Rainy Day Folder

This blog post is short and sweet, but has helped me on more than one ocassion.  I would recommend this to every educator – regardless of whether it is your first year, or your last 🙂

This is one of the few things that I distinctly remember my college professors mentioning – and that it worked exactly how they said it would when I was out in the real world.  

All credit goes to the phrase “save it for a rainy day.”  The idea is to save every kind letter and/or note that a student or coworker writes to you throughout your career.  I have printed out emails from students, kept post-it notes, and cards all saved up in my “rainy day” folder.  I keep a wall going with these items, just as a daily reminder that what I do matters.

Then, when the day is rough, or you’re thinking of quitting, or you’ve google searched “what else can I do with my teaching degree” a little too often recently – you read through the letters.  Over the years the pile has gotten larger and larger – which is also fun to watch.

There are some years where I read through the letters A LOT, and others that I forget it’s there – but it is a guaranteed pick me up.

Good luck 🙂