Reflection

Due to a few factors I had some time off from the classroom this week, so I put a lot of energy into brainstorming and planning. But I've also had some time to reflect. My blogging is usually pretty matter of fact... here's what we did and it went like this and here's what I think about it... so it's probably time for one of those touchy-feely/wear my heart on my sleeve kind of blogs. 

So last week and I had a really difficult week with some unrelated professional obligations and had to make some tough discoveries about myself and make some really hard choices. It was emotionally difficult has taken a while to process. 

Just as I was feeling my worst, I went to Rachel's class, and had a great lesson with her students. As a special surprise at the end of the day, they all sang their "Start of the Day" song for me at the end of class with Rachel accompanying them on her new guitar. They have been singing it each morning (during a time I haven't been in class) and were really excited to sing it for me. Everyone did a great job and I could tell that the kids were proud of what they had accomplished and Rachel had worked hard to be able to play the song on the guitar. I saw that our ideas of using the song for community building had found some success and I saw the potential for this activity to be successful in future years when I'm no longer in Rachel's class.

So I had a moment where I saw evidence of the difference this initiative will make in the long run and how much joy it brings to our students. And in that moment, it also brought a lot of much needed joy to me.