Go Forward, Don't Look Back

What a whirlwind week and weekend it has been! The new moon must've set people off this week because my bus rides, my students (my students' parents) and random people I ran into this week were all a little batty.

My lead teacher and I have been doing assessments on our kids since the beginning of the year...so around a month or so. And my kids run the gambit of reading levels and math levels. I have only one kid who can read at his appropriate level and one who is almost there and the rest are all reading below level. Two of my kids can't even tell me the letters in their names.

Instead of dwelling in the fact that my lead teacher and I have a lot of work to do, I am trying to keep the words my mom sent me yesterday in mind: "Go forward, don't look back."

I know where these kids are at; now it's time to push them to greatness. It's time to set the bar high and have them rise to it. It's so important that we get them all up to level now or it'll only become more difficult for them later in life. I'm not saying all my four-year olds need to write a novel by the end of the year, but having them gain the ability to recognize all 26 letters and write their first and last names isn't a crazy goal. I need to keep looking forward to what I hope they can accomplish.

Likewise, I went to the DMV yesterday. After sitting in line for an hour and a half, I walked up to the DMV worker (very nice, younger lady) and told her what I had to do. I had to switch my WA state license over to a DC one. She took my paperwork and my WA state license and went straight to work. As she was wrapping up I asked, "you think I could keep my old license? Ya know, for sentimental reasons."

She looked at me and said, "no, we have to shred them."

I guess I wasn't pathetic enough so I replied, "how about you don't tell anyone? I mean, I feel like a traitor, switching licenses and abandoning my home."

She said, "no, I have to shred it...it's our policy."

Not moments later the nice, young lady plopped my old license in the shredder right in front of me. She didn't even wait for me to leave. And with that, I knew I had started a new chapter in my life. I walked back to the car and my mom texted me, "go forward, don't look back." She must've felt like a broken record at this point. She's right though, she's always right! I need to look forward with my life like I am looking forward
 in my students' lives. Looking back is OK from time to time, but dwelling in the change and not moving forward only hurts me more, instead of help me.

I guess this jumbled thought pattern comes down to this, although my license may reflect my immediate future, I don't think I could ever neglect my past. I still love you like the dickens, Washington state!