Stop Blinking.

Today was the second day for visitation at the primary school library.  A beautiful walk on a spring day, that seemed very similar to yesterday, wound up being perfectly wonderful, with a different spin.

Today's class did their own walks down memory lane, while many students explored books that weren't even in existence when they were in primary school.  A dramatic studying of The Boy and the Airplane  generated more than a few shed tears in the room -- even though the book contains no words.  Once composure was restored, there was a dramatic reading of The Book with No Pictures.  It was a great class, which included a brief visit with two gifted first graders, who demonstrated their own passions for reading by sharing their favorite fictional characters with people who were much taller and older than they.    A couple of boys visited the sports shelf with a first grader who now has these three football books "on reserve," waiting for him to finish the book he has checked out before he can take these home for perusal.

It was amazing to listen to the high schoolers on the way back to their building, wondering whether they were as confident and articulate when they were in first grade.

Stop Blinking. 

May is less than 36 hours away.  HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?   Today I sent home the official documents necessary to inform the parents of gifted seniors that "Gifted Services will cease upon graduation."  I'm not really sure why this is necessary, aside from the fact that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania requires it, as I doubt that anyone would be demanding services for a student no longer enrolled in the district.  But we do what we have to do, right?

Scholarship applications are crossing my desk in abundance, and the arrival of the lady from Balfour with the graduation announcements and cards in the cafeteria today proclaimed the impending doom that is about to befall those of us who aren't yet ready to admit that the ride is nearly over.

The first day of school this year was prior to Labor Day.  September 1st was my first day in cyberspace, with goals and dreams for my year.   So while the school year isn't over, it was interesting to go back and visit my goals for this year from last September:

1.  Intentionally infuse the Habits of Mind in my teaching.  CHECK!

2.  Be more positive!  CHECK!  

3. Leave school chores at school.  (almost always) CHECK!

Honestly, this has been my best year of teaching ever, and I totally attribute that assessment on my daily blogging.  My professional learning network reaches around the globe, and the number of blogs and twitter feeds I follow have offered me more ideas and resources than I could ever have imagined.

The folks at Te@chthought have issued a challenge to reflect upon this past year before August.  (Because any teacher knows that the summer is when we rejuvenate and plan to revamp the entire way we do everything, and suddenly it's August and we can't believe how much we haven't processed...)  So if you're a teacher, even if you think you are way too busy, try a month of reflection.  You won't regret it, and you'll have a heck of an artifact to share for Domain 4.

Stop laughing.  (And start blogging!)