Social Media
If you’re not on twitter or instagram and following other all-star educators, what are you waiting on?! Go make accounts right now! Oh you already have those things? Great! Amazing! Do you fall into the “My classroom will never look like this” trap following social media accounts? I know I do and it can be stressful sometimes to look at all these pintrest perfect classrooms on instagram and twitter or even see so many amazing ideas and think “when will I have time to make this or do that”...well guess what, it’s OK! We as educators are not posting the end of the day pictures or posting lesson plans that fail...but we should. Hear me out, we have all failed at a lesson, but why not share what part failed? We learn from our mistakes right? Can’t we learn from each others mistakes as well? Why can’t we share what our classrooms look like at the end of the day compared to the beginning of the day? Why are we so afraid to share these types of failures with one another? If you’re trying new concepts and ideas then you are going to fail...but guess what, you learn from your mistakes! Being a lifelong learner is just something we should all learn to be.
On another note, social media is not a tool to compare yourself to others. STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO WHAT YOU SEE ON SOCIAL MEDIA! 
I can’t say that loud enough for you all. I was one of those people that would see these amazing classrooms decorated on instagram, twitter and facebook and think “I will never have a classroom like this!” I have learned that it’s OKAY not to have a room that looks like that.
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I use social media as an inspiration for things to do in my classroom. When I am lesson planning, I have multiple tabs open- Pinterest, TeachersPayTeachers, and Facebook groups so I can search for ideas. It is truly living the motto "our best resource is each other." Twitter is SUCH a positive place - not only my past and present co-workers, but teachers and administrators from all over that I would never have a chance to collaborate with and learn from and use as inspiration.
As far as comparing........ I *try* to keep a levelheaded, realistic approach to things I can and cannot do in my classroom. Comparison is the thief of joy! It is hard to balance it all- and the most important thing to remember when scrolling through social media is that we are only seeing the highlight reel.
When you DO want to see inspirational teachers- REAL teachers in REAL schools check out #TheFranklinDifference and #BestJeffersonEver!
Be a star thrower!!!!!
J&M
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