“The happiness he gives is quite
as great, as if it cost a fortune.”- Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”
Time, family, friends, simple gestures of kindness and joy:
these are all free and effortless, but often they feel, like they cost a
fortune. Not because of any other reason, then that they make us see ourselves
in the bigger scheme of things. That by just partaking and participating, in
the life we have built, without desire of return, we truly become balanced: and
that balance becomes happiness and happiness becomes reality.
There are many holiday movies, that resonate with us, this
time of year. "It's a Wonderful Life," "A Christmas Carol,"
and 'Miracle on 34th Street," just to name a few. These are the films that
make us remember our lives and remind us, to continue, to see the silver
lining. They trigger both reflection and optimism: showing us we can always
improve our lives and those of others. That we impact so many, who revolve
around us, just as they make an imprint, on us. When we understand that every
action has a counter reaction, we begin to strategize and rationalize, about our
own behavior and its effect and repercussions.
The holiday spirit, often, orbits around our personal lives:
how we embrace family and support our friends. It is about recognizing why we
love and cherish, those we surround ourselves with. The essence of these few
weeks, is about giving of ourselves, enjoying the moments of comfort, delight
and festivity, we are deprived of, the rest of the year. As the holly and
mistletoe are hung with care, the tree is decorated with the lights of renewal.
We are blessed with an assemblage of our loved ones, who arrive to celebrate
and reminisce about the previous year, and the new one, that is upon us.
“No space of regret can make
amends for one life's opportunity misused” -Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol”
Reflection is a gift. In times of hustle and bustle, we
often neglect to open the package. We place it under the Christmas tree, or in
the pile of presents, to be opened later. During this time of year, as
teachers, we so desperately need a respite from our classroom. We need to
venture away from campus and breathe. Take in the crisp air of freedom and
simply welcome in our personal lives. It can be challenging for some, me
included, because back in the recesses of our minds, lies not sugar plum
fairies and candy canes but our students and the learning environment, we have
built, to make a difference.
Where New Years has a built-in remembrance meter: telling us
to write our resolutions. These we often
toss to the side, within a few weeks. As the feeling of overload and strain, returns
to our lives. Christmas, just lets us soak it all in. The holidays, provide the
opportunity for a reboot of mind and spirit. I have been doing just that: being
mindful of my time and devoting it to laughing and playing with my children and
family. Just enjoying every moment. This blog post is being written as everyone
is out shopping and I am sitting in the coolness of the Albuquerque air,
watching the sun creep over the Sandia’s. A perfect time to write and reflect.
“There is nothing in the world so
irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” -Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol”
Last night, as I played a board game with my children, I
reveled in the ease of contentment. The free flowing, organic, sensibility of
knowing each other so well, brings. Trusting one another, delivers a level of
honesty and vulnerability, that is often only embraced, within a close-knit
family. This got me pondering, as I have been doing a lot lately, that this
same level of emotion and mindset, is not limited to family. It is a way of
thinking, that educators employ as well. It is a commonality, found in every
successful classroom.
I have made it my goal as a person: a mother, wife, teacher,
colleague, friend, to not just listen, but to be present and engaged, with
those around me. To offer mindfulness, in every action, I perform. If I neglect
to recognize where I have come from and what has led me to this place in my
life, I can become too comfortable in my surroundings. If I allow myself to become
too relaxed and satisfied, then I can also allow myself, to become stagnate.
The only way to be truly happy, humorous and full of laughter, is to
continually seek, the unexpected and stimulating. The spontaneity of life is
contagious. Irresistibly so.
Whether we are gathered around a table full of holiday
treats with family and friends, or a makerspace full of interesting and
challenging academic delicacies, with our students, the result is the same: discovery,
excitement and joy, at the opportunity to collaborate and share common
experiences. Life is as breath-taking and provocative, as we make it. The
holidays highlight this. They make even the most mundane, seem magical, because
we are with family that we love. In our classrooms, the community, the family, when
emblazoned with laughter and good humor as well, will make every day irresistible.
“I will live in the past, the
present, and the future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me.”-
Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol”
I have been reflecting a lot on my various classrooms, over
the past 15 years. I can hardly believe I have been an educator for that long.
Seems like only yesterday, I entered my first arena, a month in to school. It
was a difficult time for me, I was ill-prepared for what would face me. There
was no sense of community in the room, rather a sense of abandonment, of a very
free-spirited teacher with virtually no discipline. I am sure she figured she
was leaving and just had fun, with little behavior management. I never did get
that class fully cohesive. I was fresh out of my student-teaching, and had no
sense of myself as a teacher, let alone as a disciplinarian.
The next few years were much easier as I taught 7th
and 8th grade and thus had the same students for more than a year.
This is when I was fully immersed into a classroom community. Yet, still my
true voice was not unleashed. I was holding back. There were strict guidelines
as to how to teach the curriculum, and my energy and self-expression, just did
not fit into their model. It took a change of schools, my second of three, to
unleash my exuberance and animation as an educator. This was when I committed and
let loose, and it showed. My classroom was full of laughing, active, interacting,
students: both eager and equipped to jump in to learning.
I admit, it took me at least seven years to become a good
teacher. At least three more to become an even better one. I am still a work in
progress. I have great days, where the synchronicity is there and others where
the lesson falls flat. I have activities that students are still talking about
months later and others, where they have forgotten them, by the time they reach
the door. I always try to change things up and every year, take on something
completely different.
What works, works, but can always become better, more
engaging and more meaningful. With each year, comes new faces, new
personalities and new interests. I look back a lot on classroom past. I have
only two, this is only, my third school in fifteen years. Each has brought
challenges and rewards but my current one, has been the most so, in both
categories.
“Men’s courses will foreshadow
certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But
if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what
you show me!” ― Charles Dickens, “A
Christmas Carol”
The future classroom is yet to come, but I am certain, it
will be at the same location. With the comfort and coziness of my current academic
abode, also comes the continual battle to innovate and inaugurate new ideas. To
be the pioneer, through the vastness of judging eyes and threatened stagnancy.
When we push through the barrier, we often topple, an old regime. We must be
prepared to take fire, even when the landscape seems barren. If we have shield
and armor, we can truly conquer any opposition. We must lean in, to the siege, for
only then, will we see success on the horizon.
The holidays are upon us, each with a unique tradition of
familial joy and delight. As we traverse this time of wonderment and bliss, may
each one of us find our inner peace. May we raise a glass to the experiences of
2017 and carry what we have gained, with us into 2018.
Hurricane Harvey, a new President and more tragic events
than can possibly be mentioned, have fallen upon us this year. But, through
them all, we have been given insight and enlightenment, that have shaped our
outlook and follow-through. We are leaders not only of our families but of our
community of educators: both on-line and on our campuses. We are pathfinders,
trailblazers and explorers. We share, we read, we accept all opinions and
insights, with a sense of curiosity and marvel.
I am so honored to know each and everyone of you. Whom, on a daily basis, inspire and humble me. I send three spirits to all of you: classroom past,
classroom present and classroom future, hoping they will bring forth, for you,
a sense of calm and pride, as they have done for me. May holiday cheer embrace
you and bring you jubilance, good cheer and solace, that with every day you are
making a tremendous difference, in the lives of your students, family and
friends and that you truly are, a Christmas miracle, not fading with the season,
but enduring throughout every challenge, obstacle and encumbrance that lies
ahead.
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