This time of year things seem to just fly by. Field Trips, swimming, projects and test prep just seem to bring us to the end of the school year at an accelerated speed. The warm weather never helps because the kids just want to be outside and to be honest so do I. Reading outside in the sun is a great compromise lol.
This year I have invested a lot of my out of school time reading and looking into better ways to help my students develop great reading habits, some have commented on their increased reading at home whole others admit their home reading has not increased but they marvel at the amount of reading they have done in school. We have build stronger skills in reflection and I feel as a teacher I have improved in guiding my students as both readers and writers. My main source of educational inspiration asked me to share in an interview my experiences with her new book which I could say was definitely beyond my wildest dreams but if I could have imagined it I would have check off a huge bucket list item this week. My favourite part of this year has been the conversations with my kids about books but also about everything else.
I learned about the movie suicide squad, Roblox (still not sure about it), talked a lot of Hockey (not my sport but I learned a lot), chatted about horses and the unusual amount of weddings one of my students had to attend this year. We chatted about books and authors and annoying siblings and anything else they wanted to talk about. I had the most enjoyable humans to visit with everyday and I will never forget how much they would light up when I showed interest in their topics and how they sat on the edge of their seats as I shared some adventure from my youth that usually ended up with me facedown in a puddle or facing off with an angry beaver I thought was a floating stick on a river raft trip gone bad. This year was about learning but more than just academics. I feel like we learned about each other and it made for a great year.
With growth though comes change and in a few short week I will be leaving the school that I have called home for the last 5 years and beginning a new journey in a new school. I am excited beyond words for the new adventure but I will miss many that I have formed great relationships with. I will miss the families that have been so kind and supportive of me since beginning my time teaching there, I will miss the grade 2-5 students (still a little scary for the grade 1 kids) that tell me they hope I will be their teacher. But I am so excited to pursue what I am most excited about academically. To build on the skills I have learned from both my own studies and my peers. I will have a new set of students with a new set of stories and adventures, in a new town and a new school. I am grateful for the opportunity to grow.
I want to end with a thanks. With a few weeks left I know I will be too busy to get my thoughts out but I want to say a thank you to my colleagues that helped me to be a better teacher, to my idols in the teaching world that I know do not read my blog but they have changed me so much this year, to my wife of course for her support and helping me to get closer to my dreams, to the families that I have had the pleasure to work with and finally to my students. All my students that I have taught in the last 7 years. They all have had an impact on me and I am honoured that their parents allowed me to hopefully have a positive impact on them. As we all grow and change I wish them all the luck in the world on their new journeys as I begin mine.
Things Mr.G says 