Welcome to the Duck Pond Blog!
Your go-to source for all things education, trauma-informed, leadership, and beyond!
Our experts share some of their favorite tools, strategies, resources, and suggestions.
Look for the Glimmers
What is a Glimmer Moment?
A "glimmer moment" is a term that refers to small, fleeting experiences or sensations that bring a sense of calm, safety, or joy. These moments are the opposite of "triggers," which are experiences that can evoke negative emotions or stress.
Quick Read, Long Ponder About Accountability
When a teacher tells me they want their kids to take more accountability, more responsibility, the first thing I look for in their classroom is how often the academic conversation is between teacher - students only vs students - students.
When kids talk freely and willingly about academics (not just chit-chat) with one another, they're actually building trust and community in one another.
Anchors: The Symphony of Healing
Life, with all its beautiful and challenging high notes and low notes, is a journey and experience that is unique to each individual. It is filled with moments of joy, obstacles to overcome, love, sadness, and a myriad of emotions that serenade our daily lives. While we often embrace and melodically cruise through the calm, relaxing moments, it is the doubt-filled, sad, angry, and stress inducing moments we find most challenging and disruptive.
Personalized Greetings with “Personality-Plus”
It’s a universal “inside joke” that the kid we’d really like to have a break from is the one who is never absent. Like EVER. And while it’s kind of a joke, it’s also kind of true. Those kids can really wear us out. Did I just break some unwritten “teacher code” by saying this out loud? I hope not.
But what if we flipped the script for a moment?
The Resilient Power of Friendship
In a recent conversation, with a friend that embodies all these attributes, she asked me how I like work, what parts of my life I am loving, what aspects bring me joy, challenges I’m facing, and then they threw in one that I wasn’t expecting…..how do I build my own resilience?
Embracing the Light: A Magical Encounter Reminds Me of Kindness in the World
Recently, I've noticed that I've been unintentionally viewing the world through the lens of cynicism. Normally, I see a lot of light and positivity in everything around me, but lately, it feels like I've been surrounded by darkness. The constant exposure to negative news, crime podcasts, and dark-themed books seemed to have taken a toll on my perception of the world and the people in it.