This year was one for the books in so many ways!
As always, at the end of the year I sit back and reflect: What worked? What didn’t? What should I do again? What do I need to do better? This year’s reflection was almost as tough as the year itself. Sure, I gave myself credit for making it through but was still disappointed with my inability to do what I would have liked to do. Then I read Melissa Quimby’s blog post early one morning and it really shifted my thinking.
This year, while out on medical leave, I received multiple emails from classroom teachers at my school sharing their students’ love of reading and writing. Little did they know how much those emails would mean to me in those moments of recovery as well as in times of reflection.
Sometimes we work so hard to teach “the curriculum” or “the standards” that we forget that our job is actually to help developing human beings learn. Our real job is to help to grow these little humans into fantastic big humans; people who will participate in and contribute to our communities. Our ultimate goal as teachers is not to achieve great test scores. Our ultimate goal is to grow a love of reading, a love of learning.
Thank you to the teachers who shared their “heart flutters” with me this year. Thank you to each and every teacher for working so incredibly hard this year to help grow students into successful, happy little humans who love reading and love learning.
I hope this summer brings you peace, wonderful times with family and friends, time to enjoy reading whatever strikes your fancy, and renewed energy to embrace the new school year.
Happy Reading!
