The last few weeks I have felt all of the typical end of the year stresses. It is harder to get out of bed. It is much more tempting to just go home after school. But this year I have manages to prevent myself from succumbing to these tempatations. In fact I feel like the momentum I have is increasing because rather than holding on until the end of the year. I have been implementing a new lesson, a new assignment or a new learning objective nearly every day. I have been cataloging things that I have wanted to try since I first started using twitter last year and following #sschat early this year. After going throught he intial lurker phase, and moving into the active participant phase, I have now moved into the implementation portion of the twitter cycle of development. I find that the ideas and conversations that I have taken part in are now flowing into the things that I do and it isn't requiring the effor that I thought it would take.
It has taught me some important lessons and reminded me of a few that I learned before but need to be reminded of. First off, teachers need to direct their own growth, assess themselves and address their own needs in a way that no amount of school organized inservices can. Secondly, teachers have to fulfill their obligations to the school board, the state and the government and they should, but there are other needs that we need to focus on that the powers that be will not nuture. So we must. There won't be inservices to address these needs, so we will have to do so independently. Finally, I have realized that when my mind is focused on growth, mine or the students, my classroom has a completely different energy about it. In the last two months I have created a better vision of where I am going in the classroom than I have in the last four years and I am taking steps to get there.
It is for these reasons that my classes have been going really well lately. I have things to accomplish and I am not waiting until next year to get them done.
I completely agree. We project a lot onto the kids in our classrooms. I just joined Twitter and #sschat about six weeks ago, but I am so energized by my virtual colleagues and the resources they have introduced me to that I am truly sad my classes will end next week.
ReplyDeleteSummer is great and will bring renewal, but going into it with a healthy energy is so much better than dragging oneself to the finish line.
I am always saddened by teachers counting the days until the end of school. Thanks for articulating what I have been feeling.