I’m sitting by my fire, that I just artificially made, drinking a very hot, spicy drink, playing some holiday jazz music and thinking, “where did this year go?” I had one of those years, daughter married, another engaged and moving to Thailand, and here I sit, reflecting on what seems now an incredible year.

Do you ever do this? Carve out some time for reflection? Take some “mommy time”, lock yourself in the bedroom, take a hike, and just think… where did it all go? The time? The intentions? The energy?

At the close of every year, I think we all pause for a bit of reflection. Have I been the spouse that I aspired to be? Did I get enough exercise? Have I been a good mom/dad to my kids? Have I been the teacher I imagined myself to be?

Every day at SPARK U we began with a daily reflection. I emphasized that to EXPECT something different you had to DO something different. My question is, have you? Have you changed? Did you look at your classroom in a different way? Did you see the results?

I encourage all of you to go back to your journals and go to the place where you entered your reflections. Did you take those actions? If so, what were the results?

If you did, then congratulations! You left SPARK U with the confidence and energy to change some things and it has paid off!
If you didn’t, then you get a fresh start! You left SPARK U with that same confidence and passion, but something made you default back into your old ways. So now you have an opportunity to regain that sense of purpose and passion. Change can be difficult. I believe in you, and whether they be tall or short, big or small, your kiddos believe in you as well.

So as we move into 2016, I encourage you to be more reflective. Journal about what you like about your teaching and what you want to change. Then reflect on the impact those changes have on either you or your kiddos.

Happy Holidays and I wish you all the best in 2016!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share The Spark

Share this with your friends!