Annie Forest

Hey, Annie, where have you been? I do have a pretty decent (in my opinion) excuse for my lack of blogging lately. I had my second kiddo, Dean, on May 22nd. For some reason my kids like to be born about two weeks earlier than their due dates. So, although I wasn't due until June 6th, I decided to start my maternity leave on May 17th because I was starting to feel uncomfortable, it was difficult to get around, and I just had a feeling that my kid was going to be born soon. And, call me crazy, but I didn't want my 6th graders remembering me as the teacher whose water broke at school! My maternity leave will continue throughout the summer and for the first 10-ish weeks of school. I'll be back in action late October. Until then, I do hope to keep up with blogging. It's been tough the past few weeks, but I do have some ideas that I want to write about. I have been able to keep up with Twitter because it's easy to scroll through on my phone during a 3AM nursing ...

Ask a teacher what skills they want their students to have before they leave them for the summer, and more often than not, the list will include more social/emotional skills than content. I've done this exercise in PD sessions before and things like responsibility, respect, citizenship, collaboration, and kindness top the list. Most teachers really just want what is best for kids . I love that about this profession! Becoming a parent has given me even more of a desire to reach every kid and help them along in their journey to becoming great people. My friend, Jackie, recently blogged about this when she wrote:  What Becoming a Mom Taught Me About Teaching . As she says, " everybody is somebody's baby ." She says sometimes it makes us softer and sometimes it helps us stand firm ground when we know we are doing something that is best. I agree! I know that my kids still have a few years before they enter school, my daughter is two and my son is a newborn! However,...