“Cupcakes are Muffins that Believe in Miracles” - T. O'Shea

“Cupcakes are Muffins that Believe in Miracles”

Different times of the year often spark different memories for me. For the past 7 years when February hits my mind races back to a mentor, I had during my first 2 years of teaching. Jason Hartling was the principal for the school I taught at as well as one of my graduate school professors. He referred to February as a time of “disillusionment” for many teachers. He described a compounding time of both mental and physical exhaustion from the seemingly endless hours that teachers put in during this time period. He would graph out the year similar to this picture I found on the WEAC website:


With that in mind, I thought there would be no better time than now to compile a list of some of the things that help me get through those tough days and also remember exactly why I love this job as much as I do.

• The Stockdale Paradox

• Every kid needs a champion - Rita Peirson

• Changing Education Paradigms - Sir Ken Robinson

• 3 Rules to Spark Learning - Ramsey Musallam

• And How are the Children - Maasai Warrior

My guess is that somewhere along the way of your teaching career you entered that disillusionment phase. Maybe some of these videos can make that stay short-lived. If you have some of your own please feel free to post them below in the comments section.