Friday, June 26, 2020

What? Why? How? Who? When?

    I will be starting my 25th year of teaching. (This shocks me as I was adamant in not ever stepping foot on a school campus every again after getting my degree. Apparently, fate had other plans.)  

    I really don't like the idea of counting years, just as I don't like celebrating my birthdays. I was only counting because of others around me. I had colleagues celebrating their 5th year teaching or 10th or 30th.  Celebrating how many years as a teacher doesn't make sense to me.  I know teachers who have been teaching over 25 years and are as inexperienced as a first-year teacher.  And at the same time, I know teachers who have been just teaching a few years and are way beyond their years at engaging and reaching their kids.  So then what does matter to me?
    
    So instead of counting the years, I reflect on my growth.  Am I making the same mistakes as I did during my first years? Or even last year? Why did I make those mistakes? What did I learn from those mistakes? Who can I turn to for mentorship to help me grow as a teacher?  And I try to do this continuously.

    So hence the name of my blog: "Reflect, Revise, and Repeat." Strangely enough, it actually took me a long time to come up with this name. I was trying to come up with something novel, unique, and clever. I went through quite a few iterations. I tried to use the Japanese art/philosophy of Kintsugi as part of my title because I felt that is how I got to where I am now. But I couldn't get the word "Kintsugi" to fit naturally into the title. Finally, I decided to be authentic. I am straightforward and to the point.  And so is my blog title.

    I am not sure what I will write; probably just a record of my reflections and learning. I have been thinking of writing a blog for about a decade now. Fear was holding me back from doing so despite all the encouragement from friends and strangers.

     I am finally ready.   

Lessons Learned

I started this school year with such great hopes.  I know I was ready to take what I learned from a year of distance learning and help my fu...