Blog Post #5 Chapter 12-You Only Have So Much Time-Christina Cleland

'Lead an Interesting Life'-"We are not only role models for learning; we are role models for living."

I love this!  Life is short and we are meant to live it and live it well.  Our little people that come into our lives have an optimistic outlook about them, even when they come from hard circumstances.  Sometimes it is because they have not been in the world long enough to know that their circumstances may be different or challenging.  I think they soak up anything we tell them about our lives and how we live them.  I love sharing experiences with them and I love hearing all of their stories!  If I spend all of my time working and striving and never living, I lose my joy and so do they because I have nothing left to give them.

‘Trust Your Own Experiences to Help You Plan Well’ -I think this is incredibly important.  We spend a lot of time with our little people.  As the teacher I am the only one who can figure out each student and what they need.  While it is important to use curriculum and standards, I must always be attuned to how I need to restructure those plans to meet my students and help them grow.

'Make work being done while waiting pleasurable' is another key point made in the chapter.  We have ‘extra’ time in the morning when the students are eating breakfast and getting unpacked for the day.  I have many times been tempted to make that a time where they get straight to work at the tables but I have resisted because I think that morning welcome time is vital.  It builds a sense of community with our class.  Our students need routine in their lives desperately and they come to depend on our little welcome routine each morning.  I enjoy hearing them talk with each other about things and we learn a lot about them just by listening to what they have to say to each other.  There is plenty of time later for being quiet and listening so I do not mind the ‘talking and sharing’ first thing in the morning.

The key is to make an effort to lead a balanced life in and out of the classroom.