In six weeks I'll be starting a new teaching position. A fellow colleague started there five weeks ago. Both of us have/had been teaching at my current school for nearly ten years. As she drew close to her final weeks she was given the advice to make sure "She took time to smell the roses". To make sure she enjoyed all that she had grown and achieved.

A couple of weeks ago she passed on that advice to me. Some call it checking out. I have no intention of doing that, but, I'm definitely more relaxed than what I have been at this time of the year in the past. I'm taking time to just enjoy being 'in the moment' in my classes and the hustle and bustle of the school day.

It's a time to reflect and celebrate those teaching and learning ideas that have worked. To think about those ideas that I was sure would work and didn't. To think about all of those ideas and which ones I can take forward and try in the new environment ahead. At some point soon a list will be made. For my students though, I have three weeks left and plenty of work to do.

But, smelling the roses shouldn't stop there. Life is about balance and far to often we forget about the space outside of work. It's important to reflect on your accomplishments there too. To see the two spaces as two parts of a whole. I've bought two houses and sold one renovating the first. I have an awesome young family with two boys that make me laugh, mutter under my breath and wonder, often all in the same day. I've sold a yacht, rode my bike and tramped with family, friends and school.

Taking time to enjoy the moment or 'smell the roses' is something we don't do enough.    

As a teacher you are in front of a group or groups of people everyday, presenting information and delivering instruction in a way that facilitates learning. It also needs to be entertaining. Some days it can be nerve racking and intimidating when your a little underdone on your prep. But nothing gets me more nervous than presenting to my work colleagues.

An ex colleague recently started TeachMeet here in Christchurch, a wonderfully structured teacher driven professional development opportunity. An hour long with 7 or 2 minute presentations on anything to do with teaching and learning where the presenters volunteer if they feel they have something of worth to share.

For the second instalment I decided to present on a Chrome app and extension called Screencastify that I use for recording demonstrations and screen tutorials. What an empowering experience it was to be apart TeachMeet 0.2 and I would highly recommend it to all teachers to go and sometime present. Here is a wrap up of TeachMeet 0.2.