Word: Healing Sentence: Healing begins when we stop rushing past the hurt and give it somewhere honest to go. Passage: Healing is hard because it asks us to move into the unknown. The past may have hurt us, but at least we know it. We know how to carry it. We know how to protect ourselves…

Word: Grief Sentence: Grief is what we carry when something we loved can no longer stay the same. Passage: I did not have the language for educator grief when I first experienced it. I just knew I was tired in a way sleep did not fix. During one school year at Harper, we lost eight students…

Word: Stewardship Sentence: Stewardship is caring for what has been entrusted to you and helping it move forward. Passage: I did not understand stewardship when I first became a teacher. I just knew the work felt heavier than I expected. My first job out of college was at an alternative school for young people who had…

Word: Restore Sentence: To restore something is to believe harm does not always get the final word. Passage: To restore is not the same as to fix. Fix sounds quick. Restore takes time. To fix something is to make it work again. To restore something is to ask what was harmed, who was hurt, and what…

Word: Creativity Sentence: Creativity refuses to let what is become the limit of what could be. Passage: Creativity is often treated like something extra. Something for artists.Something for musicians.Something for people with paint, stages, notebooks, cameras, studios, or songs. But I think creativity is bigger than that. Creativity is what helps us move forward when the…

Word: Accountability Sentence: Accountability begins when we give an honest account of the story we are living from. Passage: Accountability is one of those words that can make people tighten up. Too often, it sounds like someone is in trouble. Someone missed the mark.Someone dropped the ball.Someone caused harm.Someone failed to meet the expectation. And in…

Word: Responsibility Sentence: Responsibility begins the moment you realize what has been placed in your hands. Passage: A note before reading: This week’s passage includes gun violence and the loss of a student. When I was an assistant principal, each fall I was handed a list of student names. We called it the Hot 75. The…

Word: Bittersweet Sentence: Bittersweet is knowing it is time to go, even when part of you still wants to stay. Passage: Graduation has always carried a strange kind of weight. It is joy and fear in the same room. A marker of progress.A door closing.A road opening.A version of yourself ending before the next one has…

Word: Hold Sentence: Hold is knowing that what matters most is meant to be carried with care, not clenched with fear. Passage: In our most stressful and uncertain moments, the instinct is to squeeze. We squeeze our plans.We squeeze our people.We squeeze our expectations.We squeeze ourselves. We tell ourselves we are just trying to keep things…

Word: Identity Sentence: Identity gets lost when what we do becomes the only place we know to find our worth. Passage: I know what it feels like to disappear inside the work. When I was a principal, the job asked for everything. My mind, my energy, my heart, my body. I carried the school with me…