Looking Ahead

2013 was an interesting year for me.  Honestly, the past two years have been a real whirlwind!  I have found myself working in positions I could not have predicted, and a lot of soul searching has come from this time.  Who knows what 2014 will bring?  I hope that it brings me back to this space more; I hope it finds me connecting with more early childhood advocates out there, and I hope it renews my energy around early childhood.

The best analogy I can think of for my mind is that little ball in pong.  I'm trying to find the right landing spot, and sometimes I'm getting close.  But there have definitely been times, especially in the past few months, when I have been sure I was on the right track, with the paddle in just the right place for a superb landing...and then I realized I was crazy for putting the paddle there in the first place.  Where should my energy be?  A classroom?  A museum?  An independent project?  Writing?  I know I need to slow it down and see what comes naturally.

One place I'll look for some inspiration this spring will be this course, Art and Inquiry: Museum Teaching Strategies for your Classroom.  It is taught by a Museum Educator from MOMA and it is 100% free.  Although it doesn't begin for a few months, I've already signed up.  If you're interested, I suggest you do the same!  Perhaps I'll see you there.

With everyone creating that end-of-the-year blog post, there has been a lot more in the facebook feed.  One that I loved seeing shared was Tom (of Sand and Water Tables) photo of the year.  I won't share it here - click over, see it for yourself, and read Tom's words about exploration and discovery!

Finally, I had a little message from Google+ last week letting me know they had compiled my "2013 in pictures".  Because I back up everything in Google, it ended up being a pretty good representation of how I spent my time - at least with camera in hand.  It was the end of the year message that I needed: that spending time with children is always time well spent.  And in my world, where I encourage children to make, create, sing, move, talk, read, write, and play, I feel like a very lucky lady!  It does make me realize that there are more moments I could have shared here, and I really hope that my energy and interests bring me back to this space.

A Happy Happy New Year to you and yours!