Be an #Eduhero with Crazy #EdSwag

My weekly post almost fell victim to negativity. My topic was going to be titled "Don't be a troll!" Luckily, my chrome book did not fall under the troll's bridge. It was close. I was going to blog away on the topic of teachers whose attitudes remind me that of trolls. Trolls are moody. They are snarky. They are not the teachers they want to be. They are teachers who under plan, plan boringly, or set up engagement free classrooms. I was going to blog away about trolls and say "don't be a troll." I was going to write a post about confronting trolls. If you see someone walking around with an angry face and their arms crossed stage an anti-troll intervention...OMG I am blogging about edu-trolls!!!

I came to the realization that there is just too much positive in the world of education right now to focus on the negative. It is not like a troll was going to read my blog anyway. I'd rather challenge all of my fellow educators to dare to chase their dreams. I am more excited about education than I have ever been before. With that being said here is my proverbial call to arms.

Be the educator you dream you are. You can be Ron Clark. You can be Dave Burgess. You can follow in the steps of your #eduhero. Heck, you can overshadow your #eduhero. You do not have to settle for mediocrity. You can be the best teacher in your school or even your district. More importantly you can be the best teacher your students could dream of, right now! You can be the best teammate. You can turn students on to learning. You can change the world one child at the time!

Coaches implore players to leave it all out on the court. I am imploring you to leave it all out on your classroom floors. When you shut your door in the afternoons or more likely early evenings. Walk away with pride in that you taught your butt off today and that no one in the world could have done it better. Carry yourself with #edswag because you know what a huge difference you make each day.

Don't be afraid to try an outside the box idea. George Couros challenges us to be creative inside the box. Do that, too. Start a new initiative at your school. Try a new instructional style. Dare to be exciting. See what happens when your students see you caught up in the excitement of your own lesson. Intricately plan your lessons. Think about every tiny detail of your lesson. Design your lessons so students do not want to miss out. Ask yourself; if my students did not have to be in my classroom would they choose to come anyway? How can I design my teaching so that students would hate to miss it? What parts of my room do they love? Which do they hate? How can I make it better?

Reach out and grab the positive. Overcome negativity. Be the educator that you want to be. You are in control of your educational destiny. I hope you choose to be an #eduhero with crazy #edcred. Breathe life into your classrooms, your teams, and your schools. Like Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." There is not a better time than today.

Writing this blog reminded me of a quote from Haim Ginott on the power of teachers. I hope it helps you reflect like it has for me.

"I've come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized."