A Look Back #Flems2015

Undoubtedly, this time of year causes most of us to reflect on the year that was (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and to move with anticipation into the year that is just over the horizon!

My professional 2015 was rife with challenge after challenge, but also plentiful with victory and feel good moments! I'm choosing to place more emphasis on the good!!

Honored
There was the honor bestowed upon me and many other young education professionals
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/04/thanks-for-honor-billypenn.html

3rd Grade Lawyers
I cannot forget how proud my 3rd graders made me last year when their imaginative teacher took them on a field trip to court!!!
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/05/order-in-court.html

3rd Grade Geographers
There was also that time when my kids showed off....again!! (In a good way, on another trip!!)
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/05/they-showed-off-at-grumblethorpe.html

My summer teaching
I cannot forget about the summer. I taught middle and high school English to adjudicated youth. One good moment came when I heard one of my former students dropping some science on some of the younger ones. Ironic.
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/08/working-with-adjudicated-youth-part-4.html

Then this school year got started and the feel good moments continued.

This group of 3rd grade entomologists
We're entomologists for a portion of the school year. By this post (http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/11/beetle-break.html), we'd been entomologists for a couple of months.

8th Annual Read In
This "Read In" may have been the best one yet!
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/12/8th-annual-read-in.html

1st Book Fair in Years
3rd Grade sponsored a book fair (1st one in years)
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/12/we-remember-book-fairs.html

FORMER STUDENTS
I am genuinely happy to connect with former students, especially when they are doing well!!
I run into them and write about it (twitter/blog) frequently.
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/12/it-never-gets-old.html

Then there were these..

They took Saleem West, smh
Sometimes and in some of the places where I run into former students, tears well up in my eyes. The day I found out one of my former students was gunned down on the streets of Philadelphia. Not. Good.
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/11/saleem-west.html
http://articles.philly.com/2015-11-04/news/67990390_1_beer-gardens-north-philadelphia-philadelphia-police-department

Death of my Pastor
This and other moments were not so welcomed. The passing of my Pastor this past summer, just before school started was like a rug being snatched from under me/us.
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-hiatus.html

Then there was the stupid stuff. I chose not to blog about all of the professional negativity this past year. These two posts will represent the others and those I chose not to write about.
I'm not even going to dignify these with a sous-titre 

Post one is about my cardinal sin (or so you'd think)
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/05/learning-objectives.html

Post two is just......just...read...
http://myclassroom105.blogspot.com/2015/11/add-this-to-nonsense-column.html

2015, thanks for the memories!
2016, see you in a few!

(There were other great moments, very exciting might I add!! I may (or may not) share at some point. lol)