My Truth Monday

So, a while back, my friend Denise over at SunnyDays  came up with a great idea called "my truth Monday"... And it was going to be a simple post each Monday... I fully intended on participating each and every week.... Clearly, that didn't happen!! But this week it was simple... Pick your "one word" for 2014... It's all based on an article that's been floating around in the blogosphere for a while and I really liked it. You can read more about it here. 

So... What's my word for 2014??

I'm sure it comes as no surprise, given that I named my blog "good ENOUGH teacher"... I've been the over-achieving, perfectionist, driving myself and my family crazy, working non-stop, making myself sick, super-teacher for too long... And after reading a book this summer, I felt that it was time to let some things go and accept that, sometimes, it's really okay to just be "good enough"... Case in point... The last day before Christmas break... I did NOT throw my class a huge party.... There were a few reasons for this, but I'll post more about that later... But let me just say... When I woke up to nearly a foot of snow that day, I was thankful I had planned a more mellow day for my kiddos. We hung out and practiced our song for the school sing-along, then when that was over, we came back and worked on a fabulous holiday packet from one of my favorite local bloggers, Lory Evans... (You can check out the packet here!) 

As you can see, it was a chill day in my classroom..... No bells and whistles, nothing over the top... But it was GOOD ENOUGH for my students. I even heard one boy declare to his table that this was "the best day ever!" That just made my whole day. It truly is the simple things in life that matter most. And if I could pick a second word, I think I would choose "simplify"... Which kind of goes hand in hand with "enough"... 

Okay, enough of my late night rambling... I'm going to leave you with a YouTube video from my dear friend Julie de Azevedo (author of The Burnout Cure, which I blogged about this summer)... This song is called "Make enough of me", and I think it's something many of us can relate to. I hope you love it. Happy 2014!!

 

Okay apparently I'm not smart enough to figure out how to embed a video from YouTube with this app on my iPad... So the link will have to do for now. I'll try to fix it later. Click here to view the video on YouTube. 

Good enough tip & a giveaway!

Happy Friday! I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July filled with parades, food, fireworks and fun! I know I sure did!! I've been thinking a lot about how "lazy" I've been this week... I'm 5 for 5 on days I've lounged around at the swimming pool this week... And 0 for 5 on days I've posted new items! ha!! I was beginning to feel a little guilty and forced myself to work at my computer for a few hours this morning before heading to the pool (don't worry, my TPT total is still zero, but my tan is AMAZING!!) I was then able to enjoy a few hours of sunshine before a torrential downpour arrived... Needless to say, I was glad I took a break and went swimming while I could. So my tip today is this: Take time to soak up the sun! Sheryl Crow said it best:

"It's not having what you want / It's wanting what you've got / I'm gonna soak up the sun / I'm gonna tell everyone  / To lighten up"

Summer is fleeting. Before we know it, we'll blink and be back in our classrooms. Sometimes the best thing we can do is to do absolutely nothing at all! We have our whole school year to get things done, but if you're like me here in Utah, you know that the summer sun won't last forever. There's plenty of time to work on things on cold snowy nights, so soak up the sun while you can!!

One last thing before I go, I wanted to let you in on a little secret... Come back on Monday for all the details :)

 

Good enough teacher part one: Pinterest stress!

I'm sure you might be wondering, "what exactly do you mean by 'good enough teacher'?" And for those of you who know me very well, you are probably laughing at the title just a little bit, because you know what a perfectionist I am. But I'm going to let you all in on a little secret.... I'm just as insecure and overwhelmed as the next teacher. What's my trick? Accepting that I'm not perfect and using every trick in the book to make it look like I am!! I promise that most of my blog posts won't be super long, but this one probably will be! Bear with me though, because I promise it will be worth your time!!
 

Recently, I read an article on today.com that talked about moms who were overwhelmed from "Pinterest stress".... Let me just tell you, I'm not even a mom yet, and I also feel that Pinterest stress that these moms were talking about!! I already know that my children's nursery will never be cute enough, their birthday parties never creative enough, and someday they will probably end up in therapy for their lack of exciting, Pinterest-worthy lives! So I'll just apologize to my sweet unborn children now! Sorry, kids!

Along the lines of the Pinterest-stressed mammas, I would like to add Pinterest-stressed teachers to the list. Do you ever just look at a classroom with such envy, then think to yourself that you must be the worst teacher on the planet because your classroom doesn't look as cute as the one on Pinterest?? (Here's me in the corner raising my hand! "Yes, yes!!")  or maybe you're like me... You have tons of great pins on your Pinterest boards, but have yet to ever make JUST ONE of the ridiculously cute items floating around out in pin-land! I am SOOOO guilty of that. But you know what, when the first day of school rolls around, my students don't seem to mind.... They haven't seen all the cute pins floating around, all the ideas I meant to get around to, but just couldn't find the time for  (because I was too busy being lazy at the swimming pool all summer), so I am not a failure in their eyes. They show up, hang up their backpack, find their desk, and are usually pretty darn excited to have a brand new box of crayons with their name written on it! (7 year olds are easy to please!!)

In my decade of teaching, my classroom has never had a "theme".... Yup, that's right. I didn't even KNOW about these cutesie themed classrooms until about 2 years ago.... Frankly, the first time I saw one, I laughed... "Clearly you have too much time on your hands" I thought to myself. (And yes, admittedly, a part of me wished I had more time or were more creative.... But I didn't let it discourage me.)  Now, please understand one thing.... I am in no way trying to belittle those teachers who have the amazing, Pinterest-worthy classrooms.... The great thing about the teacher-bloggy community is that I have made many friends along this journey... I have nothing but love, admiration, and respect for all the amazing teachers out there. I choose to put my time and energy into things beside classroom decor. Maybe someday my classroom will end up on Pinterest, but for now I'm pretty sure it would be classified as a mismatched Pinterest-fail! Ha!! (And maybe someday I will get around to posting pictures... But today I'm typing on my iPad before heading to the pool, so the pics will just have to wait.)

 Well, I've rambled enough for one day.... My point is, it's okay to not be perfect. My tag line says "granting permission to let go of perfection"... So take a deep breath, let out a sigh, and realize that it's okay to not have a Pinterest-worthy classroom. We are all at different places on our teaching journey, and are all doing the best we can. Don't get discouraged by other classrooms!

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share some tips and tricks that can help you in your journey to be "good enough" too! Make sure you're following me, because you won't want to miss out. There will be some great freebies and giveaways too! I will be spotlighting great teacher-created products that will save you time and help your classroom get off to a great start!