When I feel steamrolled by obstacles, I try to go back to the base of what we’re doing, which lies with the kids. I get out of my own swirl and take time to look at the school world through a child’s eyes. It’s one of the great perks we get working in a school building. Then I can re-imagine the heart of what we’re doing.
Shadow a student between classes…
Pay particular attention to one student who is different from me in one obvious way—style, personality, background, neighborhood. See myself as that child’s advocate for an hour…
Sit in a desk or a table in a classroom for a few minutes and notice what I see…
Pretend a child with whom there are struggles is in my family…
Stand in the doorway of a classroom as kids enter and greet them….
When I see a kid who looks like there’s a cloud over his/her head, stop and ask, “How are you doing?” “Are you okay?”
Other ways to step out of our own perspective and see through our kids’ eyes?????
You can even just watch a video for a couple minutes for a refresher on why its so amazing to work with kids
twelve-year-olds-talk-about-race-more-candidly-than-most-adults-do