Don't Burn Out
How To Figure Out What Matters
Most of the things we do won’t matter next month. But a few will matter even in a few decades. How do we figure out what actually matters?
I Didn’t Need *More* Ideas
As a teacher, I’d start by grabbing new ideas. But I didn’t need more ideas. I already had too many!
Reflecting and Planning With Four Lists
Four lists I update every time I sit down to reflect and plan.
Let Your Brain Breathe!
I was breathing in too much. I needed to exhale. I didn’t need more ideas. I needed to do less!
Why a Measurement Must Never Be the Goal
When we focus on a simple measurement to guide a complex goal, that measurement becomes the goal, and the measurement starts to work against the real goal.
Knowing Our Own Mindsets
I continue reading my friends’ dissertations and stumble across how very “fixed” a teacher’s mindset can become. What do we do?
Raising Our Levels of Moral Development
Kohlberg’s levels of moral development are a fantastic tool for helping our gifted kids understand their advanced awareness of moral issues. But it also challenges us, as adults, to step up and push our own moral development higher.
Important vs Urgent: The Daily Checklist
A daily checklist is a powerful tool (for teachers and students) to remember those important, but not urgent, tasks.
Focus on what’s Important, not what’s Urgent.
It’s so easy for the daily chaos of suddenly urgent tasks to overwhelm what really matters. How can we better focus on those long-term, important tasks?
Being a Healthier Teacher: Stopping Burnout
As someone who experienced burn out while teaching, and has watched friends and family members burn out as well, I know that it’s a real affliction, but one that is rarely addressed.
Being a Healthier Teacher: 3 Ways To Disrupt Your Status Quo
In this article we’ll look at why we allow ourselves to stay in unhealthy situations for years. Why don’t we make changes to better ourselves? The status quo bias has an answer…
Being A Healthier Teacher: 3 Ways To Set Limits
Almost every teacher I asked said they regularly leave school still feeling they have a lot of work to do. And almost everyone agrees to do things they don’t really want to do. This leads to burnout and cynicism! Let’s look at 3 ways to set limits
Being A Healthier Teacher: Focus On Your Strengths
Teaching is a job that never ends, and as a result, it starts to take over every aspect of a teacher’s life. This is bad. You get stressed, which leads to unhealthy behavior, which leads to more stress, and so on! But healthy, happy students need a healthy, happy teacher.
One Tip to Ease An Overwhelmed Brain
I gave one kid the job of being Mr. Byrd’s Brain.
The Don’t Do List
“Yes” is so easy to say, and it makes people happy, but soon you’ve built up the expectation that you’ll help with everything. If we say “yes” to every request, then we’re not differentiating between what’s important and what’s not.