and fierce opposition, personal attacks, and fear-mongering.  One argument is the government or they (whoever they are) will take our weapons and constitutional right to bear arms away.  Gun advocates have become bullies loudly screaming for more and more arms to deter violence rather than sensible gun ownership and safety.

How many more stories like the ones in DeKalb County, Aurora, Chicago, Columbine, or Jonesboro, Arkansas do we have to hear until we change the conversation?  We need serious reform to provide easy medical access to the mentally ill and a reform of our behavior for gun access.  We need to make it terribly uncomfortable and socially unacceptable for those who carelessly or negligently give access to guns for children and mentally unstable adults. Let’s ensure law enforcement officials enforce the gun access laws that are already on the books.  Let’s push public prosecutors and judges to punish irresponsible gun owners to the full extent of the law.

Imagine the power the powerless, disenfranchised, and depressed feel when they hold an automatic weapon in their hands.  How must they feel when they see the terror in others eyes as they aim the weapon?  It is completely unacceptable to mix mental illness and access to guns for any reason at any time.

For those of you afraid of gun control rights people labeling you as a gun control advocate, think about this.  If you don’t believe anyone has the right to have any type of firearm, you believe in gun control.  Shouldn’t all of us advocate gun control?

Back to School Vision Board for Middle and High School Students

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istock climbing

Vision boards are a powerful tool to help pre-teens and teens set meaningful and achievable goals for the new school year.  The basic principles are the same for younger children creating vision board.  See my previous post, Setting Back to School Goals with a Vision Board. Adolescents are ready for abstract thinking and enjoy imagining themselves in the future, so you can have fun with this exercise and take the vision board to a higher level.

  •  Brainstorm goals for the year – such as grades, school events, how you want to dress, etc.
  • Also write goals for parts of yourself you want to develop.  True abundance is not just having more things or accomplishing more.   We are not human havings.  We are human beings.  What do you want to BE?  Do you want to be kinder, more creative ,honest, trustworthy, helpful, patient, wise?  How about more even-tempered, more relaxed, have more fun?  Write these things down.
  • Next, set some intermediate goals, such as plans for two or more years ahead – this may include plans after graduation, college or technical school.
  • Now, set at least one, big, hairy, audacious goal.  Something so large that will stretch your imagination!  It will be fun to watch this happen!
  • These goals need to involve you and what you want rather than someone else.  For example, don’t set a goal to have a certain boy or girl ask you on a date.  That is a goal for someone else.   Write goals for yourself, such as I want to spend more time with friends or make new friends.
  • Be as specific as you can for now.  If you want more time with friends, write how many more hours per week you want to spend with friends.  Instead of I want to have more fun, write how you want to have fun.  Is it sporting events, camping more, hiking or swimming?  I will write more on goal setting on a separate post.  You can update your vision board later.
  • Find or create visual representations of what you want.  Be specific.  Think through all the details including dates you want this to happen.   Cut out pictures, words, symbols from magazines or use your artistic talents to draw what you want.
  • Post the pictures on poster board, bulletin board, or make an online poster.  You might even use Pinterest to create your board.  Place your vision board somewhere you see every day, such as your locker door, bedroom, or near your toothbrush.
  • Write dates of when you want to achieve your goals next to your picture or symbol.

I would love to have pictures of your vision board to post in this community.

Setting Back to School Goals with a Vision Board

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Bulletin board

One of the best ways to help children and teens start the year right, is to take some time to set goals using a vision board.  To manifest a peace and success, we need some time to think about what we want.  I am sharing how to do this with young children to upper elementary age children in this post.  Tomorrow, I will share how to do this with teens.

  1. Set aside some quiet time to do this activity without the distraction of television or other media.  It is great to do this with siblings or a small group of children, as they can share ideas about what they want for the new school year and stimulate creativity.
  2. Ask children what they want for this school year.  This may include making certain grades or marks, reaching goals in sports, or participating in activities such as choir or even an item such as a skateboard or bicycle.  Children will write down their ideas.  For young children, the parent or teacher may record the answers for them.
  3. Share the idea that abundance can also mean what we are, as well as what we have or achieve.  Perhaps we want to be kinder to others, raise money for a cause, or share more.  As children begin to talk about their dreams, record the ideas and introduce the concept that we can make a vision board to help us achieve our dreams.
  4. When we develop a vision board, we use symbols to represent what we want.  The board can be a bulletin board, magnetic marker board, or as simple as cardboard or paper.  Cut out pictures, words, symbols to represent what we want.  Children may also draw pictures of vision board items.  This is even more powerful.  Add these to the board.
  5. Ask children to be specific.  If we want a bicycle, note the color, style of seat, and any other details.  Note when we want to achieve our vision.  If we want to make the A-B honor roll, note which grading periods.  If we simply want to be on the honor roll, this may not be until the last grading or marking period.  We need to write, I want to make the A-B honor roll every grading period this school year. 
  6. Ask children to make one really big goal for the year that seems impossible, something that will really stretch their imaginations.
  7. Post the vision board in a place the child will see every day.  Some ideas include inside the locker door or in the child’s bedroom.  Seeing the board every day will remind students of their goals. 
  8.  Observe the Law of Attraction work for children as well as adults.

Great Beginnings

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School Supplies 3

School is starting very soon.  As a student, I loved the first day of school with new beginnings, a new page in the grade book, a new start.  I loved the smell of paste, my cigar box full of #2 pencils, new crayons with sharp points.  I looked forward to seeing my friends and hoped my new teacher was nice to me.  There is something magic about the first day and a fresh start.

As a teacher and school leader and consultant, I love the freshly waxed floor – so bright you can see your reflection, greeting colleagues he first day back, and the sight of yellow school buses full of children.  I love the first band practice, football game, and the tired but satisfied feeling of making it through a full first week.  I also love the new page in a grade book – now a grading software program.  Every child has a new beginning.  There is nothing better than seeing students get a successful beginning.  Everyone deserves a fresh start.

Great beginnings don’t just happen.  A great deal of work goes into the first few days of school.  The custodians work all summer to prepare the building.  Teachers attend workshops and training all summer to improve their craft.  Administrators work on schedules, curriculum planning, and manage bus schedules.  Parents shop the sales to make sure their children have what they need for the first day.  All of these activities to ensure success begin with thoughts and actions.  When we have bad beginnings, it is usually because we did not take the time to plan and to pay attention to what we want.  We take what comes to us rather than creating a peaceful school year.  When we are not conscious of our goals, thoughts, actions, we typically have a poor start that can take us longer to overcome.

Physically and metaphorically, we have a new page in this years’ grade book.  Let’s spend some time  setting goals for the year and affirming success and peace for children and ourselves? Putting our thoughts and attention to this will make a great beginning.  My next posts will include ideas for visioning activities, creating a vision board for teachers and students, setting up class rules, and tips for making the morning rush peaceful.  I hope you will share your ideas also.

Hi! I'm Elizabeth. ...a researcher, educator, instructional designer, writer, mom, activist, and optimist, and this is my personal blog.  I mostly write about educational issues, but can get … Read More...

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