Long Time No Blog!

Well, ladies and gents, it's been a hot minute (a year and a half to be exact) since I last took a look at this ol' blog that I (unintentionally) abandoned and a lot has changed in my life.

I bought a house! (yay!) I got a new job! (yay!) At a school I love! (double yay!)

And I'm ready to get back into the swing of things here on the blog life if, for no other reason, than to track my own progress and sanity. Sometimes I forget that teaching involves a whole lotta learnin' and I'm going to dedicate the revamping of this blog to my personal artistic and teacherly journey starting with a book I'm reading.

I recently picked up Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom by Meena Srinivasan and ermahgerd, friends. I cannot recommend this book more highly. I'm barely a fourth of the way through, but Srinivasan is already blowing my mind(fulness).

Allow me to take a moment to blow your mind (maybe). 

"Students are reflections of their teachers."

Duh, right? I mean, duh. I know that, I say it to myself and others all the time in one way or another, that children are products of their environment. But somehow, reading those six little words as they sat on the page so unassuming was all at once a reprimand and a call to action.

Oh my goodness, it's me. This whole time I've been wondering what was wrong with some of my students, why they so cray? What is wrong with them? When suddenly I was confronted with the glaring truth- something was wrong with me. 

What was wrong with me exactly? My focus. I was focused on good ol' me. Little Johnny is making me feel frazzled, little Suzy is making me angry, Little Timmy is just so annoying right now. Instead of taking a step back, breathing deep and asking myself why. Why are my certain students feeling, behaving, or acting in this way? And then, how. How can I help? What can I do?

Oh man, y'all. I thought I had this teaching business all figured out, but it seems I'm still learning too.