What Do You See?

 In our daily lives, we see a lot at our jobs, schools/colleges, in our communities, on the news, Internet and social media. We see the good and bad, the positive and negative, and problems and solutions. In my previous blog post, I talked about going back for a new school year as a teacher and not mixing the old with the new. I encouraged us to keep what works and change what doesn't. If you haven't read my last blog post, I encourage you to take a minute and go back to read, "Don't Mix the Old With the New." In preparing for a new school year ahead, I want to look at it with fresh eyes 👀. I have to see the possibilities and opportunities that lie ahead 💚💙. A week from now, I will have new 6th grade students sitting in my classroom. I don't know what they went through in the previous years, but I do know I can help them see that this year can be a fresh start. I let them know it's a fresh start for me, too. I want my students to see that we are in this together. I have to see my students as young people with endless potential to have a great year and make good decisions 😊. At work last week on Tuesday, I was going through my closet and found an old cell phone holder I used the year before in my class. Notice I said the year before. I thought I would find a use for it last year, but I didn't. This year, I looked at it again and said I need to get rid of it because I'm not using it. I only saw it as a cell phone holder at first. By the end of the week, I saw it as something different. Fast forward to Friday.. I look at the same cell phone holder and see the use for the holder with fresh eyes. I see it differently and can't believe that I didn't think of it earlier. Are you ready for what else I saw it could be used for? Calculators 😊!! They're the same size as many cell phones when you think about. I'm glad I did! Then, my next step was to start thinking about who I could give it to you. I thought about the Math and Science teachers who could use them. I went to one of the teachers on my team and she said she already had one. Then, I thought about another teacher on my team who is new this year and showed it to her. She said she had just looked at a bin of calculators and thought about how she would organize them. Then enters me who decided to "see" the cell phone holder  for a calculator holder! I'm so glad she can use it and she was happy about it 😊!! Also, last week for Thursday and Friday, I participated in professional development sessions. At the beginning of Friday's session, we did this really neat opening activity that involved miniature charms 💚💙. Each table was given different charms, such as a lantern, puzzle piece, compass, etc. Each of us had to choose a charm that represented the work we had done the previous day. After choosing, everyone shared what they chose and why they had chosen it. I loved hearing the different perspectives using the different charms 😊! I chose the camera because we were given a snapshot of what our year should look like from different angles. Even though everyone chose different charms or chose the same one for different reasons, we all had the same purpose at the session and that was to learn ways to do deeper teaching that results in deeper learning for our students. Now, let's think about our day in general. How do we see our day? Do we see hope or hopelessness? Do we see a loss or a lesson? Do we see the same thing we've always seen or a different solution? Do we see an opportunity for growth? Do we see ways we can help others? Do we see better coming? At the end of our days, we should all want to see that we have done something to better ourselves and to help others. Let's stay observant and see the possibilities and opportunities to grow and do good in each day 💖. May God continue to bless each of you!