Happy 2016!!! I'm still a little in shock that we are already in the new year, but boy, am I excited!! I feel like I have not talked with all of you in so so long!!! So to kick off the new year in fashion, I'm linking up with 2 wonderful friends Ashley and Angie for their monthly linky...#2getherwearebetter series!! Woohoo!!
This month is all about PLANS AND GOALS! Confession...I am that person that WANTS to be able to PLAN things out, but I never end up following the PLAN!!!! [ahhhh] Please, tell me you know what I mean?!? I have bought so many planners in attempts to change my ways, but I just have not found my rhythm with it all YET! So I already found a NEW planner ha :), but I actually LOVE it! It's smaller so I can fit it in my purse which was one of the huge reasons why I never kept up with it before. I also need to stop trying to be like everyone else who decorates theirs all cute with stickers and drawings! FYI I am not good at writing with different font like shapes, AND I never got into scrapbooking SO WHY am I still trying?!? hah Geesh! Get a clue is what I say in my head! So to go with what both Angie and Ashley always say is my first GOAL!!
Plan & Goal: be ME!
Since switching schools in my district this year along with moving to 5th grade for the first time, I have been learning a new curriculum and all about my wonderful 5th graders! I truly love them! However, with this, I have not created as much or blogged. Sometimes, I tend to get caught up with what everyone else is doing and start to think...gosh, everyone is going to forget me or am I really just not that great at creating anymore? Here's the thing...for a split second, I lost the REAL reason WHY I do all of this!! FOR THE KIDS!!! Hope King helped remind me of this. {THANK YOU Hope!} Regardless of what grade you are in or where you are at, you are there FOR THE KIDS. This one sentence basically snapped me out of my funk!!! Since 2nd grade when I knew I wanted to be a teacher (at least that was what I thought as I taught my stuffed animals in the basement :), I have always had a passion to work with children. EVERY job I have had has had something to do with kids and/or teaching! DING DING DING! My passion is teaching KIDS!! So, I finally took a breath and looked at the big picture! I cannot say enough of how much I have learned and grown so far in one semester! I absolutely LOVE my 5th graders as well as my new team and school! I am RIGHT WHERE I BELONG! I have also realized that I need to focus on what makes ME...ME. My PATH is UNIQUE to ME. As I always tell my students...how boring would our world be if EVERY ONE was the SAME!
Plan & Goal: Find my way back to BLOGGING and CREATING
To go along with being ME, I want to find my way back to my blog and creating! After reading Ron Clark's book, Move Your Bus, I realized that I needed to live by one of his quotes as much as I was teaching my students to live by it.
I need to STOP giving myself EXCUSES as to why I am not blogging or creating and FIND SOLUTIONS!! I NEED to MAKE IT HAPPEN! I proved to myself this past November that I could run a full marathon even while adjusting to all the changes! WE CAN DO MORE THAN WE EVER DREAMED WE COULD if WE STOP GETTING IN OUR OWN WAY!! I am going to try to plan a blog post every 2 weeks to start in January. In February, I want to do a blog post 1 time a week. I also want to make a brand for my products. However, I am going to allow this process to flow instead of FORCING it. I don't work well when I try to force things anyway so might as well just LET IT HAPPEN!
Plan & Goal: Find my voice on the Video Front
I have been wanting to do videos since last year, but I simply gave EXCUSES instead of SOLUTIONS on doing them. This year, I want to start sharing ideas this way too. I, personally, LOVE videos. Sometimes, I don't have time to read, but I can easily listen and/or watch as I am folding laundry, grading papers (simple ones hah), etc. I CAN'T wait to get started!
Plan & Goal: Build My POSITIVE POSSE
I need to STOP allowing others to get me down. I know not EVERYONE I work with is going to be as CRAZY as I am when it comes to finding new or out of the box ways to do things. This fact is completely fine! We ALL bring so much to our students and classrooms by being US! However, sometimes, I ALLOW negative attitudes to infiltrate into my thoughts which is NOT ME. I have CONTROL over HOW I FEEL. So this year, I really want to build my POSITIVE POSSE even more!! I want to be PROUD of the things that I DO BRING to the table and not get knocked down by people that may not agree. When I visited the Ron Clark Academy last year, Ron Clark talked about how POSITIVITY pushes out NEGATIVITY!!! It takes ONE PERSON to start the CHANGE! I ALSO want to go back to RCA this year for a 2 day training!! I get excited just thinking about it!
THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART for all of the SUPPORT and LOVE you have all given me through this AMAZING JOURNEY! You have truly made me BETTER!!
To find and/or link up for more PLANS & GOALS with the #2getherwearebetter series, click below!!! These bloggers are WONDERFUL!!
CHEERS to a SPECTACULAR 2016!
