Slow It All Down + 17 Weeks, On Me.

A year of STRONG Teacher Practices.

For almost four years, I've sent out a newsletter every week. It's been one of the best things I've done both personally and professionally. Along the way, I've been working on a resource for educators based on it. It's finally finished.

At least part 1.0 is.

A Year of STRONG Practices is a set of 52 small weekly practices that follow the school year. The Fall Pack is the first seventeen weeks, from the week before the chairs filled up through Thanksgiving, and it's yours, free. Just make sure you're logged in, and it will appear at the bottom of this post.

It's my way of saying "Thank You" for being a part of the Why Edify community. Share this email with someone else, and they'll get access as well.

When you get to the end of the practices, there's something fun that I hope you'll do. Let me know when you get there.

With Gratitude,

Jeremy

Here's a quote, a resource, a book, and an affirmation to help power you through the rest of the week.

Quote

"Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement." — Abraham Joshua Heschel

Resource: Slow It All Down

October flies by. You blink, and it's 3:15. You blink again, and it's Thursday. The grading stack doesn't shrink, the light's gone before you leave the building, and every free minute is spoken for.

So I understand that when I say, "make time for awe," it sounds like one more thing, and it may make you roll your eyes a bit. But stick with me.

It isn't. It might be the thing that gives time back.

Researchers at Stanford and the University of Minnesota had people watch or remember something awe-inspiring, then asked how much time they felt they had. The awe group felt like they had more of it. They were less impatient, too. Awe pulls you into the present, and a minute you're actually in feels longer than one you're rushing through.

That's what Heschel was after. Radical amazement isn't a vacation feeling. He called it a goal — something you aim for, on purpose.

This past weekend I went out to watch the leaves change color on a local trail. The fiery colors did wonders to keep the Sunday Scaries at bay.

You don't need a Grand Canyon. You need to look up. Once a day this week, stop for one minute and look at something bigger or older than your to-do list. The treeline outside your classroom window. The sky over the parking lot when you pull into school. The one maple that's farther along than all the others. Don't photograph it. Just let it be bigger than you for sixty seconds.

You can't stop the days from getting shorter. But how long a minute feels? You have some say in that.

Book

Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder by Dacher Keltner, who has spent two decades studying awe, and his big finding is how ordinary it is. Most people find it in other people's kindness, in nature, and in music — not on once-in-a-lifetime trips. It's a good read for October, when you need proof that wonder fits inside a school week.

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