Category: Spirit of teaching

Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: Introspection

calling to make a difference, Can do's, Essential questions, Introspection, Purpose, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

When I was deciding on what concepts each letter of SPIRIT would represent, I considered “reflection” as one for the “R”. However, the more I pondered my experience on the Camino and the lessons I had learned in life, the more I realized that reflection was not enough. There was a deeper learning; a deeper journey; a deeper knowing.

So, like any teacher, who is also a lifelong learner, I did some research. I also asked some friends what they thought about their learning journeys. This is what I discovered.

Some people use the terms self-awareness, self-reflection and introspection interchangeably. There has been a lot of research done on all three, and it has been determined that they are really not the same. My personal and professional experiences tell me they are not the same either.

According to Positive Psychology, 

     “Self-reflection is one’s ability to willingly examine one’s thought and feelings and reflect on what they mean”.

     “Introspection is the examination of one’s own conscious thoughts and feelings”.

     “Self-awareness is the achievement of practicing self-reflection and the exercise of introspection.”

Clear as mud, right?  Stay with me here because it is a process that, when understood, leads to a more spiritual and fulfilling path to peace and bliss. Also, it is one of the greatest lessons I have learned in life. (more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: Resilience

Can do's, Essential questions, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher hero, teacher vulnerability, Wholehearted teaching

“Resilience” is from Latin resiliens, “to rebound, recoil, to jump, leap” Also, used in 1800’s to mean “elasticity”.

For me, resilience means to move forward even when faced with challenges, obstacles and shortcomings. However, it does not mean to keep pushing and pushing to the point of burnout.

Resilience is not measured in terms of suffering. 

It is not about reaching a goal no matter what toll it takes on us. 

It is not about the price we think we have to pay 
or the sacrifices we have to make to move forward. 

There has been so much research done on resilience to determine what makes someone “succeed” or “triumph in the face of adversity”. As well, there have been many connections made between our level of happiness and well-being as correlated to our level of resilience. 

You ask most people what they want most in life, and they say “to be happy”.  And, for me, there are as many definitions and pathways to happiness as there are people in the world. Perhaps that is what I finally found on the Camino was true happiness…bliss.  I found my way back to my True Self and the core of my (well) being.  

But the truth is that since returning from the Camino, I have lost my way a couple of times when there were big life changes and challenges. Fear came up again, and I had to be curious and discover new ways to cope with those fears by getting out of my mind and checking in with my heart through courage to find the “right” answers that would work for me. 

I was stretched beyond my comfort zone of beliefs and best practices, but through courage and all the aspects of SPIRIT lessons that I am always talking about, I have been able to take leaps of faith to bounce back from all adversity. SPIRIT creates the elasticity I need to cope, survive and overcome so that I can take that next step into my well-being and find my way back home.

What does it mean to be “resilient” and  “triumph in the face of adversity”?  Here are some interpretations of this expression through my “lentes”.  (more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: Reality

calling to make a difference, Can do's, communication, creating community, Essential questions, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Purpose, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

“Reality” means “the quality of being real.” It is also defined as “sincerity”.

REAL  has its roots in Latin, from “res” meaning “thing”.  Then, in the early 14c., “actually existing, true;” mid-15c., “relating to things”.   

“Real” meaning “genuine” is recorded from the 1550s, and today, we use it to mean “authentic”, like when we say “are you for real?” 

We also use “real” to emphasize the significance of something, like when we say something is a real problem or a real pain in the…well, you get the picture! 

Perhaps, in summary, I could say that 
to be REAL means to be AUTHENTIC, TRUE and SIGNIFICANT.

I spent my entire teaching career trying to make learning for students real and meaningful, full of purpose and connections to the real world and relating everything to their personal worlds and how that fit into the bigger picture of humanity. 

Years of research and personal experience taught me that if students don’t see a “REAL reason to learn this stuff”, then, they will not own it. It just becomes part of a virtual reality. I think that is what is going on right now with online learning. It doesn’t feel or seem like “real school”, but even more so, what they are being asked to “learn” is rote, prescribed, computer-generated, impersonal and disconnected…not real.  

The same is true for teachers. Teaching has become so prescribed and scripted that most teachers don’t REALly understand what they are supposed to be teaching or what the students are REALly supposed to be learning. 

What is important, significant and meaningful for students to learn in school? 
What is for real, and what is just for a test? 
What are we teaching them about being kind and loving human beings? 
Where are the connections and the community?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: Integration

calling to make a difference, Can do's, communication, creating community, Essential questions, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher vulnerability, Wholehearted teaching

“Integration”, means “the act of bringing together the parts of a whole,” from Late Latin integrationem  “renewal, restoration,” and from past participle stem of Latin integrare “make whole, renew, begin again”.

There is a lot of talk in education about integration, 
but in many different, and sometimes confusing, ways.

Integration (with inclusion) means that exceptional students are being partially taught in the mainstream classroom and that activities are adapted so that these students can “fit in” with their mainstream peers…to make part of the whole.

Then, there is an integrated curriculum, which allows children to pursue learning in a holistic (whole) way and brings out the interconnectedness of all curricular areas.

Integrated skills focuses on the four language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking through a holistic communicative language teaching approach bringing all these skills together and not used in isolation.

There’s also integrated lessons, integrated technology, integrated classroom, integrated schools, integrated teaching, integrated learning, integrated data, integrated systems, integrated “you name it”.

There are so many buzz words in education that incorporate the word "integrated".  
So, why is that? 
And is the word "integration" related to the word "integrity"?

The concept of making connections and bringing those parts together to make a whole lot of sense out of things when learning so that we can move up Bloom’s Taxonomy and apply them to our lives and the real world is the key to lifelong learning and becoming a whole, well-rounded, self-actualized (Maslow’s Hierarchy) human being.

But are we truly applying the concept of integration faithfully and truly in education? 
Are we maintaining our integrity in the use and application of the word?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: Intuition

Can do's, Essential questions, Intuition, Maslow before Blooms, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching 
“Intuition” is from Late Latin "intuitionem" (nominative intuitio) 
“a looking at, consideration”.  

Psychology Today states that “intuition is the process that gives us the ability to know something directly without analytic reasoning.” Most people define it as a “gut feeling” or an “inner knowing”.

Everyone has intuition, but most are not aware or tapped into it because of too many distractions and exterior stressors that prevent us from checking in with the feelings and sensations in our bodies.  

We are a modern society of immediate gratification and constant stimulus to the brain through technology.  Thanks to technology and computers, we are a data-driven society that runs on charts, graphs, statistics and only things that are tangible and can be measured, quantified and qualified.  

We ignore our gut feelings in favor of spreadsheets, bar graphs, pie charts and other computer-generated viewpoints.

Curiosity, play, creativity and the natural flow of learning 
fall by the wayside in school when 
everything has to be measured and quantified 
and placed in a spreadsheet.  

Everything becomes quite formulaic and no one is “looking at” or “considering” any other possibilities other than those presented through the data.  

Where are the other variables in the equation like what the child is dealing with at home or health/wellness or who they really are as a person?  What kind of children are they becoming when we are defining them as part of a spreadsheet, drawing a picture of their future in a pie chart or or measuring their worth through a bar graph?   

When everything and everyone is so controlled and “data-driven”, what happens to dreams then? How are we really robbing children of their potential rather than helping them discover & grow it? 

Why are teachers not allowed to “look at” and “consider” what they feel in their heart and “go with their gut” so that they can be more creative and authentic?  (more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: PURPOSE

Can do's, creating community, Essential questions, making connections, Purpose, Resources, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Wholehearted teaching

The use of the word “purpose” has come to be used and explored in bigger philosophical terms such as “What is my purpose in life? Who am I?, and why am I here?”  These are big life questions. 

We tend to think of purpose in terms of an “end” goal 
or the reason why we do something.
 Reflecting on purpose can give us direction and meaning 
in our lives to attain those goals.

According to the dictionary, the definition of purpose is “the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists”.

The origin of the word purpose is “intention, aim, goal,” from Anglo-French purpos, from porposer “to put forth,” from por– “forth” (from Latin) + Old French poser “to put, place”. (etymonline.com)

Research has shown that, when asked “what is your goal in life?”, most people answer “to be happy”. When asked, “what does that look like?”, they might give a list of material things acquired, accomplishments, titles, superlatives, accolades, etc. to be checked off.

Too often we get lost in a checklist of things to do and get caught up in a whirlwind of striving for one goal after another. We focus more on purpose as defined by goals. We begin to believe that our purpose in life is equivalent to our accomplishments, things we accumulate, titles we acquire, status that we achieve or bucket list experiences that we check off. This path will surely lead to happiness, right?

The educational system helps to propagate this illusion that if we just achieve a certain score, get a certain grade, receive a certain accolade or award, go to a certain university, pursue a certain career or status, we will be successful and, therefore, happy.

Our purpose, our goals, our reasons for doing anything 
have become formulaic and prescriptive. 

So, if there is a formula that we can follow, and a prescription we can take, why do so many people feel lost, unhappy and not clearly see their purpose on Earth?

Why are so many teachers and students disillusioned and not fulfilled with school and learning and the checklists that are being placed before them? (more…)

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Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: PASSION

Can do's, Essential questions, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Passion, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Wholehearted teaching

The origin of the word passion and its subsequent meanings is a complicated one. Like the evolution of the meaning, the application in real life is just as complicated and something that we humans seek our entire lives as we pursue education, employment, meaning and purpose in life.

The word passion originally comes from
 the Latin word "patior", which means “to suffer”.  

The idea was that there was some force outside of you that would cause you to do something, in some way to suffer. It was used to describe an intense desire that originated in a wide range of emotions such as joy, grief, hope, fear, love and hatred. It definitely had a more religious context and use.  

Today, passion is used in so many somewhat controversial ways. It still is used to describe an intense desire and love for something or someone, but perhaps it focuses more on a force coming from within you rather than externally. To feel passionately about something today evokes either a strong love or a strong hatred. 

So, I like to think of my passion in this way: 
Rearranging the letters of passion = I pass on.

In every moment, we must be aware and make conscious choices of what we are choosing to pass on to others. It is a critical to who we want to be and how we want to show up in the world. (more…)

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Linda Markley

Spirit Journey: SINCERITY

Can do's, Essential questions, Sincerity, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Wholehearted teaching

The word “sincere” is from the Latin word for “whole” or “one growth”.  An often repeated folk etymology proposes that sincere is derived from the Latin sine = without, cera = wax.  According to one popular explanation, dishonest sculptors in Rome or Greece would cover flaws in their work with wax to deceive the viewer; therefore, a sculpture “without wax” would mean honesty in its perfection.

Perfection. How many of us fall victim to this luring illusion that seems to promise us a feeling of wholeness and completeness? How many of us expect this from our students?  We are all shooting for that 100%, right?

Why are we afraid to be vulnerable and flawed? Why can’t we be authentic and true to ourselves?

Some of the greatest teachers I know embody authenticity and vulnerability 
and model these characteristics for their students. 
As a result, profound relationships and learning flourish and grow in these classrooms.

No “waxing over” things and filling in holes, cracks or gaps in children or teachers in order to create an illusion of perfection. The cracks or holes are the parts of us that let the light shine through.  The cracks/holes/flaws are what is authentic about each of us, and it is through these cracks and the cracks of others that compassion seeps out and creates a coating of loving kindness. No wax necessary!

So, how can we bring more sincerity into the classroom?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

Tribute to Teachers on Labor Day

communication, creating community, i am enough, Maslow before Blooms, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Teacher Appreciation

Labor Day is an annual celebration of workers and their achievements. It originated during the late 1800’s in America during the Industrial Revolution when working conditions were atrocious, requiring people to work excessive hours, seven days a week and for very low wages.

According to history.com, “people of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.”

Hmmmm, that sounds familiar for teachers, especially in this current pandemic! However, we cannot allow teachers to believe that they must suffer these labor injustices in order to be effective, worthy teachers!!!

Teaching is a labor of love … unconditional love! 
And this Labor Day, I would like to 
recognize, honor and celebrate what teachers do 
unconditionally every day!

Labor Day did not become an official holiday until almost the turn of the century when President Grover Cleveland signed it into law. During the time leading up to this, there were many labor strikes, rallies, protests and events that took place to raise awareness to the atrocious labor conditions.

Limitations, boundaries, clear expectations and best labor practices were set. 
Maybe teachers need to set some "conditions" like these as well!

(more…)

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Linda Markley

PAY ATTENTION!

calling to make a difference, Essential questions, Maslow before Blooms, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher vulnerability, Wholehearted teaching

We ask our students all the time to “pay attention”.  Why?

What is our intention behind the request?

What results are we expecting?

What does attention look like, and how do we know/measure it?

What purpose does “paying attention” serve?

Attention-attentive-attend to… 

from attendere "give heed to," literally "to stretch toward," 

from ad "to, toward"  + tendere  “stretch." 

As teachers, we have to pay attention to a lot of things. One of the first things administrators look for when evaluating a teacher is “with-it-ness”. Are they paying attention to the things that we think they should be paying attention to?

“With-it-ness” is really just another word for “awareness”. To be aware of something is to be awakened and open to what is going on, and then, from there to make choices. What choices are we making as teachers?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

Enough is enough!

i am enough, Maslow before Blooms, Spirit of teaching

Teachers and students are going back to school.  There is still uncertainty about so many things, and an underlying, pervasive feeling of fear.  When we are in fear, we may armor up for the perceived battle ahead, and then, strategically try to control all outcomes.  We may run away and hide or shut down because we feel we cannot handle or control all outcomes.  We are human, and this is our fight our flight response.

 When we feel like we are not enough, don't have enough 
or can't do enough to handle the situation that arises, 
fear takes over.

When I was walking the Camino de Santiago, I struggled with fear in every step I took.  Thoughts of not doing enough or not being enough permeated my every thought and fueled my fears.  Why didn’t I prepare and plan more carefully?  Why aren’t things going as planned?  Why was I so slow compared to others on the Camino?  Why is it so easy for everyone else?Why aren’t other people suffering like I am?  What would happen to me if I got lost?  Why couldn’t I control the blisters or the pain or the people around me or the outcomes for the day?  What if I can’t finish, and I have to go home as a “failure”?  Streaming “what if’s?’ in my head.

It reminded me of the same fears that came up in the classroom.

(more…)

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Linda Markley

The Teacher Voice

calling to make a difference, making connections, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, Wholehearted teaching

How do teachers use their voice both in the classroom and beyond?  Too often the voice of the teacher is portrayed by the “wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah” sound that echoed in the classroom of the Peanuts characters created by Charles Shultz. 

          The teacher voice is so much more.  What we say and how we 
          say it holds enormous power and potential impact on children…
          ....for better or for worse...!  How do you use your teacher voice?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

Educate to Elevate

calling to make a difference, Essential questions, Maslow before Blooms, Resources, Spirit of teaching

As if a pandemic were not enough, once again, teachers are being called to step forward and rise up in service to our culture, our society, our communities, our humanity.  Our passion to open the hearts and minds of children and empower them through learning is being called forth to make a difference through education.  “Educate” related to educere “bring out, lead forth”. 

 In the spirit of teaching, we must all EDUCATE TO ELEVATE minds and hearts 
beyond the darkness of ignorance and into enLIGHTenment 
in order to set us all free.

How will you choose to make a difference and bring forth a more clear vision of what diversity, inclusion and social justice mean and what they will look like in your classroom? (more…)

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Linda Markley

Summer Reflection and PD

Essential questions, Maslow before Blooms, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices

As we are entering our summer months here in the northern hemisphere, this long, difficult and unforgettable school year is ending for many teachers and students. Notice I didn’t use the expression “coming to a close”, like in “close out the school year”.  For everyone in education, this school year will not really have closure.  There are still so many unfinished tasks, unfulfilled goals and dashed hopes and dreams. No closing ceremonies, no closing arms in hugs and heartfelt good-byes.  Just closed doors, closed schools, feelings of being closed in.  There is a hole, a gap, a tear that will need to be mended before the next school year begins.  How do we heal our wounds?  How do we mend the tears in our hearts and in those of our students?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

Vulnerability in teaching

Spirit of teaching, Strategies, teacher vulnerability, Wholehearted teaching

Teachers are vulnerable under normal circumstances.  Every day, we present ourselves through our lessons and are open and vulnerable to judgment from all of our students, parents, colleagues and administrators.  I can think of no other profession where this is true, especially on a daily basis.  Teachers have to always be “on” and moving.  No privacy or protection from emotional exposure by working at a desk, in an office/ cubicle, behind closed doors or facing just the screen of a computer.  If we are grappling with personal issues, health issues, family issues, financial issues…any issues, we throw them in our backpack and carry them to school with us.  But then, when do we deal with them during our action-packed, always on, “keep moving so you don’t get behind and everyone will know it” day? 
(more…)

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Linda Markley

Calling of the spirit

calling to make a difference, Spirit of teaching, Wholehearted teaching

The spirit of teaching…what does that mean?  It is not a religious reference nor will one find it listed in a glossary of teaching terms.  It is not something that can be defined by tests, data, numbers, letters, scores, scales, standards or any of the other common measurement tools and terms used to define education today.  It is not an ephemeral phrase like many of the buzz words that pass through the pedagogical winds of time.  It is something that beckons the heart of humanity and whispers in the ears of a chosen few to answer the calling…the calling to serve, guide, inspire and facilitate children learning more about who they truly are and what unique gifts they have to share with the world.  We are here to make a difference and create a better world for the future through children.  The spirit of teaching starts in the heart and ends in the heart. (more…)

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