5 Important Lessons Learned in 2018

If this best nine image looks a bit sloppy, it’s a perfect representation of 2018. Beautiful and messy. We often showcase the best "Instagram worthy" images to represent our lives, and I would contend that's fine as long as we remember there's always more to an image than meets the eye. Life is about perspective.

From switching teaching jobs, to supporting a son with an often debilitating illness, to surviving treatment for breast cancer, some might say 2018 was a tough year for me, and I wouldn’t disagree. But, I’ve also learned deeply about life.

Here's my perspective on what I learned in 2018.

1) Life is messy and beautiful and worth living.

Amidst the day to day living, you really never do know how much time you have on earth, so make the most it. Love fiercely, take risks, and say “no” if you don’t or can’t really do something.

2) Inspire others by being the best version of yourself.

Live authentically. Define your values. Keep an open mind. Remember, who you are evolves and changes because you are a work in progress, so you can only be the best version of yourself that you are at any given moment, and that's okay.

3) People you never expect to help often step forward to offer support, and people you expect to help might not.

When life obstacles come our way, keep your expectations for others in check because unrealistic expectations of others can lead to more hurt or over-thinking. Why didn't _____help out? I never would have expected ___to be so generous.

4) Commit to process over an event/milestone.

When life is going well or not going well, it's easy to get excited or to become eager about the next event or milestone. If, however, you commit to process rather than the event/milestone, you can develop a system of healthy habits and daily living that helps you throughout life. This means you need to understand your WHY (your motivation) for what you are doing. Why are you training for a half-marathon? Why are you saving money for a family vacation? Why are you cleaning up after the dog for the umpteenth time today? Why are you taxiing your kids all over town to meet up with their friends over Christmas Break?

5) The greatest gift you can offer others is your own joy and inner peace. 

Remember that you are uniquely and wonderfully made. You are loved. You are supported and protected. Remember that JOY is an attitude that requires courage, commitment, and strength. Even if you feel like you're lacking in those areas, you can choose where you place your focus. You can choose to be grateful for small things and in those small things you find more courage, strength, and commitment. #ChooseJoy

Using Creativity for Inspiration in the New Year

Over at National Blogging Collaborative, bloggers are encouraged to consider their "New Year's" resolution for the blog a month.

This fall marks the third year I've taught a course at the local university, and just as I did as a high school teacher, I took time over the summer to reflect on what worked and didn't work the previous time I taught the course, and I thought about how I want to improve. Naturally, I looked at course evaluations, weighed the recommendations from students, and considered what I know these young adults will face when they enter middle school classrooms as English language arts teachers.

On our first day of class last week, I asked the students to write about what English language arts means to them. What is it we teach when we teach students English language arts? While a couple of students focused on the skills they will teach (language, grammar, writing), many of the explanations also included thoughts on critical thinking, creativity, communication, and personal connections to text that create life-long readers. Our syllabus is full of ideas for what we will read, discuss, and learn. I vow to focus on what my students need.

Even as I help students learn what they need to learn, my "New Year's" resolution for the 2015-2016 academic year is to encourage more creativity in myself and my students and to help these future teachers understand the importance of creativity in teaching middle school students.

Inspired by my reading of Transforming Schools Using Project-Based Learning, Performance Assessment, and Common Core Standards by Bob Lenz, Justin Wells, and Sally Kingston and a recent phone conversation with Justin, I am resolving to make this year better and more creative than the last. We will focus on creativity and all the non creative acts required for us to be creative. We will focus on deeper learning, more authentic assessment, and engaging learning.

"...for learning to be meaningful and long lasting, it should culminate in the creation of something that never existed before."

"...creativity is what excites and engages us, forging an emotional connection to our learning that is as critical to the process as the content of learning itself."

~~quotes from the book by Lenz, Wells, and Kingston~~

What about you? Do you have plans to be creative this academic year? To encourage creativity in yourself and your students? Do share your ideas, please!

One Year Blogging Anniversary

In the past few days I have enjoyed reading New Year or reflection blogpostsfrom some of my favorite bloggers. I was amazed at the statistics a few people shared, including the total number of page view sper day and overall for the year. One blogger shared that she averages close to 20,000 page views per day.  As a relatively new blogger, 20,000 views in a day sounds remarkable, especially considering I was happy to reach a yearly total of just over 20,000 views for Learning to Muse.

While most of the blogs I read are education related,I also follow a few who write about parenting, and homemaking because I have plenty to learn about these topics too.

While the numerical statistics for my blog are an okay starting point for me, I, of course, hope to have a larger reach in the coming year. Today marks the one year anniversary of my blog, so I thought I’d spend some time considering my reach and reflecting on what I learned during this first year in the blogosphere.

Global Connections.

 Pretty cool.  Learning to Muse had multiple page views from readers on four continents.  This is exciting to me because I like the idea of being globally connected to the world through my blog but also through social media, another goal of mine this past year. I've met many fine educators from all around the USA and even some from other countries. Some I've met only virtually through twitter and others I met during my travels. A few are friends and former students, and some are long time family friends with whom technology has enabled me to stay connected across many states.

 

Popular Posts.

My most popular post was titled Why I Left Teaching, and I suppose it was most popular because an Ed Week blogger linked to it when she told the world--anyone who says he/she loves teaching should stay in the classroom and teach or not expect veteran teachers to beg them to stay.  If you’ve read many of my blog posts, you will know this is an issue with which I have struggled because I do love teaching, but I also think educators who believe in teachers and students are needed as leaders.  It’s taken me a while to get to this line of thinking, but when I think about what it would be like to have people who no longer love teaching in a position like mine, it makes me sad. I think it would be terrible, actually.

Other popular posts were common core related, and that’s certainly no surprise, given that I’m in the USA where the common core has captured the attention of not only the education world, but certaint opics have even reached main stream media as well.

I love, love, love the fact that two of my popular posts are related to curiosity and wonder because, really, those ideas are part of what drove me to start this blog in the first place, and they are ideas that feed my goals as an educator and parent. Curiosity and wonder must become more a natural part of public education if we want genuine learning happening in our schools (and with that statement, I’ve circled back to where I started last year on January 2, 2012—with this blog).

Thanks for reading—I hope you experience peace and joy in the New Year!

 

Renee