Lessons Learned from the Bunny Teacher: August 2017

Saturday, August 26, 2017

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." Winston Churchill

"Back to school" is just around the corner! After 37 years in the classroom, I clearly remember the teachers who whined and complained about returning. Conversely, I always looked at the new school year as a new beginning, just like an extra January 1.

Teachers have the ability to influence everything about their students. I hope that teachers will come to the new school year with great expectations, high energy levels, new ideas for student-centered lessons, caring for their students, and a positive attitude. Although negative attitudes receive the most press for spreading quickly, I know for a fact that positive attitudes can be just as contagious!

Sharing a positive outlook with students holds a definite appeal. Kids like to be around people who are happy and seem to enjoy their work. Through the years in my classroom, so many students told me they liked to come in my room because I was always happy to see them. Kids, just like all people, need to feel welcomed and wanted. They know who likes teaching and kids - and who does not like either! Teachers should be willing to project and share their positive feelings about their job and their classes with their students, and I guarantee that those positive feelings will be returned tenfold.

Modeling a good attitude is a good lesson every day! Here's to a great year!

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.
Rittman Publishing, LLC ®

Please invite Grady Gets Glasses (and me) into your school. if you are not in the Pittsburgh area, we do virtual field trips with a group called Field Trip Zoom. www.Fieldtripzoom.com GRADY GETS GLASSES was the winner of Best New Children's Book 2016 from The Authors' Zone. For more information about The Authors' Zone, please visit http://www.theauthorszone.com/submissions/

Visit Dede's webpage for complete details on her award-winning book, STUDENT TEACHING: THE INSIDE SCOOP FROM A MASTER TEACHER. Many colleges have made the book required reading. Signed copies are available www.dederittman.com Dede is also a national speaker on The Three C's for Classroom success: Confidence, communication, and Creativity; Avoiding Teacher burnout; and many other inspirational topics.

I LOVE writing. And I love writing children's books- my newest passion. Although it will be a ton of work, I am looking forward to selling my books. Since I was a secondary teacher, I know that I have much to learn about elementary students, and I will have to follow my own advice and be my genuine self. However, I also know that I am passionate about helping kids who have to wear glasses, and that GRADY GETS GLASSES sends a positive message. I am willing to work hard and do all the things that also made me a successful teacher for 37 years. I remain inspired!

Elementary teachers in Western Pennsylvania and beyond - I am willing to come into your classroom in person or as a virtual field trip through a group called Field Trip Zoom. Check them out! http://www.fieldtripzoom.com/

Teacher friends- let me know if you want me to read GRADY GETS GLASSES at your school. I am willing to come in to discuss the creative writing process, why writing is important, and personal fulfillment through writing, along with reading my book. I would appreciate the exposure, and I would make signed copies available for purchase in your classrooms following the reading. Please email me at dederittman@gmail.com The website www.gradygetsglasses.com now has plush Grady bunnies for sale!

Please like Dede's new page Grady Gets Glasses for updates about her children's book. https://www.facebook.com/gradygetsglasses?ref=hl

Connect with Dede!

Twitter @dederittman
Periscope @dederittman
Facebook Dede Faltot Rittman or Rittman Rules
LinkedIn Dede Rittman
Google + Dede Rittman
Tumblr The Bunny Teacher
Instagram dede_rittman
Pinterest Rittman Publishing, LLC ®

Saturday, August 19, 2017

"Every risk is worth taking as long as it's for a good cause and contributes to a good life." Richard Branson

Sometimes, the goodness and caring of people is overwhelming, especially when it concerns their home towns. Maybe you saw the CBS News story about 3 young men who took quite a risk- they opened a pizza shop in their North Nashville neighborhood, where 40 percent of the people live in poverty, and the unemployment rate is three times the rate of the rest of the city of Nashville. The place is called "Slim and Husky's."

There three college roommates each invested around $1000 of their own money to turn a former garage into a taste-testing pizza lab, and then a restaurant. They hoped to sell 300 pizzas a day, but their sales are now at about 1000 a day. Here is the best part of this business schematic: the three friends have hired local neighborhood people to work in the shop, providing job opportunities to this downtrodden section of the city - and the employees can walk to work. Because three young men believed in their town and took a risk for a good cause that they believed in, they have started a revitalization process in the neighborhood.

So often, good things happen when an individual or a group decides to challenge a situation they find unacceptable, and to figure out a way to change it. I find these three young men at"Slim and Husky's" to be a true inspiration. If you have not seen the story, here in the link: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nashville-pizza-joint-slim-and-huskys-delivering-for-its-struggling-neighborhood/

I am sharing this inspirational story because maybe YOU have something that you want to change, and you will be inspired by these three friends. In our crazy world, it is great to hear about something so uplifting.

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.
Rittman Publishing, LLC ®

Please invite Grady Gets Glasses (and me) into your school. if you are not in the Pittsburgh area, we do virtual field trips with a group called Field Trip Zoom. www.Fieldtripzoom.com GRADY GETS GLASSES was the winner of Best New Children's Book 2016 from The Authors' Zone. For more information about The Authors' Zone, please visit http://www.theauthorszone.com/submissions/

Sunday, August 13, 2017

"There are no traffic jams along the extra mile." Roger Staubach

Teachers want parents to be involved with the school and the child's education, but in some neighborhoods, those two things are just about impossible. Research tells us that when the parents, the teacher, and the student all work together, the student benefits and success is more likely to occur. But what if you teach in a school district where parents work shift work, don't have cars, and can't meet at the school according to the school schedule? As teachers, do you complain and and shrug it off? Or do you brainstorm a creative solution to the problem?

In Chattanooga, Tennessee, the teachers wanted the parents to be involved with the school, so they bought a big red bus, refurbished it with tables and chairs and iPads, and the bus goes to the neighborhoods and the parents! The teachers meet parents for 30 minute meetings, even on weekends. Stocked with snacks, the bus travels to the students and their families, and these caring teachers are changing the lives of their students.

I know that when I was teaching for 37 years, I spent lots of money on school supplies, tissues, and items for students who could not afford them. School budgets can't provide everything needed in the classroom. But the idea of teachers spending their own money on a bus and all the items it took to make the mini-classroom rock and roll is absolutely inspiring! You can read the story here: http://www.upworthy.com/these-teachers-in-a-low-income-district-found-a-genius-way-to-meet-with-parents

Teachers want the best for their students and their families, and although some teachers give the profession a black eye, these teachers make our profession proud! They could have turned their collective backs on the families. Instead, they devised a way to involve and include the families of their charges. Reading this story made me inspired and proud to be a teacher!

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.
Rittman Publishing, LLC ®

Please invite Grady Gets Glasses (and me) into your school. if you are not in the Pittsburgh area, we do virtual field trips with a group called Field Trip Zoom. www.Fieldtripzoom.com GRADY GETS GLASSES was the winner of Best New Children's Book 2016 from The Authors' Zone. For more information about The Authors' Zone, please visit http://www.theauthorszone.com/submissions/

Visit Dede's webpage for complete details on her award-winning book, STUDENT TEACHING: THE INSIDE SCOOP FROM A MASTER TEACHER. Many colleges have made the book required reading. Signed copies are available at www.dederittman.com Dede is also a national speaker on The Three C's for Classroom success: Confidence, communication, and Creativity; Avoiding Teacher burnout; and many other inspirational topics.

I LOVE writing. And I love writing children's books- my newest passion. Although it will be a ton of work, I am looking forward to selling my books. Since I was a secondary teacher, I know that I have much to learn about elementary students, and I will have to follow my own advice and be my genuine self. However, I also know that I am passionate about helping kids who have to wear glasses, and that GRADY GETS GLASSES sends a positive message. I am willing to work hard and do all the things that also made me a successful teacher for 37 years. I remain inspired!

Elementary teachers in Western Pennsylvania and beyond - I am willing to come into your classroom in person or as a virtual field trip through a group called Field Trip Zoom. Check them out! http://www.fieldtripzoom.com/

Teacher friends- let me know if you want me to read GRADY GETS GLASSES at your school. I am willing to come in to discuss the creative writing process, why writing is important, and personal fulfillment through writing, along with reading my book. I would appreciate the exposure, and I would make signed copies available for purchase in your classrooms following the reading. Please email me at dederittman@gmail.com The website www.gradygetsglasses.com now has plush Grady bunnies for sale!

Please like Dede's new page Grady Gets Glasses for updates about her children's book. https://www.facebook.com/gradygetsglasses?ref=hl

Connect with Dede!

Twitter @dederittman
Periscope @dederittman
Facebook Dede Faltot Rittman or Rittman Rules
LinkedIn Dede Rittman
Google + Dede Rittman
Tumblr The Bunny Teacher
Instagram dede_rittman
Pinterest Rittman Publishing, LLC ®

Friday, August 4, 2017

"I miss the me I was when you were here."

August 7, 2017, will be the sixth wedding anniversary I will be spending alone since my husband died in May of 2012. Everyone said it would get easier, but the truth is, it doesn't. Not really.

It's not like I am stuck in my grief, as I have certainly expanded my wings in the past five years - from working as a radio/TV show producer to writing and publishing two books and becoming an entrepreneur. I have learned so many new things : about Twitter and social media and branding; about how to fix a toilet; about shopping and cooking for one; about my limits when lifting heavy objects; about writing for magazines and speaking to groups; about how it feels to be alone. I have learned to pay more attention to planning trips and making more of an effort to note where I park, since Scott was often the planner, navigator, and driver when we traveled. He took care of me, and now I have to take care of me. I don't like that. And in many ways, Life keeps reminding me of Scott's absence. Like last week, when I bought a power washer for my deck. After trying everything in the manual, the washer would not work, so I returned it, telling the clerk, "Life was so much easier before my husband died. I just can't get this to work." She understood.

Despite being sad sometimes, since I continue to miss Scott so much, my heart continues to be filled with gratitude that we had such a fun and loving marriage for almost 32 years. We were two pieces of a single puzzle, completing each other and making each other whole. Our marriage was filled with so much laughter, and now, I just don't laugh as much as we used to. Although I do make a conscious choice to be happy every single day, the exuberant joy of sharing life with the one I love is gone. The sound of laughter is hollow now, without my other half to send the reverberation of that laughter back to me.

I am so grateful that Scott helped to shape me into the person I am today. We married at 29, after a failed marriage for each of us. It took a while to trust and love again unequivocally, but we worked toward our marriage partnership every day. We appreciated each other, and shared that appreciation openly. We supported each other in all of our individual endeavors; and if one of us was involved in a project or event, the other one helped, too. For example, when Scott was on stage and I did not have a part, I worked on his show in costumes or as bookholder. When I was in a show and Scott did not have a part, he built the scenery for my show. Our beautiful lives were intertwined like that for all the years we were married, and I miss that daily love and support.

Happy anniversary to my other half in Heaven! One thing I know for sure is this: Love never dies. Thank you for the laughter and the life we shared. And one more thing. I miss the me I was when you were here. I liked that Dede so much better than this one.

Scott and Dede August 7, 1981