Welcome to Summer Renewal with CEL!

Each Thursday for the rest of July, we'll offer you a chance to reflect, get clarity and move closer to your vision — in time for the start of the new school year.

Each of the four emails is designed to be a 15-minute long "learning pause."  You can participate on your own or invite your team to join you. You can download this fillable pdf or take notes in your journal of choice.

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Let's begin! This week's theme is "Returning to your why."

First, please glance at the six images above. Which one speaks to your state of mind? Take a moment to capture your answer.

Now, we invite you to read what Executive Director Max Silverman shared in his blog post, My role as a leader has changed — and needed to change. Here’s why.

"I have a confession to make: I didn’t get into education because I was excited to be a teacher. I went into education because I was eager to work for change in communities, and I believed that working with young people was the best way to do that. Lucky for me, I also happened to really enjoy teaching. Ultimately, teaching was my way of working toward social justice."

Questions to consider:

• Close your eyes and think back to your earliest days in education. What's the picture that comes to mind?

• What about that picture still resonates with you?

• If you were to choose 3-5 words to describe the positive feelings you get from that picture, what would they be? You can reference Brené Brown's list of emotions (PDF) here.