Reflect, Adjust, Move Forward into School Year 2018-19

Last year ended for me on the thirtieth of June.  It was a year filled with some of my favorite things: connecting, sharing, learning, and growing. There are minutes, hours, and days that I look back on and think, "Goodness, I can't believe that happened!". Some of those moments were positive and productive, while others were less than stellar.  A very wise man once told me "You can not control the actions of others, you can only control yours".

This past year, while maintaining the positions of EL/GT Director for my district, I added yet another experience to my resume, Director of Elementary Curriculum.  Essentially, I had two and half jobs. Juggling has become one of my qualities, tricky, yet fulfilling!

There were times during the year that I felt isolated from the world. It was the first time in my career that I felt completely shut down and shut out. At my lowest points, out of nowhere a bright light would shine through. Someone holding a white flag, letting me in their game, valuing my opinion, validating my worth to the district. What is that old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade".

Two words came to my mind quite often: discourage and encourage. These two words have a root/base in common... courage. Having the courage to make changes, to try something new, to step out of one's comfort zone is huge, I think I did it!

Looking back, I see that even though the year was bumpy, amazing things did happened within EL, GT and elementary curriculum.

Moving forward, I plan on continuing to build relationships, breaking down barriers, being in classrooms more and my office less. My position can be an asset in the district; modeling, guiding, and watching the magic unfold. My mission for this year can be summed up in the following scene from Dirty Dancing:

I used to love to blog, I'm hoping to bring that back too!
Teachingly,
Mrs. Hime