I received a beautiful postcard in the mail the other
day. I have been collecting picture
postcards since I was in high school. I
mentioned my collection to a friend a few weeks ago and she sent me one from
her state. It had been awhile since I
had even looked at my collection. I keep it in one of two beautiful photo albums
on a bookshelf. I pulled them both out,
not remembering which one contained the postcards. Flipping through each page, I smiled at the
photos and messages from friends and family in nearby places such as San
Antonio, Eureka Springs, and Santa Fe. States from all corners of the US are
represented, too, with Florida, New York, Washington, and Nevada, and several
states in between! Islands are
represented in Alcatraz, Hawaii, and Okinawa.
Japan, Mexico, Guatemala, Australia, Jerusalem, and the Ukraine round
out my foreign postmarks. I enjoy my collection and the time and thought that
was put into each message that was sent through the mail.
Turning to the other photo album, I was curious about the
photos it contained. Since the world has gone digital, I have not been as
intentional in taking and developing my photos as I used to be. These photos were taken more than a decade
ago. My boys were still small and
delighted in having their pictures taken.
As I looked at the photographs, I was reminded just how much they had
grown. My oldest just got married this summer, yet in these pictures he was playing
with Hot Wheels, remote control trucks, and Legos. My youngest just graduated from high school
this spring, yet in these pictures he is learning to roller skate, and letting
big brother read picture books to him at night. I have pictures of them playing
dress up with their dad in a children’s museum, as well as climbing into an
Airforce fighter jet at an airplane museum. (My boys could tell you which kind
of plane it was, I can’t!) One of my favorites is from a trip we took to
Dinosaur Valley State Park. We walked up
and down all kinds of trails with my oldest leading the way. His younger brother was struggling to keep up
and follow in his brother’s footsteps.
Both of these albums are full of reminders. Reminders of
trips taken and messages sent. Snapshots
of milestone events and wonderful vacations.
I know my boys have grown, but these photos remind me of how far they
have come! Wouldn’t it be great to have
these kinds of snapshots of our students throughout the school year? Not
necessarily photographs, but some kind of evidence of what students’ strengths
and interests are at a particular time during the year. When we are in the day to day with our
students, we often lose sight of how much they are learning and growing unless
we periodically stop to look back at where they were to begin with. How much
could our students benefit from that kind of reflection? Such reminders might give us more cause to
celebrate the small successes that our students have had that often get lost in
focusing on our end of the year goals.
That kind of reflection could also help guide us in our next steps as we
make daily decisions that affect our students’ learning.
In the photo taken at Dinosaur Valley State Park I notice that
my oldest never looked back while on the trail. At that point in his life, he
was very bold in pushing forward in anything he wanted to do or explore. He was
not concerned with going off course, or whether we were behind him, he simply
wanted to see what was ahead. If he had stayed back with us, he might have seen
many interesting things we could have pointed out to him on the way. What do students miss by not looking back and
reflecting on their own learning? That
is a journey that we need to take each of our students on. Giving them opportunities to stop and look
back on what they did well, what didn’t work, and asking themselves what they
could do differently next time. Looking
back at things they have written or created over the school year would be one
way to help them see their own growth and success. This could be just the motivation that some students
need to be bold in pushing forward in their own learning.
Teachers and students alike can benefit from reflecting on
their school year. I plan on being more
intentional in taking more snapshots of student learning this year and using
those snapshots to guide the decisions I make about my students. I also plan on creating opportunities for
students to reflect on their own learning in order to help them see themselves as
successful learners. Looking back at
those photographs of my boys made me smile.
Some of my #4OCFpln Voxer group have said that reflection is where real
learning happens. I would say that it
also is where we are reminded of our Joy.
