It has been a quiet week here at the Corner as I reflect on my time at Westwood Elementary and prepare to move to the Bales side of our combined campus.
What were my goals?
What did I accomplish?
Did I make an impact?
What would I do differently?
How could I have been better?
What will people say about my time there?
What did I reflect?
I keep this plastic heart and winter pen in my office;
tonight they worked together to form this butterfly
as a reflection of the challenge in front of me,
to spread my wings and fly.
The foil is supposed to serve as a make-shift mirror.
It's a tool to help my littles reflect,
because the real learning happens in the reflection.
Always in the reflection.
The other day, my friend Laura talked about a rockin' reflection exercise she used with her junior high choir kiddos. Students sat with their backs to a mirror while their classmates wrote their heartfelt affirmations on the white board behind them, all around the mirror. Then the student who was being affirmed turned around, looked at herself in the mirror and read those affirmations.
Out loud.
Uplifting words of kindness and love.
Their classmates' gift.
From the heart.
About him, about her.
Not a dry eye in the room.
And repeated requests to do it again. Soon.
Transformational.
Proof positive that learning takes wing
when we're willing to step out of our cocoons
and fly.
Something to think about from Jay Danzie:
What do you reflect?
To the point! I hope you know that if we sat you with your back to the mirror, the affirmations would flow. :-) Keep reflecting, Friend!
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