Erin Emery-Dumas

Last school year was THE BEST, and I think it was all thanks to a journal practice that was recommended by Monica Genta. She was the keynote speaker at one of our opening PD events, and her story completely changed my perspective on teaching. She talked about how she kept a journal and wrote at least one “awesome of the day” each day of the school year. She said awesome can be anything you’d like, big or small. The main goal is to just find something.

So I did! I journaled EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. of the 2023-2024 school year, and it made a world of a difference. Yes, some days it was hard to find something awesome because we all have bad days sometimes. But anything can be awesome if you let it! There were a few times that my awesome of the day was “Yay! It’s Friday and I get to go home!” But other days were filled with joy from incredible things that students said, or hilarious things they did, and it was so eye opening to always look for at least one thing that was positive at the end of the day.

This brings me to today. Today was the very first school day of the 2024-2025 school year, and I plan to continue writing! My awesome of the day was getting to meet so many new students, and to be reconnected with even more who returned. Their bright smiling faces made me feel so happy and excited to share all that I can with them. We are going to make some INCREDIBLE music this year!