November Blogging Challenge: Life Lesson

Day 20

What is one life lesson you are grateful to have learned?

One life lesson I am grateful to have learned is that balance is important.  To be honest, I'm still learning this lesson.  During the school year, especially, I tend to get caught up with teaching and grading and lessons--all completely normal--but then I forget that "all work and no play makes [Amy] a dull [girl]."  I fall out of touch with friends, become too busy to hang out with family, and spend way too much time staring at a computer screen instead of sunsets.

Robert Fulgham wrote a great essay about life lessons.  In his essay he tells about how he learned that we need balance in our lives: "Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some 

and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some."  Ostensibly, I learned that, too, but I need to be reminded of it every once in awhile. So I am grateful to be reminded of this life lesson as we move toward Thanksgiving.  I am going to enjoy taking some time off to celebrate with family, and that will definitely add some much-needed balance to my work-filled life.

November Blogging Challenge: What a difference a year makes....

Day 17

One thing that is different from a year ago that I am grateful for...

Our school has undergone a lot of changes from last year to this one, so I could name any number of things that have changed, from staff and administrative changes to room changes.

view from new classroom door

One of the things that is different from a year ago that I am grateful for is my new classroom. My previous classroom was in a trailer. I didn't mind the trailer; in fact, it was nice.  I wouldn't have minded having a bathroom, but the trailer was okay. I shared the trailer with a computer lab.

view from my desk

But this year I'm in the main building.  I have a new classroom.  It is bigger than my trailer was.  I no longer have to go outside the building in the rain, sleet, and snow (like the Post Office).  I don't have to go inside the main building just to get to a restroom or to the teacher workroom.  Now I can just go down the hall.

My students no longer have to brave the rain and cold in order to get an education from me.  They get to come down a brand new hallway and enjoy a classroom that is unlikely to be blown away by a strong crosswind.  They can come to my class when it's storming out and not worry that they could be struck by lightning.  (You'd think that wasn't a possibility...but...there is a story behind that comment.)

While change is necessary, I don't often like it.  However, in this case, I am very grateful and feel very blessed.

November Blogging Challenge: Tech Tools

Day 15

What tech tools are you most grateful for?  Why?  How have they changed what you do?

This prompt is similar to the prompt we had in the September Blogging Challenge.  To save time--a thing for which I'm very grateful--I will repost that blog here. Reflective Teaching, Day 13: Edtech Tools

I'm grateful for all these tech tools because the students I serve are digital natives.  These tools help me to connect to my students on a different level.  They learn so differently than I did.  When I got my new phone, I spent unsuccessful minutes looking for the owner's manual until I realized that I would have to access it via the phone.  Kids today don't read owner's manuals in separate booklets; they learn from the device themselves.

I do have an update on one of the tools I mentioned in that post: NoRedInk  I've begun using this online grammar website with my students and have seen the students enjoy doing grammar exercises (I know!) and actually practicing toward mastery on their own.  I'm using the free version, but I am tempted to upgrade so that I can access even more content.   The students go to this site on their own time (or if they finish early) to get better at grammar; that in itself is something I am most thankful for.