The holiday decorations are up, there are several musical events happening over the next couple of weeks, and in the quiet moments, I’m reflecting on the past year. A couple of weeks ago, I made the difficult decision to let a student go because they were regularly unprepared for their lessons, and on top of that, argumentative during the lessons. As difficult as this was, I wrote to the parents and let them know that we have come to the end of our lessons together. While the decision was difficult to make, I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders – the weight of trying to make the lessons work when the student was not invested in the lesson outcome.
Perhaps you struggle with something in your teaching week that drains your time and energy, which are both priceless resources. The end of the calendar year is the perfect time to reflect on the past year and plan for the year ahead. Over the years, I’ve made time to conduct a writing exercise which is a personal end of year review. In writing down my answers, I consider all aspects of my year including career, health, family life, and social life. Since it’s your review, you can focus on whatever aspects of your life that you wish.
End of the year review questions:
What am I most proud of?
What were my three biggest challenges?
What mistakes did I make and how did I learn from them?
What do I want to focus on in the new year?
Wishing you and yours a healthy, prosperous, and peaceful 2025.
Laura
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. – Albert Einstein