I actually have several posts that I drafted over the last year (probably more like the last few years), but have never posted. I started getting into a routine to draft and then review on Sunday to post. Somewhere along the work beat, I lost track of that time. I need to get back into that routine. I found this post to be a great one to start back with up again considering it's about taking pause. I've been doing that a lot over the last few months with the pandemic. I now find myself with a lot of time to think. I can't believe how slow the last couple of months of school went, but also how fast. If I timelapsed my daily work routine, it would have been a boring string of me getting up, grabbing coffee, sitting at a computer for several hours, leaving the house for a long walk, eating dinner, reading, repeat. It made me realize that sometimes we move so fast that we lose sight of the things that are important. The moments that are important to be in. I think this is why I like writing. It forces me to be in the moment and it also helps me grow.
So, basically... for a while these posts may be random. A little current reflection combined with past writing. Enjoy! :) - - - - [NOV 2017] This week I found myself saying a few different times, “It was a great week for students, but maybe not a great week for everything else.” I often feel this feeling. The feeling that when one part of my life is going well another part could use work. At the last Jay Marks Culturally Responsive Teaching session, Jay talked about how all the other ‘stuff’ gets in the way sometimes of what’s really important - our students. A lot of the extra is placed on ourselves by ourselves. I certainly do that... I take on more than I should and say yes to things I don't have time for. It stems from my drivers (and it's who I am as a person), but I'll talk about that in a later post. Anyway, I find it all to be a balance. I know it's a balance. Still even in that understanding, I know that there are multiple points where I am unbalanced. My goal is by the time Friday comes around I feel like I’ve done well in both work and life ... It's a good goal. Still working on that. ;) This week I found myself taking pause for the things in education that matter and being thankful that I can do that. When I'm at work, I also want to make sure I am in the moment and the 'daily work' or 'checklists' don't get in the way of what's important - the students. In my class there was an incident that I had to take pause and address. It wasn’t a huge deal and I could have easily made a quick comment and then moved on with teaching. However, the more I thought about it the more it bothered me and I remembered... 'this is the work'. So the class and I had a talk about the effects of a little white lie in what they have coined, "Circle Time". I’m sure through the talk they were all thinking, “Ok Reimold, this isn’t a big deal.” They are right - it wasn’t. Out of all of the deals in the world this was nothing. A blip in the universe. However, I really wanted... let me correct myself, I really needed them to understand that these are the moments that define one's own character. These are the moments in which we could do the right thing or not. Our actions and our words matter...because all of these small insignificant things add up to big significant things and they start to define you. It's all about what kind of person you want to be and what that looks like for you. I won't get into what the white lie was about, but I will say that I am glad I took time away from the curriculum to have this moment. Even though we/teachers find ourselves trying to sprint to the invisible finish line we can't forget that this is the work too and we need to take pause to honor the importance of this work. We ended our talk with one question, "What kind of person do you want to be?" Also, this week I had the opportunity to help a student get ready for her interview for a full ride scholarship. It was a good week. :) - - - - Just FYI. That student got that full ride scholarship (housing and tuition). #ProudTeacher These are the moments...
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