Señora Cummins' Reflections

I process things deeply.  It's just how I'm wired.  I've learned that to move on from something I often need to give myself permission to "feel all the feels."  Journaling is a great method to do this.  Please indulge me as I process through fall 2020 in this post. Proud:  this semester offered quite a bit of challenge on so many fronts.   *We survived.  I had to create a lesson plan that allowed for half the time face to face than my students should have had.  Boo.  Don't get me wrong--this decision wasn't made to be mean to me personally.  It was made to allow for social distancing in our classroom.  I will readily agree that this cohort model was better than telling students who had enrolled for a hybrid class that they had to move completely online.  I just regret that it had to happen at all because pedagogically speaking it wasn't excellent.  In hindsight I'm not 100% at peace with the way I designed the flow of...

 "Nicely done."  "I'm proud of you."  "I knew you could do it."  These are the kinds of phrases that I call "speaking life" into someone.  I intentionally do this with my sons and my friends.  I'm a "words person" and I love heaping words of affirmation and encouragement on others. I started the tradition of sending a celebration & adios email to students when they finish the semester.  I email them their final average, thank them for their hard work and wish them well.  For students who have done something outstanding I applaud them for it.  I also encourage students who have shown a special affinity for Spanish to consider pursing it further to use it in their future career field or in teaching.  I LOVE doing that.  It's one of my very favorite parts of this job. This semester I added this:  https://youtu.be/R8-HzEFUS4w It's a very short video for my 1411 students telling them I'm proud of them for finishing up...