As this school year began, I was in search of joy, peace and positivity. It felt like negativity was surrounding me- there were complaints about schools opening, teachers, the government, the pandemic and so much more! Throughout my years of teaching, I've learned, if there is no peace, if there is no positivity, if there is no joy, I can create it. I also learned not to take on the negativity and stress of others.
As I was searching for this peace, I decided to record my first day of teaching virtually, because I was sure that would bring along a laugh or two once I re-watched how the day went. Although I taught in all of the moments that I recorded, when I went back to watch what I had captured, I noticed that there were so many moments that I had missed. Authentic moments of being a Kindergarten teacher. Authentic moments of kids being kids. Authentic moments of how both myself and my students were dealing with this change in school. After recording, editing, and posting my first day, I did the same for the second day, and so on. As I type this, I have recorded, edited, and posted over 21 days of teaching Kindergarten virtually and posted them on Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram, and sometimes Facebook.
Now, the featured photo brought about a ton of positive comments, shares, and encouragement and I am grateful to Black Love Doc for the recognition.
On the other hand, recording and sharing parts of my day as an educator and open a can of worms. An opportunity for opinions, negative comments, suggestions and criticisms. When I respond to comments, I do my best to respond to positive comments and if the comment is not positive, I respond positively or not at all. Not responding at all can be difficult. I feel like I have to defend myself and my actions. But then I realize that people are seeing snippets of moments of my day. I am only letting them into parts of my day that I want them to see or that I feel are entertaining.
So, if you are ever interested in recording or vlogging parts of your life, be aware of the different opinions, criticisms, and suggestions you may receive and remember that people are only seeing snippets of moments. They are not getting the entire picture, therefore, you do not need to defend yourself. Focus on the positive and keep doing what you do.
Wishing you peace, love and well wishes-
Ms. James
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