Skip to main content

Stacey Olinger and the energy of teaching

I consider energy to be a key component of genius, and if that's true, I've known many geniuses in my tenure at Highview: people who seem to have the ardor of 3 or 4 teachers, who teach a full, chaotic load, as well as put on dances, decorate hallways, and run student councils. 

Stacey Olinger, a 6th grade teacher at Highview,  is one of those people who does all that and more. All with a 1000 watt smile, too. 

But even geniuses need to hit the reset button from time to time. I received an email from Stacey earlier in the year where she shared how she found a few moments during her prep time to practice mindfulness:

"... The other day, I listened to one of your mindfulness podcasts in the middle of my prep just so I (could) re-focus and re-energize. I so appreciate your commitment to the whole child. .....you continue to make sure it is deemed important and talked about. "

And on the final day of the school year, she shared with staff some feedback from a student, which read, "I learned that brain breaks are very helpful, and also that you can have fun." 

I love the last part about having fun.   Stacey Olinger has created a lot of fun at Highview, and her positive energy is felt by staff and students alike. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The conscious and connected student

While the mindfulness in education movement is still young, it has an increasing footprint in schools across the US and the globe. One can argue that most of the practices are body and sensory based practices- breathing, awareness of sound, mindful movement, etc. All in the service of self-awareness and emotional health, all well and good. But some educators are trying to expand that interpretation of mindfulness. Amy Edelstein is an educator in the Philadelphia schools where she has worked as an outside provider (meaning she is not a regular classroom teacher) teaching mindfulness to students for many years. She has developed her own program called  The Inner Strength System , and her most recent book is entitled, The Conscious Classroom (Emergence Education Press, 2017) . In this  wide-ranging book Edelstein shares her experience working in the urban schools of Philadelphia. She does not shy  away from describing the tremendous challenges her school f...
Post a Comment
Read more
I recently published my first book on Amazon, "Advice for Every Hour." It's available in both ebook and paperback. It has many of the essays on this blog, as well as additional content. It chronicles my adventures applying mindfulness and other strategies in my life, and classroom. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Playing Around

Photo by Matheo JBT on Unsplash In March I offered an e nso workshop for art teachers in my district. We had a great time that included discussion, mindful breathing,  lots of painting and generally making a mess of things. We talked about how enso painting fits into a Japanese aesthetic context, and how it is also relates to the "action painters" of abstract expressionism . Especially relevant is  the notion of   wabi-sabi ,  the embracing of change and imperfection.  We began the practice part of our workshop with some focused, mindful breathing, to help us become fully present. The silence was refreshing  after a very busy school day. I then demonstrated the traditional enso, where the artist completes a circle in  one focused movement. I also showed examples of ensos that I had done in other media, or combinations of media, to illustrate creative options for elaboration. After some practice on newsprint, my colleagues immediately began playing w...
Post a Comment
Read more