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Summer Reflection: Building Your Circles of Support

Education can be a lonely profession, whether we are teachers, administrators, or other staff members. Trying to “go it alone” can be an expensive option for our emotional, mental, and physical health. During trying times, we need others to whom we can turn, those people who understand and who have something useful to offer.

Because the nature and scope of the challenges and experiences we encounter vary, we may need various types of support. When we leave support-building efforts to chance or default to simply who is close to us, we risk not having the robust assistance we need. We must also build our support system before we find ourselves in need of it.

So, how might we think about the components of a personal and professional support system? A useful way to approach the task is to consider support as concentric circles. The circles closest to us might be more personal and naturally occurring, while the outer circles are more professionally focused and intentionally built. Or we might start with the circles we feel we most immediately need and focus on other areas as time allows and as we are ready. The key is to start now, not wait until we are most in need of support.

Here are six common forms of circles we might consider. Each circle serves a specific purpose and plays a unique role in our constellation of support. Some circles may have members in common with other circles—or they may even only contain one member. We may also find that we engage more than one support circle to address a unique need. The key is to decide what type of support we need, build it if it is not in place, and then, when needed, draw on that support without hesitation or guilt.

Our Personal Support Circle

This inner circle supports our emotional well-being. It includes our spouses, partners, family members, closest friends, and others who care about us first as people and then as educators. They help us to maintain our perspective, balance our emotions, and protect our mental health. People in this group might even nudge us to think and talk about more than work. They can share our victories, listen to our frustrations, and support us through difficult times.

Our Colleague Circle

Our colleagues understand our professional world, often sharing our experiences, frustrations, and celebrations. They may be sources of ideas, resources, and solutions to real-time challenges. Colleagues can offer emotional understanding and timely support. Their experiences often make them good sounding boards for our ideas, struggles, and musings. Equally important, members of our colleague circle can provide daily support and help us to feel less isolated, especially during difficult times.

Our Mentor Circle

Mentors are important resources regardless of where we are on our professional journey. They can be rich sources of wisdom and offer insightful guidance when we need it. Mentors can help us navigate unfamiliar situations and avoid common mistakes. They can help us to shorten learning curves and develop stable professional judgment. Multiple mentors often provide a diversity of thought and advice that surfaces a range of options and alternatives from which we can choose. However, we need to engage them early before crises fully develop or we might find ourselves backtracking on positions and decisions.

Our Professional Learning Circle

Not surprisingly, this circle includes professional learning communities, learning networks, professional organizations, book study groups, and others. Members of this circle help us remain current in our craft, avoid professional stagnation, consider the future of our profession and education, and look beyond immediate concerns and distractions. However, we need to move beyond discussion and debate about ideas to shift our practice and build our skills to gain maximum advantage from our professional learning circle.

Our Challenge Circle

This circle features people who have our best interests at heart and are also willing to challenge us to grow. They give us honest feedback and tell us what we need to hear, not just what we want to hear. Members of this circle may challenge our assumptions and beliefs. They nudge us to go beyond our comfort zone to try new approaches and ideas, even when we may initially stumble.

Our Renewal Circle

People in our renewal circle may share our hobbies, participate in our volunteer activities, be members of our exercise group, or support the causes we support. They may not be associated with our profession, and they may not directly contribute to improving our practice. Nevertheless, they help us to remain healthy, curious, and energized. They can also remind us that spending time away from work is important and not something to feel guilty about. However, we need to be fully present for them and for the activities we engage in if we hope to reap maximum benefits.

What is the state of your support system? Which circles of support do you have in place? What is missing? Where do you need to give attention and invest your efforts now? Summer is a great time to reflect on the support system around you and begin building it where it may need strengthening. Of course, we also need to regularly renew our existing circles of support to keep them healthy, vibrant, and ready to access when we need them.

June 26, 2026

Ten Summer Activities to Rekindle Your Passion for Teaching

Throughout the school year, both the highs and lows of teaching can result in a state of exhaustion unlike any other. Consequently, when summertime rolls around, many of us find ourselves feeling the kind of bone-tired that leads to a diminished passion for the profession. Taking time to reflect and rekindle that passion may seem like a nice-to-do activity rather than a must-do experience. Physical and emotional separation from teaching can help—and might be a good place to start—but renewing our spirit, recentering our enthusiasm, and rekindling our passion for teaching may require more than just a hiatus.

Unless we intentionally engage in activities to reenergize and revisit what drives us, we risk returning to school in the fall only partially ready to restart and with our drive to nurture and change the lives of our students not fully replenished. Equally important, our students benefit most when we start the new year emotionally present, intellectually energized, and spiritually renewed.

Of course, the key question is, “What can I do to renew my spirit and rekindle my passion?” Fortunately, there are several activities to choose from. Here are some possibilities to get started:

Set aside time in the coming weeks to reread cards, notes, and letters from former students and families. We can easily forget the words of appreciation, expressions of gratitude, and unsolicited compliments we have received during the year and across our careers. If you have kept a file or box of notes and cards, now is a good time to get it out and start reading. If you have not kept such a file, now is a good time to start one.

Free up time to reflect on former students whose lives you changed. You have influenced the lives of far more students than you know, and now is a good time to think about former students and what they have done since leaving your direct influence. You might also recall breakthrough moments, such as times when students began to show a new level of maturity or maybe just started to take their learning more seriously.

Think about a teacher who inspired you—then reach out to them. Most teachers experienced at least one teacher who had an especially strong influence on them. They may even be the reason we chose to teach as a profession. Summer is a good time to reflect on who they were, the influence they had, and the impact they had on us. This activity alone can be meaningful, but taking the additional step of reaching out to them can make the reflection even more powerful.

Start a journal on meaningful teaching moments. Reflect on times when you knew your teaching had an impact, your advice led a student to make a better choice, or you seized a teachable moment that led to unanticipated learning. You might even include entries describing difficult teaching moments when you learned something important or navigated a difficult emotional situation. Don’t be surprised if this activity leads to new insights and increased appreciation for your professional and interpersonal skills.

Attend workshops or conferences that inspire, not just inform. Professional learning opportunities that build skills and expose us to new strategies and techniques are important. However, experiences that leave us inspired and hopeful about the work we do can be equally valuable. They can remind us of the influence we have and the difference we make by who we are and how we engage students, not just what we share through formal lessons.

Read articles and listen to podcasts that provoke new thinking. Often, new ideas and shifts in our thinking come from information we encounter, in formats that allow us to reflect, examine, and “try on” what we are exposed to. We might even want to read or listen more than once to fully absorb the implications and possibilities of new thinking to which we are exposed. Learning at our own pace and in our own way can be a refreshing and meaningful experience.

Spend time with inspiring colleagues to talk about ideas. It can be tempting to spend our time with colleagues complaining about and criticizing what we see as needing attention. These conversations can be cathartic and emotionally soothing, but when we invest our time with colleagues who inspire and challenge our thinking, the conversations can be exhilarating and productive. Often, the best ideas and most important learning come from people who understand our world and offer a different “take” or a new idea about how to make things better.

Informally mentor an aspiring or new teacher. Mentoring an inexperienced educator can be a great way to become more aware of the skills and expertise we possess. The fact is that we know more than we realize. The experience can also be a means of reconnecting with why this work is so important and of reminding us of its rewards, and spending time with aspiring or new teachers can be a great way to give back to the profession.

Keep a notebook or file on ideas, observations, and insights about teaching. Summer can be a time when we think of new ideas, fresh approaches, and interesting possibilities. However, unless we capture those ideas, they can be lost as the summer unfolds. Equally important, the process of thinking through and recording our ideas and insights can be a stimulus for even more creativity and additional possibilities.

Choose one meaningful area to focus on for improvement. Lots of ideas and opportunities for improvement can be energizing; they can give us multiple options to consider. Nevertheless, too many goals and initiatives can become overwhelming as the new year begins. As a result, good ideas can get lost and never generate the outcomes we imagine. After considering the possibilities, choose one area that will make an important difference. Once that goal has been accomplished, the list can be revisited, and another area for improvement might be selected.

Not every activity suggested in this article may feel comfortable or meaningful to you, and that’s okay! What is important is that your summer break involves more than simply physical separation from the classroom. By reflecting, reminiscing, refocusing, and recommitting, you can set the stage for an optimistic and energetic start to the next school year.

June 17, 2026

Perfectionism: Please Stop Chasing It

Many educators strive to be perfect—or as close to it as possible. We want to make the best choices, have the perfect answers, and be ready with just the right solutions. Yet, life makes perfection difficult to attain and even more challenging to maintain. In fact, attempting to be perfect can exact a high personal and professional price.

Of course, perfectionism can garner praise and admiration in education. Its pursuit is often seen as a dedication to high standards and peak professionalism. Yet perfectionism can imply a level of flawlessness unattainable in practice, and holding ourselves to that expectation can be exhausting, frustrating, disappointing, and even humiliating.

Still, perfectionism can be a driving force for teachers who have a strong sense of responsibility. They may see others (such as colleagues or teachers who post their content to social media) as perfect and constantly compare themselves and their performance. They may accept others’ expectations of perfection as their own. Many even have a history of high academic achievement as students and expect similar levels of performance in their professional lives. Yet, these are impossible standards to sustain in our everyday work with students, colleagues, families, and others with whom we interact.

We can recognize perfectionism in ourselves and others through behaviors such as:

Spending excessive time planning lessons and grading student work.

Feeling guilty for relaxing or engaging in personal time.

Believing that our accomplishments are never enough.

Obsessing over small mistakes and missteps.

Holding unrealistically high expectations.

Having difficulty accepting help.

Being reluctant to collaborate, believing others may not meet our standards.

Unfortunately, constantly searching for and expecting perfection can have significant, long-term consequences for us. The exhaustion it causes can lead to emotional and physical health issues. Perfectionism can increase anxiety and stress and create a reluctance to innovate for fear of making mistakes and of not immediately feeling confident. Over time, perfectionism can lead to reduced resilience and even burnout.

So, what strategies can we employ to counter tendencies toward perfectionism? Here are five shifts in thinking and behavior to try:

Aim for excellence rather than flawlessness. Excellence is still a high standard, but it accommodates flexibility in the face of what is unexpected, responsiveness to changing circumstances, and improvement over time rather than constant perfection.

Prioritize progress over perfection. Focusing on progress allows us to accept where we are while remaining committed to improvement. A progress mindset values learning over expecting to already know.

Practice reflection rather than self-criticism. Reflection allows us to examine and learn from experience, while criticizing ourselves can leave us stuck in disappointment and shame. Additionally, reflection can lead to forgiveness and release, while self-criticism can lead to wounds that are slow to heal.

Seek balance in your time and attention. Realistic and flexible boundaries can help to make the workload manageable while preserving time for relaxation, renewal, and relationships.

Commit to a level of effort that is sustainable. Trying to be perfect can lead to constant overextension. Overcommitting, overexpecting, and overworking are unsustainable and will eventually exact a toll on our health and well-being.

The truth is that our students, our colleagues, our administrators, and others who depend on our work do not need us to be perfect. They need us to be caring, responsive, learning, and committed to growth. Our willingness to not always be perfect can make us more accessible, more relatable, and more human. These are important characteristics for the students who learn from us, colleagues who work with us, and others who depend on us.

June 12, 2026

The More Powerful AI Becomes, the More Leadership Matters

Artificial intelligence can do many things, but it cannot lead—not in a classroom, not in a school, not in a district. AI can generate information, analyze data, summarize knowledge, and even mimic expertise, but it cannot read a room, exercise contextual judgment, or demonstrate emotional stability and wisdom. It is not a leader.

Leadership is a complex, uniquely human behavior. In fact, rather than replacing leadership, the rise of AI has magnified its importance. Our students, staff, and communities want to know that we understand what matters to them and that we will be there for them. They want assurance that we can handle complex and emotional situations, and they want to feel that we are capable and trustworthy. These elements cannot be handled by technology.

Consequently, now is the time to really, truly lead. The clarity, credibility, and conviction we bring to our work cannot be easily replaced by technology. People want leaders to whom they can turn in times of confusion, drama, and pressure. This is our opportunity.

The truth is that as the capacity of artificial intelligence grows, so does the need for insightful, stable, skilled leaders. Consider these ways in which leadership becomes even more important and valued in an era of artificial intelligence.

Judgment gains importance when information is abundant.

Leadership gains value by demonstrating discernment, wisdom, and contextual understanding while considering information that AI can provide. Knowledge and expertise remain important when integrated with AI, but the value leaders add becomes less driven by their knowledge. Asking the right questions, navigating ambiguity, and making sound decisions in the face of uncertainty and competing priorities matter even more.

The value of trust grows with the proliferation of auto-generated content.

Incidents of deepfakes, hallucinations, and algorithmic decision-making raise caution and skepticism about the information AI produces. Trust remains among the most valuable currencies in organizations. Consequently, leaders who communicate openly, consistently, and authentically come to be increasingly relied on. People are more likely to assume credibility based on their emotions than to evaluate it solely on an intellectual level.

Calmness and consistency are crucial in times of complexity and constant change.

AI is accelerating the pace and breadth of change for most institutions and industries, including education. Rapid change inevitably generates confusion, fear, resistance, and fatigue. Leaders can provide stability and reassurance by projecting calm, consistency, and clarity. The key is not to pretend to have all the answers. Curiosity, adaptability, intellectual humility, and commitment to learning are increasingly important and impactful leadership behaviors.

Genuine human connections mean more in the context of AI-simulated emotions.

AI can simulate empathy and understanding, but artificial, mechanical emotions have limits and often lead to disappointment and a lack of fulfillment. They are poor substitutes for genuine emotional safety, human connection, and meaningful relationships. Leaders can offer authentic attentiveness, genuine care, and emotional intelligence that technology cannot fully replicate. People want to be seen, experience hope, and feel psychological safety in ways that only humans can provide.

Real communication is even more important in an era of auto-generated content.

It is true that AI can make communication easier and more efficient. It can produce polished emails, professional-looking presentations, and succinct reports. However, the presence of these tools also makes meaningful communication even more valuable. People want to feel connections that are authentic, deeply human, and emotionally fulfilling. Leaders can tap into the benefits AI offers, but the communication that matters most is an extension of who they are and what they value, and it reflects the connections they make with their audience.

Ethical leadership is crucial to evaluate machine-generated advice and direction.

AI can be vulnerable to bias, dismissive of privacy, insensitive to equity, and unconcerned with human dignity. Technical competence is not a substitute for moral clarity and ethical considerations. Leaders can ensure alignment with values, exercise the courage to make principled decisions, and model other behaviors that protect and value those who depend on them to guide and serve in ways that reflect everyone’s best hopes and highest expectations.

As technology continues to advance and get better at generating information and providing answers, people will increasingly seek and value leadership that features the human qualities of wisdom, curiosity, empathy, vision, and trust. Now is the time to embrace our role and lead with humility, authenticity, and courage.

June 04, 2026

After a Difficult Year: How to Reclaim Energy and Hope

In every educator's career, difficult years are inevitable. Sooner or later, we will all have (at least) one. After all, each year brings a new group of students and changes in curriculum, structures, or expectations, and with significant changes often come significant challenges. What is most important is not that we had a trying year; no, what matters most is what we choose to do with what we experienced. The year ends, but what we learn from it and how we go forward can reshape our careers.

To be clear, moving on is not about pretending the past year did not happen. It is also not about replaying, regretting, or endlessly ruminating on the experience. Moving on involves understanding, gaining perspective, and focusing on what we can do with what we learned. Here are some strategies to help make the transition.

Resist replaying painful and unsuccessful moments. Pain attracts attention. We can get lost in time spent recalling, reliving, and massaging what hurts. We can become preoccupied with incidents such as conflicts with a student or parent, a lesson or unit that did not go as planned, or times we wish we had said or done something different. The truth is that while reflection can certainly be helpful, ruminating drains energy and yields little of value. Instead, this time should be devoted to letting go of any guilt, forgiving yourself, and allowing yourself to experience relief. Relief is not failure; it is evidence that the experience took a toll.

Conduct an “after-action reflection.” Challenging experiences often leave unresolved questions, confusing emotions, and frustrating memories. Unless we examine and determine what to do with them, they remain with us and can hold us back. Now is a good time to reflect on the experience, make sense of it, and let it go. Depending on the circumstances, you might include a trusted and respected colleague in the conversation. Center your reflection and conversation around questions such as what frustrated you, what caused hurt, what you could not control, and what you learned. When you are finished, decide what is beneficial to carry with you and what to leave behind. Then, turn and look forward.

Keep your identity and worth separate from the experience. Many factors can influence how a year goes. A difficult mix of students, curriculum, or organizational issues, behavior challenges, or leadership conflicts are possibilities, but they do not define who you are. Nor do they represent your value or effectiveness. Teaching is a profound human work, and it can be influenced by a wide variety of variables. The key question is, “What did you learn about people, teaching, or yourself from the experience?” Contemplating this question helps to shift your attention from regret to growth.

Do not forget the students for whom you made a difference. At this point, there may be students whom you believe you failed to reach. You may or may not be correct. Often, the influence we have is not visible for long after students leave us. Your impact may be more than you know. Meanwhile, there likely remain students whom you were able to reach, with whom you had a strong relationship, and who flourished as the year unfolded. It can be easy to forget positive, successful efforts, especially when we are preoccupied with what we did not visibly accomplish. Commit to spending as much (or more) time recalling and reflecting on your successes as on less satisfactory experiences.

Replenish your energy before trying to “fix anything.” There may be adjustments you want to make because of your reflections on the past year. However, before investing in that work, take time to replenish your energy. Prioritize sleep, exercise, relationships, fun, laughter, and even quiet time. Growth is important, but recovery is faster and more successful when our energy levels are high and our sense of who we are is restored. Trying to learn and change while running on empty is tough work.

Identify what you want to change next year. At this point, you may have some ideas about what you want to do in response to your reflection. It may be time to revisit and adjust personal and professional boundaries. You might want to adjust some routines or structures. There may be classroom management strategies you want to adopt or even some support you want to secure as you start the new year. It is good to explore various options. However, before deciding what you will do, consider what one or two things will make the greatest difference and focus your attention there. Trying to do too many things at once is likely to result in doing none of them well.

Get ready for a new beginning. One of the gifts of education is that every year offers the opportunity for a fresh start. Last year may have been a challenge, but it is behind us. We can give ourselves permission to let go of last year and embrace the opportunities and possibilities that lie ahead. It is time to flush away any remaining disappointment and pain from last year and give full attention to the wonderful things you will accomplish in the months ahead.

Difficult years can lead to important learning; they can deepen our empathy, strengthen our resilience, enrich our wisdom, and broaden our perspective. We can take what we have learned from a challenging year without reliving it.

June 04, 2026

Teacher Appreciation Week: 5 Messages to Hold Onto

Teacher Appreciation Week offers an opportunity for us to pause, reflect, and celebrate the importance of nurturing learning and shaping the lives of young people. Though they are meaningful, this week can and should be more than thank-you notes, small gifts, and other expressions of gratitude.

This can be a time to reconnect with what makes teaching profoundly impactful work. We can appreciate what it means to teach and remind ourselves that the true impact of teaching lies in often subtle actions and nuanced messages that deeply affect students' lives. This evidence of impact is not found in lesson plans or documented in teaching records; it is imprinted on the identities, hopes, and aspirations students take with them when they leave us.

As we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, we do well to remember the importance of our work, even when it is not immediately rewarding and may even be painful. The opportunities we have to make a difference in students' lives are undeniable. Here are five of the most profound actions and messages that are also worthy of our reflection and celebration.

Your belief in students is a powerful force. Teaching is a profession driven by hope, possibility, and potential. Students come to us with varying amounts of each element. Many students lack confidence, see limited possibilities, and feel little hope for what school and life hold for them. However, what we believe about students and what is possible for them can be an extremely powerful counterbalancing force. When students feel our confidence, experience our commitment, and benefit from our assumption of their potential, they have reason to wonder, reassess, and believe. We bring credibility, experience, and insight that can instill in students a sense of possibility and confidence. Interestingly, just because we may not see evidence of significant shifts while students are with us does not mean they are not happening. In fact, many highly successful adults point to experiences with teachers who believed in them and gave them the confidence to become more than their background or obvious potential would suggest. The most powerful message students can hear and feel from us is “I believe in you.”

Your consistency and caring are more important than perfection and performance. We may think we must be perfect to be effective. In fact, being ourselves, being there for students on good and bad days, and consistently sharing encouragement and guidance are more likely to create lasting memories and long-lasting influence than flawless, perfectly delivered, “hiccup-free” lessons. Our authenticity and consistency lower anxiety and reduce emotional distractions, thus making room for learning.

Your hardest days are the most important for your students. Challenging days are not usually fun. They drain our energy, test our patience, and can leave us wondering what we have accomplished. Yet, on the days when students struggle to learn and need our coaching and encouragement, when students require our help to control their emotions and manage their behavior, and when outside life distractions compete for attention, they need us the most. Our presence, empathy, and compassion may be what carries students through. These may be the days students remember and cherish long after they leave us.

Small learning shifts and progress now can make a lifetime of difference. It is easy to take pride and reassurance in the work we do when students experience major steps forward in their learning, develop an important insight, or learn a skill that opens new opportunities for them. These are times worth celebrating. However, small steps, incremental improvement, and barely perceptible growth today can often be the beginning of a journey that changes a life trajectory. We are privileged to work with and influence children and young people at a time when they have most of their lives ahead of them. What seems small and insignificant today may become a major factor in how students view themselves, their potential, and their aspirations for what life can be and how they can make it so.

How you teach matters as much as what you teach. We study the curriculum, plan, and deliver lessons. We design experiences and assess student learning to ensure they learn the content and skills that are expected and valued by the school, community, and society. This aspect of our work is important. However, it represents a less-than-complete picture of learning in our classrooms. In fact, how we approach our work, how we relate to what we teach, and the respect we show for the learning process are at least equally important. Students often recall their experience with us long after they have forgotten the facts, dates, and formulas we taught. Our enthusiasm, authenticity, commitment, persistence, caring, and even our sense of humor can create lasting memories and enduring values that students later revisit, adopt, and use to guide their life and work.

These are messages to carry with us always, not just during times set aside for recognition and celebration. Regularly taking time to pause, reflect, and appreciate the opportunities we have to make a difference in our students’ lives can be a rewarding and renewing source of hope and confidence to keep on keeping on.

May 01, 2026

Share Your Tips & Stories

Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.

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Five Secrets to Staying Focused and Functioning in the Final Weeks

We might compare the school year to a marathon. We begin the year with energy, optimism, and excitement. Over time, reality and routine help us to settle into a pace and make steady progress. We may encounter some unexpected challenges, a few distractions, some stumbles, and occasional setbacks along the way, but we keep going. Now, the end is coming into sight. We have invested and persisted; we need to finish strong. Yet, like marathoners, we may find that late in the year, we can hit a wall. Our mental and physical energy may be running low, but the race is not finished. The work ahead is not harder than we have experienced, though it may indeed feel harder. We may find it difficult to manufacture new energy, but we can manage our fatigue. Here are five secrets we can tap to help us stay focused and functioning as we approach the final weeks.

Grasp the finish line. Runners can imagine the distance to the end of a marathon as being too far, which can lead to losing focus and hope. Yet, observing mile markers and visualizing what remains of the race can provide a clear and achievable picture of the path to the finish. Similarly, what remains to be done before the end of the year can feel overwhelming, especially if we rely on our imagination. Gaining clarity about what we need to do can make a significant difference in how we perceive the finish. Now is a good time to think through what needs to be done and make a list; what we imagine to be “undoable” can feel “accomplishable” when reduced to a tangible list.

Insight: Reality is usually less overwhelming than what we imagine.

Prioritize tasks, time, and energy. A successful finish to a marathon requires avoiding wasted effort and needless distractions. Runners need to prioritize their energy and focus to stay the course. Similarly, the list of tasks we need to complete can be a starting point for prioritizing and sharpening our focus. Some items on the list might be dropped without consequence, other items might be postponed and handled later, and still other items might be delegated to support staff, students, or volunteers. With our prioritized list, we can better focus our energy and allocate our attention to what is most important and must be done.

Insight: Prioritization helps to align our time and energy with what matters most.

Focus on form and fundamentals. As the end of a marathon approaches, the secret to success is more likely to be found in staying steady, maintaining forward momentum, and finishing with purpose than looking for new strategies and trying new approaches. In marathon races, runners focus on breathing, posture, and stride. In the classroom, this thinking translates to maintaining routines, staying consistent, and being predictable.

Insight: Staying steady and finishing with purpose can make the best use of our remaining energy.

Draw on the energy and support of others. The noise of the crowd assembled at the finish line of a marathon is typically the loudest of any time during the race, and their enthusiasm and support can be a good source of encouragement. Similarly, the end of the school year features celebrations and ceremonies that can be sources of reinforcement and reassurance, two key elements in finishing the year successfully. Colleagues, too, can be important sources of encouragement and grounding. Connecting with others can provide the boost we need to stay the course.

Insight: While you run a marathon as an individual, the crowd and other runners can be sources of encouragement and reassurance. Similarly, colleagues can provide important support to help us finish the year with high levels of focus and functionality.

Finish strong. The end of a marathon may not feature the dramatic “kick” common in shorter races. However, staying strong and pushing through the finish line remains an important aspect of a successful race. We can prevent additional stress by resisting the urge to procrastinate. If something needs to be done, we can act rather than hesitate. Ignoring and avoiding important tasks at this time of year can have greater consequences than they would have had a month or two ago, or even earlier.

Insight: Pushing through the finish line can generate better end-of-year outcomes and a greater sense of pride and satisfaction.

Clearly, the school year is more like a marathon than a sprint or even a middle-distance race. Success requires stamina, focus, and commitment. Now, as the end approaches, we can take much from how to successfully finish a marathon to inform and guide our thinking and actions as we create a successful ending.

April 23, 2026

Six “Never Do’s” Educators Should Never Do

The idea of “never doing” some things as being crucial to our path to success and satisfaction may seem counterintuitive. Certainly, we typically think of “doing more” and “doing better” as paths to flourishing as a professional. Yet, achieving success has as much to do with what we choose not to do as what we choose to do.

In fact, refusing to engage in many actions can be the key to not only having a greater impact on the success of our students, but it can also leave us healthier, happier, and with more energy than we might imagine to be possible. Need more convincing? Try these six “never do’s” and reap the rewards.

Never work harder than your students. Learning results from engagement, effort, reflection, questioning, and connecting. These are not actions we can perform for students, but we can plan activities that position students to take an active role in their learning. Our job is to design the work that students will do and that will engage them in ways that learning results. When we do, not only will students learn more, but they will also remember it longer. The truth is that the person in the classroom who is learning the most is the person who is working the hardest. That person should not be us.

Never hold on to strategies that no longer work. We sometimes have “go to” strategies and techniques that early in our career or even a year ago seemed to work, but for some reason they are not effective with our current group of students. Obviously, there can be many reasons why what used to work no longer does. The nature of our students may have changed, or their needs may have changed. It also might be that our expectations have changed. We may have different expectations for the impact or a shift in our approach. Consequently, what used to fit no longer does. We might find that we can adjust the strategy to regain the impact we used to see, or it may be time to let go and look for a better way to achieve the outcome we need and expect.

Never expect perfection from yourself or your students. Schools are places for learning, and mistakes, revisions, and improvement are hallmarks of the learning process. When performance is error-free, it is time to seek out the next challenge. When students struggle and require multiple attempts, we are watching learning in action. Perfection is a sign that it is time to move to the next level of learning. Likewise, when we revise our thinking and adjust our instruction in the presence of students, we are demonstrating our learning. When our instruction becomes error free, it is time to take some risks and try some new strategies and approaches that will challenge us, even if it means what our work will be less than perfect.

Never sacrifice your health and well-being as though doing so is are a badge of honor. Mental and physical health are crucial to our ability to give students what they need and to sustain our professional role. We gain little if we allow our work to overwhelm our lives. Becoming ill, constantly exhausted, and worn down does little to improve the quality of our work or provide high-level support for our students. The truth is that balancing work and personal time, maintaining reasonable boundaries, and prioritizing recovery are hallmarks of high performers.

Never stop learning. Much of teaching involves routines. They are important to creating efficiency and predictability, but they can become traps that lead to complacency. They can get in the way of our continuing to learn, improving our practice, and tapping our creativity. Of course, learning does not always have to involve taking courses and earning degrees, although they can be useful. Committing to making small adjustments, trying one new thing, taking responsible risks, and remaining curious can make a huge difference in our success and satisfaction, if practiced consistently over time.

Never confuse your title with your worth. In our world, some occupations have more social status than others. Today, education and teaching are not given high compensation and unrestrained respect. Yet it is extremely important work with the potential for great impact on our students and our society. The work we do, how we do it, and the impact we can have on young people’s lives is not just worthy work; it can be life changing. Regardless of the specific role we have, our worth is determined by the investment we make, the differences our work has on the lives of our students, and the greater good education and learning create for society. The value and respect society assigns to education and teaching as a role are far less important than the worth our work creates for all involved.

There are many tasks and responsibilities with which we must engage to be successful with our students and in our profession. However, we also need to give our attention to the actions we need to avoid if we want to achieve and sustain our success and enjoy the satisfaction our work can offer.

February 24, 2026

Teachers Lead Every Day: 5 Behaviors That Prove It

Teachers do not always see themselves as leaders. In fact, some may even argue that leading is not their role; leading is the responsibility of administrators. Of course, principals and other administrators certainly have leadership responsibilities. However, leadership is less about the position one holds and more about the influence one exerts on the thinking, perceptions, and behavior of others.

With this perspective in mind, it is not difficult to see how the role of teachers embodies leadership in the lives of students. Most of us can point to the influence a teacher has had on some aspect of our lives. In fact, many of us can point to a teacher whose influence led us to choose education as our profession.

Leadership also takes multiple forms. Some leadership influences are subtle and nuanced, while others are highly visible and direct. Leadership can be carefully planned and orchestrated or be spontaneous and improvised. Leadership can result from formally granted power or be bestowed in response to demonstrated behaviors and revealed characteristics.

One thing is certain: Teachers and leaders in other fields share many sources of influence and demonstrate similar impacts. Consider these five examples of teaching leadership and their parallels in other leadership roles.

Teachers build and shape culture. This role is shared with leaders of any successful organization, including CEOs of major companies. Teachers manage norms of behavior, establish parameters of risk-taking, and define what it means to belong—all of which influence the daily experiences of students. They also manage and distribute power within their classrooms. While these actions occur on a small scale, they share important characteristics with leaders in all sectors of society.

Teachers establish expectations. A longstanding adage about leadership is that leaders get the performance they expect. A clear parallel is that the level of expectations teachers hold for students is a primary predictor of student success. Consistency and follow-through create a sense of security and predictability and promote credibility and trust. Subtle and explicit cues, such as the amount of attention, quality of feedback, and nonverbal communication signals to students our confidence in their potential and reassurance of the support they can expect.

Teachers make impactful decisions. Leaders make decisions that matter, including what to focus on and what to ignore. Minute by minute and second by second, teachers decide what to emphasize and what to minimize. They decide how much student input and participation to invite and insist on. They decide what content will be elevated and what will be skipped. The choices teachers make shape the learning path and define what students will be accountable for. Like other leaders, teachers’ choices reflect priorities and articulate values.

Teachers guide and support through confusion and uncertainty. In times of disruption, conflict, and crisis, leaders provide the stability and reassurance needed to make sense of and navigate situations. Students depend on teachers to give them hope and support when they face difficult circumstances. During times of crisis and chaos, teachers step up to manage the situation and ensure the psychological and physical safety of all. Teachers, like other leaders, are the stabilizers of events and interpreters of reality.

Teachers are watched and followed models. Leaders use their behavior to reflect their values and beliefs. The way teachers model respect, fairness, curiosity, and persistence shapes how students behave and treat others, approach learning, and respond to setbacks. Students watch how teachers respond to challenges, handle mistakes, and navigate conflict. They take lifelong lessons from teacher behavior, often without either’s awareness.

Leadership is not always a conscious act, and we may not always see the impact we have. Yet, students watch, listen, and learn from our leadership every day. There is one thing of which we can be certain: What we do matters, and the difference our leadership makes can be lifelong.

January 28, 2026

Three Tools to Regain Control: Routine, Rituals, and Regimen

This is a time of year that can be chaotic, unpredictable, and stressful. Feeling as though we are “on top” of what we want to accomplish and what is expected of us can be a special challenge. We need some dependable, predictable, and workable strategies to help us to make sense of our world and gain confidence that we can build and sustain momentum to carry us through.

Fortunately, there are some easily accessible strategies and frameworks we can adopt and practice to help us feel and be more in control. We might think of them as mental “software” to help us to perform tasks, manage time, derive meaning, and experience connections. Importantly, they are based in neuroscience. They offer ways to help our brains manage the myriad tasks, expectations, and challenges that comprise our lives.

These three life hacks can make a significant difference in how we approach our days and the significance and success we derive from them. We know them as routines, rituals, and regimen. Let’s explore each of these tools and how we can employ them to make our lives better.

Routines help us to be more efficient. They create predictability in starting our day, beginning class, or taking attendance and handling administrative tasks. Routines can save us time, energy, and attention. They are intended to prevent us from having to plan and manage new behaviors and action sequences unless there is a specific need to do so. They help to speed up processes and preserve time and energy for other useful activities. Routines add value to our personal and professional lives because they create efficiency, but they are not designed to create inspiration or stimulate growth.

Rituals provide readiness, meaning, and inspiration. Like routines, rituals offer predictability, but they represent more than efficiency. Rituals are practiced with intention. We engage in rituals to create meaning, trust, and readiness. They symbolize something important to us. We might begin our day with an inspirational reading, reflecting on what we want to accomplish, or connecting with a friend or family member. When arriving at work, we might engage in the ritual of greeting colleagues, securing a cup of coffee, or sitting quietly to prepare for the day. They can program our brains for resilience, clarity, and connections. Rituals are designed to connect and focus, and for us to be open to inspiration.

Regimens are designed to produce growth. Practicing regimens helps us to improve in specific areas of focus. They involve discipline and growth. Often a sequence of actions, they are intended to move us progressively toward a desired outcome, such as improving a skill, honing a practice, or building expertise. Regimens often are not comfortable like routines and rituals, but they share characteristics such as repetition, consistency, and predictability. Personally, we might adopt an exercise regimen to build strength or engage in a walking regimen to build stamina. Professionally, we might engage in a regimen to refine feedback practices, build a new instructional strategy, or improve our classroom management. Regimens involve consistency, feedback, focus, and patience to become more proficient rather than to become more efficient or find inspiration.

Considerations:

Together, routines, rituals, and regimens help us to become more intentional and in control.
All three can reduce our stress and provide order and structure to our lives.
Each of the tools serves a unique purpose. Misapplication can create confusion and frustration.
When we hurry through rituals or lose focus, they can lose their meaning and revert to being routines.
Rituals require emotional investment, while regimens require intellectual and physical investment.
When regimens are treated as routines, they can lose their ability to support improvement.
Adopting more routines can increase efficiency, but adding regimens can create overload.

Finding balance, creating efficiency, being productive, and finding inspiration are crucial components of personal satisfaction and professional success. By tapping routines to gain stability, adopting rituals to find purpose, and following regimens to achieve progress, we can gain the control we seek and enjoy the success we deserve.