Bring yourself to the Learning Process Day 11

Day Eleven

“As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together.”
 ― Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life
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In today’s world of education sometimes bringing ourselves to the learning process is hard, because we bring the pressure of accountability to our teaching.
 
Are you bringing yourself to the teaching process?
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I use to feel like I was teaching in a fog and the storm could hit at any moment.
At the end of the day I was not sure if I connected to those around me.  I wondered would my students go home and tell their families what they did at school for the day.

I knew that I had good parts, but after the storm of teaching, finding those golden nuggets was a hard thing to do.  I knew that I needed to bring more of myself to the learning process so that I could connect with my students. 

I also knew that this was not going to happen overnight. I had to conquer one storm cloud at a time, by implementing teaching habits that would insure that I was bringing myself to the learning process.

At the end of a long day do you feel like you have connected with your students?
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I brought myself to the learning process by creating a teacher habit checklist that will help me to stay in the moment and out of the storm.
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Did I…

• greet students and families by name?
• greet challenging children by name and tell them that I was glad to see them?
• welcome co-workers with a smile and a “Hello”?
• involve myself in play?
• laugh with my students?
• sing and dance with my students?
• bring something new to the teaching process today?
• involve the whole group in a learning process?
• seek the child’s point of view?
• notice details in the children’s work to discover more possibilities?
• share conversations following children’s interest?

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When you stay mindful and act with your values and goals in mind, you become a powerful mediator of children’s learning. 
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.  Learning Together with Young Children
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Task:
Use the Mindful Teachers Checklist to see where you are with bringing yourself to the teaching process.
Next pick one that you will start implementing in your classroom tomorrow.
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​Download your worksheet

the_mindful_teachers_checklist.pdf
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