After being completely inspired by blogs, I have reluctantly decided to start my own. I say reluctantly because I find very little time in my life to take a full breath but need an outlet to sort through my thoughts and ideas as I embark on my teaching career. I'm not sure where this will go or if I will ever post on it again, but it's worth a shot!
In order to begin, I need to reflect on my first full year teaching in a classroom. This year I taught the most amazing group of 5th graders. They have challenged my thinking, stretched my imagination, taught me countless important lessons, and inspired me to be a better teacher, wife, and mother. I named this blog Teach to Inspire. As I write this first entry, I am realizing that they inspire me to teach. This school year was full of ups and downs. I have struggled to balance being a mom and teacher while trying to squeeze in time to be a wife. I can not say that I have completely successful, but I think I'm getting better. I find myself spending countless hours thinking about school while I am at home and thinking about home while I am at school. I guess the most important lesson I learned this year is simply, "it can wait." What I haven't mentioned is that I am an obsessive about organization and staying on top of things. The amount of time I have spent after school just organizing things is unimaginable. I regret choosing to clean over picking my son up early from daycare. However, I am making a pledge to make my family more important, my lessons more engaging, and to clean a little less. After all, it can wait. It can wait until tomorrow to straighten papers, it can wait until Monday to erase the board, and it can wait until there is time to file every paper in the correct color-coded and alphabetical file folder.
Whew! This is much more therapeutic than I ever imagined. If someone out in cyberspace stumbled upon this blog, I apologize. I hope if you come across this blog again, it will be more uplifting and positive. I have great intentions to share the ideas I have, along with the resources I have come across.
Here is my first web resource to work on team building and stretching students' minds. It comes from a website about Odyssey of the Mind. This is a program I was involved with as a middle school student. I have very fond memories from this program and the way it made me think "outside the box." If you click on Practice Problems, then Spontaneous Problems, you will find some really neat activities that can be adapted to work in a classroom.
http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/default.php
