Reflective Renewal

I posed this question to my Facebook friends recently and the flood of replies seemed to signal how much we all relish the chance to be kids again.

More than the titles of books, I saw in the responses a sincere joy in remembering the sensory feel of the pages, the vivid illustrations, and where they were or who they were with when they first discovered reading.

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As teachers, do you ever feel misunderstood and yearn for a school where you share a common vision and can easily collaborate with others?  Well, you are not alone.  I often feel that way.
I couldn’t help but think of those same, vulnerable feelings when I re-read Maurice Sendak’s 1963 picture book Where the Wild Things [...]

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The lesson for me in Fancy Nancy is to share your individuality with the world, and to be appreciated for it. It is also about values.

I think most of us think we know our values without stopping to consider what they are. Case in point: fancy. Reading Fancy Nancy I was reminded how I have always thought of it as an interest, not on par with health and career, my “real” values.

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Christine wrote this week about reflection as it relates to the book and movie: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
As a coach and avid photographer what I found in the pages was inspiration for my own creativity — and I hope for yours too.
As Christine experienced in her classroom of 4th graders, the book [...]

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I genuinely wonder, why can’t we just sit back, relax, and look at children’s books for our clues? The literature sheds such light on our lives, which then impacts our teaching and everything else we do.

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Welcome to Reflective Renewal! The idea behind it is a simple one: if the life lessons we teach children are so fundamental, then they are just as meaningful and relevant to us as adults as well.

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