What I Get To Do

Next week is my last week of maternity leave and I have mixed emotions. I am going to miss having the time at home, but I also miss my students and being in my classroom. The last three and a half weeks have been an eye opening experience. I never thought I would enjoy doing the stay at home thing and although I am not sure if I could do it long term, I have enjoyed the past few weeks. It's amazing how life can change us if we let it.

In all honesty, the first week home was incredibly rough. My husband and I were bickering more with each other and I was feeling like I HAD to do a lot of things. Now that my time is almost up I realize all the things I GET to do. Yes, I deal with more yucky diapers and more crying than my husband, but I get to wake up each morning to a smiley little girl knowing that if I want to lay in bed and cuddle with her I can. That is a true blessing!

Often I go through my day and think of all the things that I have to get done. We all live busy lives, but if I stop and reflect, I realize that I am able to do many incredible things. Working with my students and having an impact on them is far more important than a to do list (yes I realize I need to complete paperwork in order to keep my job).  It's all about perspective.

So, what do you get to do today?

Thank you for reading.

What Are You Doing?

The other day I babysat one of my coworkers daughters who is two years old. We colored, played with toys, made cookies and picked vegetables from my garden. Throughout the day she kept asking me "what are you doing." Which was almost always followed by why?  Anyone who has spent anytime around a two year old knows they ask this all the time. It may become annoying but the curiosity of little children is very high.

When do adults stop being curious? When do we stop asking why?

There are so many procedures and things we do in school and everyday life that we don't think about. What am I doing? Why am I doing it? These are two powerful questions that we need to reflect on. Because we have always done it that way is not a good answer. 

What are you doing?  Why?

Thank you for reading.

Authentic Servant

There is a well known quote about champions that I hear and see often. "A Champion works when no one is watching."

If we think about this phrase it should force us to reflect. What do you do when no one is watching? Who are you when no one is around?

The other person that still works when no one is around is a servant.

It is a challenge to do the right thing when you know you could easily get away with it (no one will know if I. ..) The same goes for being a servant. As a Christian, we are called to serve all the time. Not only when people are around, or people are being nice to us or because we think they deserve our help. We are simply called to serve.

Working hard when no one is around and serving regardless of the circumstances completely destroys the old argument of "but s/he did this to me."

Our students need us to be servants regardless of how they act. It is easy to help the ones who listen and are respectful but there are many others that need our help too.

It is an uphill battle but the reward is great. Be a servant.

Thank you for reading.

You Never Know

In the past year, I have had two people thank me on Twitter for being instrumental during a difficult time in their life. Both times these people told me I was left feeling guilty and a bit shocked.

I felt guilty because I vaguely remembered either exchange. The conversation that was so important to them was only a memory for me. I felt shocked because I never realized how important those conversations had been.

Through our relationships we have the ability to influence people and often times our influence is unknown to us. We are having a positive or impact influence on those around us, yet we may never realize until much later.

Relationships matter,  conversations matter. Things you don't think will, matter to other people. It may be small and seem very insignificant to you, but it could mean the world to someone else.

Be intentional,  be kind and realize you have more influence than you realize.

Thank you for reading.

Small but Mighty

This summer my husband and I planted a garden. It was a great reminder that mighty things come on small packages. Our yard is not very large and our garden is fairly small, but you would not be able to tell based on the product. 

Don't let challenges interfere with your ability to be successful. 

Keep fighting the good fight. Thank you for reading. 

App: Simple Mind +

The first project I had my music appreciation students complete was a Musician Family Tree Project. They had to research and artist and find out who influenced them. Through and Twitter conversation on Twitter I discovered the app Smart Mind. It is a mind mapping application,  but I had my students use it to create a tree of who influenced their musicians. I love free apps! This one is great and easy to use. Plus it is another great example of thinking outside of the box when using an app. 

Here is my example of the Musician Influence Tree I made for my class. 

Is It Worth It?

We all get 24 hours in a day. How we use our 24 hours is the difference. I am beginning to learn how to prioritize my life and I have realized that I cannot always accomplish everything that I want to, but often times many of these activities are filler and not truly important: cleaning, dishes and other chores for example.

I am starting to force myself to answer the question "is it worth it?"  I want to make sure I am using my time wisely. What activities constitute being well worth it?  How many students does it need to impact in order for it to be worth it?

This is a tough question and I think the answer varies depending on the situation. I believe all of my students deserve and are worth my full effort. I also realize that I cannot realistically give them all full 1:1 effort because sadly there are not enough hours in a day.

Is the effort worth it if it only impacts 100, 50, 20, 10 or 1?  Teachers put in a lot of effort and sometimes it appears that our efforts are wasted. However the longer I teach, the more I realize that we don't always know when we are impacting those around us.  Even if it only impacts one student it is worth our efforts.

Keep fighting the good fight. Thank you for reading.

I Don't Know What To Write About...

There have been many days the last year that I woke up not knowing what to blog about. Sometimes the ideas come easily and other times they don't. I also do blogging with my fifth grade media students and I give them the same list that I created for myself to help me find blogging motivation. 

1. Something positive or negative that you recently experienced and what you learned from it. 

2. A hobby or something new you have learned. 

3.  A recent experience. 

4.  A recent project 

Where do you find your motivation to write?

Thank you for reading.