Here it is... the point that I always reach in my "blogging." The part where my best intentions, greatest inspirations, and time management all fall short of my dreams for a successful and up to date blog. It's been over six months since I last posted, and since I last told myself "this time I won't stop."
So much has changed since my last post, and so much as remained the same - in ways that I can count myself extremely blessed. My job has remained full-time, my husband had a successful kidney transplant over the summer, and I truly still love teaching. Each day I get up and look forward to sharing my passion with the future leaders and musicians of the world. I have felt more assured in my abilities to manage, execute, and write lesson plans, and have even had some other teachers borrow and implement lessons that I came up with!
I think I came into year two of teaching with much higher expectations. One of those expectations was that I would be able to re-use my lesson plans all the time; however, I have found more often than not that my lesson plans from last year show just how little I knew at the beginning of the year, and how much I have grown as a teacher since then. I am now re-writing lessons, planning more coherent units, and generally structuring my year in an entirely different way. I'm still expending as much time and energy as I did in year one, only this year, I don't have as much "fight or flight" adrenaline, and find myself without energy more often than not.
So here's my resolution for the rest of this school year. Not to resume blogging with intense fervor and a regimented schedule - but not to beat myself up when I don't meet my own expectations. I'm focusing my time and effort on my students, and sharing my ideas with the music teachers in my district... the rest of the world can wait.
