Celebration Saturday

I so appreciate Ruth Ayres providing this space for Saturday celebrations.  It's important to celebrate the big things as well as the little things in life.  Please visit her site to read about and comment on other celebration stories.   Feel free to add your own.


It's been awhile since I've posted in this space.  My writing life has dwindled and I don't want to let it disappear.  It's too important to me.  And maybe that's the first celebration...this space is always here waiting with open arms for anyone who cares to come.

What I really want to celebrate is the incredible staff I work with at Scioto Darby Elementary.  As I left the building last night, several teachers were still sitting at their computers entering grades for the end of the year.   It's been an especially crazy end of the year with reading and math assessments that need to be administered, analyzed and entered, staff changes, changes in administrators, packing up classrooms, and then there's the excitement of the kids as the beginning of summer vacation beckons.  It's also the end of my first year as a literacy coach.  I no longer see our school just from the lens of my classroom.  I've gotten a broader view and a new perspective.

And what I see is that among unsettledness, great things are still happening for our kids and our staff is determined to make the year end on a positive note.

Right  now, our building is undergoing huge changes.  No grade level team will be the same next year.  Everyone is being asked to do something a little, or in some cases, a lot different.  We are saying good-bye to our principal too.  She's been in our building for 7 years and was the key to bringing our staff together when she first arrived.

In spite of everything, I work with a group of individuals who understands the importance of focusing on kids and knows how to pull together in times of need.  Everyone is pitching in...teachers, secretaries, custodians, support staff.  We couldn't do it if we didn't work together.

And for that I am forever grateful.  Change is difficult and scary.  The unknown brings uncertainty which brings discomfort.  I am reminded of the Madeline Hunter quote I carried around with me the year I moved from 4th to 1st grade and went to a new school.

If you want to feel secure, do what you already know how to do.  If you want to be a true professional and continue to grow... go to the cutting edge of your competence, which means a temporary loss of security.  So whenever you don't quite know what you are doing, know that you are growing.  
                                                                                                             ~Madeline Hunter

All of us are wondering what next year will bring.  We are entering unchartered territory and our next steps are unsure.

But what I do know for sure is that all of us will be growing together to do the best job we can do for the young learners who enter our doors every day.