So there’s this little girl that I know who might just be the happiest person that I have ever met. I fortunately get to see her every morning, and her contagious warmth, smile, and attitude brightens my mood without fail, and sets the tone for my day. She’s like the weather for me, and everyone around her, in that she changes the mood, the energy, and the outlook of anyone lucky enough to cross her path. Last Friday, when she arrived at school, I was busy dealing with an issue that had started my day in a less than ideal way, and my frame of mind was less than perfect to start my morning with students and faculty. She blew into my office like a warm breeze, dripping with sunshine and rainbows and it instantly snapped me back into the right frame of mind. Since that moment, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we as educators are the weather for each other, as well as for our students each and every morning when we arrive on campus. We are either warm, sunny days or cold, cloudy ones, just waiting to influence and affect everyone else around us. The beautiful thing about this kind of weather however, is that we have a choice in what the forecast looks like, and an opportunity to make it anything we want. This little girl chooses to be sunny and warm because that’s her outlook on life, and even if it’s miserable outside, and she’s caught in a torrential downpour, I don’t think she has ever really had a rainy day in her life if you know what I mean.
It’s not hard to recognize how your attitude, or the attitude of the people around you, profoundly influences your life. Attitude is contagious, and it is the one thing that you have complete control over when you wake up in the morning. The decisions that you make to look at situations as a problems or as opportunities, and the chances that you have to frame or re-frame the events in your life into positives are what make you who you are for yourself, and maybe more importantly, who you are for the others around you. Think about the impact that you have on your students each and every day, and how a bad mood or a curt response can influence their opportunity to learn…to feel safe…to feel supported…to take risks…and to internalize how adults deal and respond to difficult situations. We are teachers, and role models, and change agents for our students and our community, and the most important thing that we have to offer is not our content knowledge or our advanced degrees or our wonderful life experience…it’s our attitudes toward life and learning. So, what’s the forecast for your Monday morning…or the upcoming weeks…or the rest of the year? Will you choose to be like this little girl (who just happens to be my beautiful daughter Gabby), and be that perpetual warm sunny day, with blue skies and gentle breezes…or are you going to something less inspiring? Either way, that decision will impact our community, our students, and our relationships with each other in very real and profound ways.
Oh yeah, here’s a trick that most of you already know. If you feel your mood deteriorating down to cloudy or rainy, or if you’re struggling in one way or another to keep that smile on your face and that spring in your step, take a few minutes and get out to the playground at recess or lunch and take a look around. It is impossible in my opinion to not be snapped back to sunny after seeing our beautiful kids running, and laughing, and playing. That’s a guaranteed way to adjust your attitude and be reminded of what’s really important in our lives. Their forecast is always like a gorgeous summer day, and it’ll rub off on you in a hurry. Remember everyone, and take this to heart…you are the weather for our community each and every day…so what’s that going to look like? I choose sunny and warm! Have a wonderful week everyone and remember to be great for our students and the weather for everyone around you.
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