Thing #1 - Becoming A Lifelong Learner

I am a firm advocate of lifelong learning. I feel that it is especially important for teachers to continually try to better themselves through the search for and application of new and revolutionary information. For example, I have never blogged before. I have a limited amount of free time and I try to reduce the amount of unnecessary things in my life that will absorb the small amount of free time that I do have. However, as I try to be open minded about how this would help me as a teacher, I can see that a blog might help me to stay in touch with the parents of my students (and as Harry K. Wong puts it, "Teachers + Parents = Good Students".) The setup process was easy, and the end result will hopefully be rewarding!

On to the 7 1/2 habits...

I think Habit 1, Begin With The End in Mind, is probably the hardest for me (at this stage in my life) to adopt. I can only picture myself teaching kindergarten for the next 30 years. It is hard to picture myself doing anything else, therefore it is hard for me to prepare myself to do anything else. Although I am aware that I might not be given the opportunity to teach ONLY kindergarten for 30 years, it is still hard to picture myself doing anything else. With my leadership background, I might even be interested in being a principal someday. Again- hard to picture and therefore, hard to plan for.

I think Habit 7, Teach/Mentor Others, is the easiest for me. Is it not my job as a teacher to instill in others a love of learning? I want my students to love learning, to aspire to be the best they can be, and to love helping others. I don't know why I would be in the teaching profession if I didn't.

Until next time... :)