I thought for my first blog of the year I would share my first two goals for 2017. Now that my first year at CCSC, including setting up Kindergarten is behind me, it is time to reflect on what I would like to continue with or do differently in 2017. I love that our college is always evolving and reflecting on what we do well and what we can do better. I spent a lot of time over the holidays thinking about what I would like to achieve for 2017. There is some overlap between personal and work goals.
I was fortunate to be one of four CCSC teachers given the wonderful opportunity of attending an international educational conference in Finland during the holidays. The Finland experience allowed us to meet and speak to teachers from all over the globe and it was great to get different perspectives on education and also to have the opportunity to compare what we do at our college to other countries around the world. Teachers from many other countries were impressed with what they heard of our college and the fact that we have the freedom to implement new ideas and are always changing and evolving. Many teachers at the conference felt a little deflated that they would come back with ideas but struggle to be given the opportunity to implement them. This experience was a good affirmation that we already do so many things well and that we have an open-minded philosophy to continually grow and learn from others. The fact that our college is searching the globe for excellence in education and continual improvement is so appealing to me. I love that I don’t know exactly what or how I will be teaching in five years time, but that it will be what we as an CCSC team feel might be the most current and best way to facilitate learning and growth for our students. How exciting for us all to be on this learning journey!
I am a big believer in the importance of play for all students, especially those in the younger years. The best learning happens incidentally through play when the students are having fun and fully engaged in what they are doing. It was a beautiful sight in Finland seeing all the children outside playing in the snow with sleds, skates, hockey sticks, buckets and even footballs (however, the ball often got stuck in the thick snow!). Obviously they really value this outdoor unstructured play as this happens several times per day, even in the dark, whilst snowing and in temperatures down to minus 20 degrees! Now for a teacher, that’s playground duty with a difference! The students were given freedom to choose whatever they liked to do outside in these sessions while their PE/Sport lessons were more structured. Unstructured play is something I truly value and will continue implementing daily at CCSC. I always learn so much from just observing the students playing (much more than when I set up the games). It gives them a chance to explore nature, their imaginations, capabilities and limitations. So my first goal is to continue with my scheduled unstructured play time and work on being even more available to observe, listen and support, but not interfere with their learning!
My second goal is to implement mindfulness into my life and classroom every day. I am a very busy person both at work and in my personal life and I have a habit of trying to cram too much into my day. I sometimes forget to stop and smell the roses and be present in my surroundings. This is something I’ve been trying to work on, as I know there are so many benefits of mindfulness and relaxation for my students and their learning and for me as well. I am lucky to have mentors around me who share their knowledge and even being in their calm presence is a learning tool for me. Teaching kindergarten is a lot like being in a show on stage. It is fun, fast, exaggerated, enthusiastic, energetic and the list could go on. I think sometimes teaching this age group can hype me up and I forget to have some quiet downtime to relax my brain and body and be present in the moment (get off the stage so to speak). So I’m proud to say with support from my mindfulness mentors Alana Holtermann (CCSC parent) and Helen McNair (CCSC yoga teacher and CCSC parent), Week 1 has consisted of daily mindfulness sessions. I’ve always had happy and fun classrooms, but this year I’m going to work on adding more calmness and self-awareness into the room as well. Chonnie and myself have been lying on the floor with the students three times a day and we are all working on relaxing and focussing on our breathing. We have also started each day with an individual greeting/check in and then a sharing circle where we can discuss our feelings, concerns, thoughts, ideas and stories. This has helped us get to know each other and start the day in a calm and self-aware manner. I can’t wait to see the long-term benefits as we all progress along our mindfulness journey together.
I have many more goals for 2017 but I wanted to start with these two. Play and mindfulness will help us set up a happy, fun and calm environment in which to learn more about ourselves and each other and bond as team Kinder Incredible 2017!
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