School Supplies: Resources for the Reflective Educator

For three years my wife and I were aid workers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia which is a post genocide nation known for its heat, poverty and cultural extremes. Though that time will always be in my long-term memory as an experience that was rare and beautiful there were certainly significant challenges as we worked to acculturate to that nation. I remember simply not wanting to venture outside to buy groceries for fear of not speaking the language or being caught in a situation in which my language was not sufficient or when the simple task of buying credit for my cell phone was an intimidating proposition. After a couple of years those fears dissipated and we could easily navigate the nation and the city so well so that I could operate there with as much confidence as I could maneuver around my home culture but it was not a quick process to get to that point. However, I remember that many of our expat friends in Cambodia constantly reminding of culture stress is simply tension felt by ...

In the first six years of teaching career I never took a day off. If I was sick, I popped some Tylenol and got to work. If I was exhausted, I added a couple more scoops of coffee to the filter and got on my way and when my friends were heading out to get some fresh turns on a powder day I stayed in the classroom fearing a bad sub day or those sideways looks from my colleagues when I returned. I wore my ironman reputation like a badge of honor and even worse; I often looked down on those who could not make it into work each and every day like I could. Over time this mentality faded a bit and now I am learning to understand my own rhythms as an educator which has made me, albeit reluctantly, schedule trips that take me away from school at some of the most intense times of the school year. Now, let me be honest am sitting on a plane now on my way to a wedding in upstate New York and I am anxious about whether or not I passed off all my work to the right people and whether or not I...