by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 31, 2013 | Reflect
Poster Number 1 from Posterpalooza. The party has started… everyday will be a new surprise. 🙂 For printing instructions and my plea for you to “Share it Forward,” please see below.
For my amazing friend in Alabama who teaches gifted education and I am lucky to have met through Twitter. 🙂 Keep on inspiring kids, Ms. Fine. I love your Willy Wonka quote. It really sums up learning to me!
Directions for downloading:
1.) Click the poster and you will be taken to it’s page here on my site.
2.) Right Click and Save.
3.) Print it: Take to your favorite poster printing company. I love Costco because a 12×18 is only $2.99 and ready in an hour. I caution you that if you print the poster in a various size, you may end up cropping it. The ratio for a 12×18 is different from an 8×10. 🙂 The resolution on the full size is strong enough to print at even a 20×30.
OR
Share it Digitally: Computer backgrounds, iPad homescreens, Facebook shares, PowerPoint slides. Please don’t crop of the watermark at the bottom. 🙂
4.) Share it forward. If you use the poster, please do something nice for another educator. That’s what education is all about.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 30, 2013 | Reflect
In education, we are in the business of giving back. I’m going to make 31 posters in August. 1 per day. For the entire month. It’s a Posterpalooza! I’ve appreciated every Facebook like, email comment, message, and more because they have really been a source of positive inspiration, pushed my thinking, and helped me to be a better educator. I don’t know where I’d be without the amazing, supportive, inspiring community of educators who make up my PLN (Personal Learning Network.) So in August, I’m going to celebrate by giving back.
Now’s your chance… if there’s a poster you’d like, a quote you’ve been wanting for your classroom wall, a special idea with a phrase you’d like to hang on your door… anything. Please leave a comment below or on my Facebook page. You are welcome to suggest colors! I’m looking forward to giving back. 31 days of posters, inspired by YOU and for YOU. I can’t guarantee I’ll make each and every one, but 31 for sure! Because of YOU all, I’m a better educator every day. Many thanks.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 28, 2013 | Reflect
Want some honesty? I’m exhausted.
In the past month I have gone to ISTE, moved to a new state, unpacked and set up a new house, spent 2 weeks at NASA, and started my new job in a new school. I’ve felt stretched thin, yet inspired and invigorated. I’ve constantly thought about not having time and my hair has been sticking up a little crazier than normal. But life is not about having time, it’s about making time. I may be exhausted, but it feels like I am really doing something. I’m learning. I’m growing. I’m pouring myself into things that are important to me. It’s not really about a job. It’s about the kind of work that you love so much, it’s doesn’t feel like work. I hope that I am always lucky enough to do work that I love. I wish that for everyone. For the kids I have taught, for my colleagues around the world. It’s always about learning.
Want some more honesty? It’s all totally worth it.
DISCLAIMER: This was not some post to whine about how crazy busy I’ve been. I’m just hoping someone else who’s feeling stretched thin reads this and realizes that everyone has these days, weeks, or even months. And I hope you’ll realize that it’s worth it… or at least that you are not alone.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 21, 2013 | Reflect
Burnout. You hear about it all the time. Tired of restrictions on public education. Tired of testing. Tired of same old, same old. Tired of feeling ‘stuck.’ But, there is a cure for burnout. No matter what, if you feel stuck, bored, or just plain like teaching’s lost it’s luster for you? There’s a way to fix that.
Connect.
Team Kennedy: Inspiration, alive and breathing.
I just drove back from the airport, after 9 days spent with 5 of my teammates that I met in Huntsville last summer. Our little team of 5 teachers from four states all around the US? We collaborated. Google Hangouts, email, Google Docs, Facebook messages, and so much more. Being part of a team? It’s empowering. It reminds you that you have strengths and weaknesses. It reminds you to rely on other people. It reaches that little part in your brain that says you don’t have to do it all alone. That little part that sometimes gets magnified in your school, when you start to feel like it’s just you, and your kids, and those connections are lost in the daily shuffle. Because if we allow ourselves, as teachers, we can get backed into a corner where our focus gets so far away from learning, we can’t see the way out.
Through all of the experiences I’ve had over the past couple of years, I’ve never realized there was a point where I was feeling ‘stuck.’ But there was. I had some people who woke me up, met this team who reminded me to keep on learning, and here I am.
Team Kennedy may have left today, but their inspiration? It’s with me always. I know that no matter where they are, they are there. Whether we message, Skype, tweet, or send an email, we are connected. Not just because of an incredible experience we shared, but because of the insatiable desire we all seem to have for learning. It’s what’s connected us, around the world, and keeps the flame burning.
Burnout is real. It can happen to anyone. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s not something to ignore. The connections we make are what keep our love of learning alive, through anything. Through our darkest days in teaching, there are people who will be our light. There are also days when we can be the light for someone else.
Some may say that weightlessness would be the cure for burnout, but it’s these people I shared it with. Four lights who flew out of this city in separate directions, with a similar goal: To keep learning alive within us all, not just for ourselves, but for our students past, present, and future. Afterall, that’s just what connecting is all about.
