Summer for teachers is a time to relax, reflect, and reboot. As teachers we put a lot of time, thought, and effort into our students and classrooms. Unfortunately, at least for me this often means I forget to reflect and reboot my personal life, I am always trying to find a better way to balance work and personal life.
The opportunity to have this reflection came while I was in Germany on the #gafe4littles. They held a slow flipchat in which we used Flipgrid to video record our answers to questions and chat with each other about topics over a week span ( which I was thankful for given the time difference). I responded to my school goal, but the question continued to linger in my mind.
Reflecting back on the craziness that was my life over this last school year I noticed the huge impact it had on my relationships with friends, family, and myself. I survived and am stronger because of it. As I begin to lift from the fog of a very busy year I am reminded of the reboot button we often use in tech and when reflecting on our classrooms. In an effort to reboot my life as I reboot my classroom every year I have made some organizational and personal goals.
My life reboot includes: ‘
- This reboot/upgrade includes home improvements, my goal is to take a couple each day to do something in my house with no technology (except maybe Spotify for music).
- I am also rebooting dinners, I am really trying to prep and plan out dinners.
- Yoga at least twice a week. I am hoping this will help me be more mindful and present.
- Technologically I am rebooting my image with a new G-sites for all my materials. https://sites.google.com/view/technicallyteaching/home
- Every Christmas my family participates in a tradition of everyone gets 4 gifts something they want, something they need,something to wear, and something to read. I took a similar approach on the site with a Top Tech 5 of the month. Each month you will get a Tech tool to check out, a recommendation for a book to read, suggestion for something to listen to, a must read blog post or video, and someone new to follow on Twitter.
- I also plan to blog once a month, but with this reboot am going to try a new blogging technique one that is interactive. In this interaction readers will be encouraged to use tools on their computers to help create things to help with their teaching practices. I have planned it out to try and make it a more consistent occurrence.
- Finally, I will kick off my YouTube channel soon, I will hold once a month how to videos on using apps or G-suite tools throughout the year.
I am hoping that this more organized structure and focus in my life will help me to be a better teacher as well as a better wife, doggy mom, and friend.
The first blog challenge is how will you reboot your classroom this year? Fill free to use the template below and share it with others on social media, or colleagues in your building.
