Mementos
What story does this year tell? You are the author, editor, and illustrator of whatever you choose to write!
According to Webster's Dictionary, memento means "something that serves to warn or remind; a keepsake or souvenir for remembering". The word itself comes from the imperative form of "meminisse," a Latin verb that literally means "to remember." The history of "memento" makes it clear where its spelling came from, but because a memento often helps one remember a particular moment, people occasionally spell the term "momento."
This month, as we wrap up this school year, we encourage you to do some very intentional reflections before you fade away into the summer sun. What souvenirs or mementos will you be taking with you? Will they serve as reminders or warnings or both? Read below for some fun ideas for gathering and sharing your mementos with yourself and maybe others.
Grab your field guide and set aside some time to peruse Appendix A starting on page 113. Author Tina Boogren shares some end-of-the-year reflection activities that you could easily adapt for your own reflective purposes. Reflection doesn't always have to happen somewhere in your head or in a standard journal. Have some fun with how and where you gather your most important memories from this year!
Fun Ways to Save Those Memories for Later!
End-of-the-Year Letters Make it an event. Buy some special paper or notecards. Choose a comfy spot and grab your favorite drink. Put on some music and relax. Then write yourself an open and honest letter about the highs and lows from the past year. Lessons learned, goals met and goals missed, favorite moments, times you'd rather never revisit. Points of pride that you never, ever want to lose sight of. You will never be a first-year teacher again. Ten years from now, when you are fully into veteran teacher status, what do you want to remember from your first days in the classroom? Once you've written your letter, tuck it away in a safe space so that when the end of the next year comes and you're writing your next letter, you can have a written record of your growth as an educator. It might sound corny now, but take it from someone who knows....ten years from now, when the corners of those letters start to dog-ear and the creases start to wear thin, you'll be pulling out the tape to keep those thoughts and words together for another 10 years of reading :)
New Teacher Survival Guide We are our own best supporters. Nobody understands the struggles of a teacher like another teacher. So who better to write a "survival guide" for new teachers than YOU? Think about all of the things you wish you would have known before the very first day of class. What advice do you wish someone would have given you? What words of wisdom would have made a real difference in how you approached planning? Relationship-building? Work-life balance? Classroom management? One of my most FAVORITE activities to do every year with my 6th graders was for them to create "How to Survive 6th Grade in Ms. Kraft's Class" posters as groups. These became the decorations on my walls for the first weeks of school the following year. It was funny and humbling to read the things that stuck out for students as "must-do's" and favorites. Consider creating your own sort of survival guide as a fun way to reflect on your year. And who knows. Maybe you can share your wisdom with the next new teacher that comes to your site!
My Year in Quotes or Pictures Sometimes it's just too difficult to find your own words to capture the memories and the feelings that best describe the things you want to remember from this first year. When all else fails, try two things. First, borrow words from someone else! Create and curate a collection of quotes that capture the essence of the things you want to carry with you from this year. Maybe get a special journal just for this purpose and add to it each year. As the end of a school year comes to a close and you are adding your newest editions, you can make it part of your ritual to read back through the quotes chosen in the past and compare them. Are there common ideas and themes that pop up? Recurring emotions? If you're more visual, maybe try summarizing your memories with pictures. Whether taken yourself or borrowed from the internet, photos might be just the ticket to capturing those mementos from this year that you want to carry forward with you.
