Last February was so perfect. My husband and I were on a Disney adventure with our daughter, son-in-love, and three of our beautiful grandchildren. The weather was heavenly, and we went from ride to ride, stopping to meet and greet our favorite characters and we ate at our favorite restaurants and character meals. Hubby and I stayed near Disney World in a beautiful house for the whole month, so after the kids left, we spent a fair amount of time at another favorite place, Disney Springs. My favorite store is there - Free People! Yeah, I know I'm too old for their clothing, but honey, I make it work! We also spent many happy hours hiking and biking and drinking lattes around the lake in Celebration, a Disneyesque little town.
As I look back now on these idyllic memories, I wonder how we missed the signpost up ahead – your next stop, the Twilight Zone! Little did we know that as we enjoyed our trip and flew back home, the virus was swirling all around us even then. The signpost was up, but we missed it. We were both sick throughout March and April, but were certainly among the luckiest ones. We managed to stay out of the hospital and convalesce at home.
For the past nine months, the world has felt as if we have entered The Twilight Zone. More of the horror and less of the lighter, more imaginative aspects. Everyone's life has been turned upside down in so many ways. Nothing is as it was pre-signpost.
As we cautiously approach 2021 (come in on tiptoe, be quiet, don't touch anything), the future is starting to look brighter. There are several vaccines that, hopefully, will reach as many people as possible, that may provide some immunity, and we have the hope of returning to the lives we loved. Some of my teacher friends are already back in the classroom and masked face to masked face. Some are teaching in a hybrid model, and some are totally remote. Kids have had so much adapting to do, and some have fared better than others.
As we feel our way through the uncertain corridors of this year's holiday season and approach the New Year 2021, it's hard to know how to "celebrate" that transition with our students. In previous years, it was way easier than we ever appreciated. We could just address goals and plans (resolutions) for the year ahead. Some took these commitments more seriously than others, but the assignment was pretty easily conceived. This year? Not so easy.
Of course, you want to address goal setting tempered with a look back at achievement in 2020. But 2020 was SO different that IMO it isn't a cut and dried topic. I did some brainstorming this week on what questions it might be beneficial to ask. The first topic that kids (as all of us) might have some need to vent about is just our feelings about 2020 in general. Feelings, just feelings, without the constraints of grammar, spelling, and usage. Maybe just a word cloud. (or an unorganized, possibly violent word cyclone such as the one swirling in my own head right now). In any case, a blank page with the question, "What words would you use to describe 2020?" might be in order. You could follow with word clouds about 2021 and try to mine and point out the hope that really does lie ahead.
There are several word cloud generators available online that you might want to try, or just allow a free write to be done in any style the student may be comfortable with. I have developed a scaffolded set of three brainstorming organizers and a cute flip book to encourage students to take an honest look back, and to consider the year ahead with hope and a little dreaming too. People who choose Futurist as their career and mission in life must mix a little of the magic of imagination as they make predictions. No age is too early to inject a little of that in our perspective on what lies ahead. Now would be a good time to make your kids aware that Futurist is an actual career that some may want to consider. As I've said so many times before, you never know what future selves are sitting in your classroom (or in boxes on your screen) right now!
If you would like a FREE copy of one of the organizers, be sure that you are on my mailing list. Just enter your email in that pop up that appears with free yoga cards when you first click on this blog post. I will email a free organizer to all of my email list on December 25. If you are already on the list, you're in! Stay on the list for more freebies, sales, and deals in the future!
Love the idea of approaching 2021 in a different way this year? Check out the full resource that I created! Just click below! Your purchase will include both a traditional printable flip book, and a link to download a Google Drive version.
"Surely hope is just ahead; and sorrow is behind us." - Billy Ray Cyrus
For more teaching inspiration for December/January, check out the amazing Teacher Talk blogs below. If you would also like to be a part of Teacher Talk, we are a group of teacher bloggers who share posts that are heavy on the ideas with just a little selling of our educational materials at TeachersPayTeachers.com. For more information about joining The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative, go to https://bit.ly/3o7D1Dv. Feel free to email me at retta.london@gmail.com if you have any questions.
