As the end of the school year wraps up, many of us notice it
isn’t so hard to get out of bed now knowing we only have a week or so left and
others are busily packing boxes and cleaning up their rooms to be the first
ones checked out from admin on June 5th (you are lying to yourself
if one of these is not youJ). A lot of times we forget to reflect on the
year and the 9 months we spent with this group of kids. We tend to forget where it all started and
the butterflies we had at the beginning.
Our focus is often lost in the shuffle of summer excitement and
vacations that we are anxiously awaiting.
I read a quote from Nick Saban recently,
“When you invest your time, you make a goal and a decision of
something that you want to accomplish. Whether it's make good grades in school,
be a good athlete, be a good person, go down and do some community service and
help somebody who's in need, whatever it is you choose to do, you're investing
your time in that.”
This really made me start thinking about this
year and what I had invested my time in.
I have invested my time in these kids more than they will ever
know. As educators, we set goals for
ourselves and students and invest time to reach these goals, but do we ever
really take the time to reflect on what differences we have made? We invest time in breaking down data and how
to reach every kid, but what if our time and energy was invested in something
more than data can show? As I reflect on
this year, several students made progress on paper and grew leaps and bounds,
but I celebrate the students I have built amazing relationships with (yes, most
of them are the same and I don’t think that is just a coincidence). Wally Watkins may not have the highest test
scores in the district or the state, but we have a school full of over 600 kids
who look forward to being here every day with all of you. We invest in each of them individually and I
think that is something we all need to celebrate. It is easy to forget these successes and I
think Ferris Bueller put it best, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a
while, you could miss it.” So, before
you get lost in the hustle and bustle of the end of the year procedures, I
encourage each of you to take time to personally reflect on at least one
student you have made a difference with this year off of paper, someone you
know that you invested time in. I can almost guarantee, you can’t pick just
one. This is one of the many reasons these
kids love coming to Watkins and teachers love teaching here. I want to thank all of you for investing in
Watkins and have a great summer!!!
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