Relational is Foundational

I go back to school on the 19th. The kids don't come back until after Labor Day, but we teachers have two weeks (seven days) of professional development beforehand. The first week, our district is shelling out 40 grand for us to attend Capturing Kids Hearts. At first, I (along with several others) balked at the idea. I mean, if you don't know how to care about kids, how did you get hired as a teacher in the first place? Isn't relating to children kind of foundational in your job as an elementary educator?

But then I thought about our staff and our decidedly negative school atmosphere, and I've come to the conclusion that the in-service may not be such a bad idea. If it helps just one teacher recognize that first graders do not understand biting sarcasm, then it might be worth the money.

I have already decided that this next year, my room (which is visited frequently by special education aides and other special ed. team members) will be a "no principal-bashing or others-bashing" zone. I mean, I realize that people need to vent when things are unfair or just plain ridiculous (myself included), but instead of focusing on what we cannot change, we need to focus on what we CAN do to make our school a less toxic environment, and to help each of our students succeed.