I can't believe it's the last post of the school year. It seems like just yesterday when the entire office staff was knocked out and kicked out with COVID the second day of school! What a year it has been. I loved listening to so many of you talk about different students during our reflection activity at staff collaboration time last week. Seeing you light up talking about certain students or hearing how much energy you devoted to certain students was definitely a highlight of my week. I also love the stories you have sent me about the students that I will be recognizing in our final whole school assembly on Monday. We started the year focused on "Constructing Stories, Building Connections," and I feel like that has consistently been happening all year long. From our focus on writing to our focus on making connections during monthly family time, we have absolutely grown closer as a school community. There is a lot to celebrate...students' growth in academics and social emotional learning. We also need to celebrate staff growth. So many of you have taken courses or webinars, attended or led professional development, collaborated with colleagues, stepped out of your comfort zones, and through it all...kept kids at the forefront, like our community norms says. I would love for all of us to stop and think about what went well this year and what we need to keep improving upon. I would love to hear what our "glows" were - what do we need to celebrate and be proud of? And I want to hear what our "grows" were - what do we need to work on? These could be things specific to your classroom or your role or these could be things school-wide. As I begin the work this summer of planning for next year, I want to make sure I am hearing from everyone. Please take a few minutes over the next week to fill out this "Glows and Grows" form. And get ready for an amazing last week of school! Here are some of the books that we have multiple copies of in the office. We will do our lending library again this summer. Sign out a book, read it, then return it so someone else can read it.
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We have made it to the last two weeks (and a day) of school! This year has been full of hard work, struggle, new ideas, learning from mistakes, being vulnerable, stepping out of comfort zones, and successes. It's important to take some time to think back over the year and reflect. Right now, if we take time to look back, this year is fresh in our minds. It's "closer" to us right now. If we wait until August to think back on the year, we will most likely forget parts. Here are a few questions and reflection prompts to get you thinking about the year, to help you look in the rearview mirror. We will also do some reflecting during our final staff collaboration time this week. Reflecting on the 2023-2024 school year, I am proud of...
2 ideas/new learning/experiences I will take with me into next year are... Something I wish I had done differently... Ways that I have grown professionally this year... Now see if you can picture a particular student for each of these prompts, and think of what you learned or how you will grow as an educator as a result of your interactions: Think of a student that challenged you... Think of a student that made you proud... Think of a student that you felt lucky to teach... Think of a student that made you better... Think of a student that you will miss... I really do enjoy these last few days, thinking back over all that has been accomplished. Thinking about where we all were on the first day (when we were kicking off a year of Constructing Stories, Building Connections) and how we have gotten to this point right now. I also think about what did not work and what are ways to make changes for next year. I like to think about all the new innovative experiences that our students had and how we will help them have even more new and innovative experiences next year. And I am looking forward to growing myself professionally even more this summer, taking time to read, write, connect and reflect. Once you are done reflecting on the year, be sure and think ahead to this summer. How do you plan to be mindful over the summer break and rejuvenate yourself? |