My 1,000th Post!!!!!

I don't really pay much attention to numbers for my blog-I really don't. But I feel like this is kind of a milestone for me! I just can't believe that I have had enough fodder for 1,000 posts! In 2010 it was Christmas break and I thought-hey, maybe I should start a blog. I know it's hard for me to find resources about challenging students in early childhood, maybe I should share what I'm doing in my class. And here we are today 1,000 blog posts later.

Blogging has been one of the most rewarding things I have done in the past few years of teaching. I tend to be viewed as a bit of  Lone Wolf at my campus. When everyone else is doing this activity-I usually choose to do something different, something more challenging. As a teacher of the only gifted class on our grade level I am often left out of planning sessions. Our two "regular" teachers plan, our dual language teachers plan together and then there's me. And most of the time I really don't mind. I have never been one to do something because that's always the way we have done it before. But there are times you wish you had people to bounce ideas off of.

But I really feel like I found my tribe online! I can connect with other GT teachers, other Kinder teachers, other bloggers. I have learned so much from people that I have met through this little blog. I have been spending some time going back and reading my posts from the beginning. I found some ideas I had forgotten about and I can see how my voice has changed a little bit over the year, gained a little bit of confidence maybe. I think it's a great tool for reflection as well.

We have a part of our evaluation where our admins rate us on our ability to "seek feedback". I feel like every time we post something online, that is exactly what we are doing. And whether we actually get that feedback or not-our thoughts and ideas are getting out there. Every once in a while those doubts creep in and you wonder if anyone is even listening and then I will get an e-mail from someone asking advice for their GT student or saying that they use my ideas.

So if you blog, keep blogging! If you don't blog, think about starting one. It is such a rewarding experience!