Are you in a rut or a groove?

We are in the midst of our third week of school.  Procedures should be in place, with a tweak here and there and a reminder from time to time.  When that happens you might find yourself in a groove or a rut.  Which describes where you are?  It is great to get into a groove as an educator, but doing the same thing over and over, even if it's good stuff, can get you into a rut.  And if you stay in the rut long enough, it might look a bit like the car above.  So how do you stay in a groove without it turning into a rut?  Here are some suggestions.
*Challenge yourself not to do the same thing every day.  For example, Kahoots are effective but not all of the time.  Have the kids develop review games sometimes instead.
*Don't talk to only the same staff or students every day.  Make a connection with someone new every week, or day, so that you get to know more of the great people in our school.
*Open your classrooms to others, and visit other's classrooms, too.  There are amazing things happening in our school every day.  Stop in a classroom and check it out.
*Connect with educators outside of school.  We don't know what we don't know.  Sidle up to someone at a conference.  Connect on a Twitter chat, or two.  Join a Voxer group.
Let's make it a "groove"-y year!

Great things I saw this week...
Students congratulating each other in the hallway after a soccer game in PE.
The work of two staff members, and a dad, to ensure that a student was taken care of.
Conversations among students about the books they're reading.
Grade level meetings that focused on kids, and what's best for kids.
The words on the walls above the lockers!
Conversations about the new learning lounge plans for the 7/8 floor.
The three family information nights- I really appreciate this extra effort by all of you!

Calendar
Monday, September 25th
Kids Deserve It Monday- wear your Kids Deserve It shirt or Merton blue
Board meeting 7PM
Tuesday, September 26th
Homework Club 4:15PM
Wednesday, September 27th
Workout Wednesday
BLT 7:30AM
A-team meeting 1:15PM
Thursday, September 28th
Packers Day!
Grade level meetings
Homework Club 4:15PM
Friday, September 29th
I'll be out of my office all day!  Invite me to be a part of your class.

Tweets, quotes, and blogs
Questions of Compliance or Empowerment (from George Couros)

Two Things That All Parents Want for Their Children (from George Couros)

(from Jessica Johnson's Facebook post)

Small Change, Big Difference (from George Couros)

#mertonint on Twitter
#MertonProud on Twitter
Merton Intermediate Facebook page
Merton Intermediate Instagram page
Family smore for 9.22.17

Our work with kids is so important.  You do it daily with a smile and a caring attitude, for our kids and for each other.  In my discussions with you, getting to know you better in our individual meetings, I can just see that you are doing your best work.  I notice that.  Sometimes, even when we are doing our best work, we need to do something different to make our work even better.  Work together to make this happen.  Teams are made up of all sorts of people.  That's what makes teams so good.  If we were a basketball team and had 5 identical players, I promise we would not be very good.  The fact that we have a variety of players makes our team pretty phenomenal.  I hope you have a great day with our kids today and I hope that you have a wonderful weekend with family and friends.

Be the one!
Jay
Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell