How Reflecting And Refreshing Can Make Your New Year Successful

It's hard to believe that I retired 9 years ago. It seems like it was yesterday. I guess that is partly because I haven't totally left school. I still volunteer with small groups a couple of times a week. I was looking back recently and I stumbled on a post I wrote when I first retired. It's interesting to see that my thoughts haven't changed much since I wrote this post. Here is an updated version.

Back To School: Reflect And Refresh
There were four different things to reflect on: communication, organization, content, and big summer projects. Here are my thoughts from back then and any updates that I feel are important to add.

Communication

Then: This is very important at all times, but at the beginning of the year it is important to create relationships and help new students and their families feel comfortable about sharing with you. Even though I won't have my own class this year, it is still important. It will also be necessary for me to maintain communication with the staff so that I can stay on top of what is happening around the school.

Now: As I continue to work with students needing extra support, it will be important to make a relationship with them and let them know that they are in a safe place where they can ask questions and get extra practice.

Connecting with the teachers and making sure that we are clear on what they would like me to help the children with is key. Giving them updates and sharing successes and concerns with them is also going to be key to supporting the learning. 

Organization

Then: This summer my organization took a different emphasis. I had to pack up and empty out my classroom. I had so much stuff that it took me a couple of weeks to do so. I gave lots of my material to other teachers that are just starting out, recycled and threw away material that was too old or outdated,  and brought home the rest. Then I had to sort through the material that I brought home so that I can access things easily when I need them later.

​Now: I still have many resources that I created and that are relevant for use today when volunteering. I have organized these by subject and I have a bookshelf at school where many of them are stored. I also have some of my hands on activities filed away here at home.

I have always been a collector of kids books, so I have a large collection of book sets of different levels at school for when I do reading groups. I do use some of the school's materials, but not often. I have created guided reading book studies for many of the books, so I use those.

When I need specific resources for different activities, I make copies from the resources that I have created.

Content

Then: I am looking forward to creating materials for my colleagues. I will still be able to work with kids while trying them out in real situations. The content will be determined by the curriculum being taught by my colleagues and by their requests for materials.

​Now: Resources I use are based on the needs of the students I work with. I try to coordinate what I am doing with themes that the class is working on so that they support each other. If I make resources to use with the students, I often give a copy to the teacher as well.

My Big Summer Project

Then: I am hoping to develop more materials for my TPT store so that I can help to impact student learning even while retired. I am learning so much about how to improve the appearance of my products and my storefronts. It will be a big job, but I am excited to continue learning and improving.

​Now: This is still my hope, but with new changes to the TPT site, I am making more changes to the appearance and information about my resources. I plan to continue updating more resources and improving them.

Well, there you have a then and now recap of my reflections and refreshments. I plan to continue to add more value to what I am creating and I will share this with you in future posts. For now, I hope that you are enjoying your summer and that you are taking some time to do some reflecting and refreshing as well.

Click here to get your free copy

Here's a task card template that you may enjoy using for creating an activity while you are slowly transitioning from vacationing to planning mode in the next few weeks. 

​Stay tuned for some back to school tips and ideas for planning the first weeks of school.