While many of us are ringing in the new year with aspirations, goals and resolutions, many are also looking back to find 2018 to be either a year we do not want to forget or one to which we are glad to say goodbye. This seems to be a very common human progression in the western world. A new year. A new beginning. Starting over. Forgetting the past.

I wonder sometimes if we are too hard on ourselves when it comes to a new year. While I am not opposed to looking forward to what might be coming, I do see value in remembering what was successful and what was done well.

As I start to look forward to a new year of teaching, it is equally as important that I look back. What has gone well in my classroom? What would I consider a success in my classroom? What things should I strive to repeat for this upcoming year in my classroom? I have decided to share some of those things with you in hopes that you will be able to identify your grounds of success through this past year as well.

• The challenge of taking on a new 6th grade Bible class this past year has been one of the greatest joys of 2018 for me. This new class has challenged me as a teacher and given many opportunities to share my love for God directly on a daily basis.
• Within this class, I was able to read weekly student thoughts on God, His desire for their lives and where students felt driven to follow God. My heart was full of joy as I watched two of them join a missions trip during the summer of 2018. Both has directly written about following God is this way.
• The year of 2018 provided many challenges in meeting the various academic needs in my classroom. While this at times, felt that I was not making headway, the end result showed student growth and success.
• Students entering middle school growing in their confidence and learning to see others as God sees them.
• I was able to keep all of my plants alive this year.

I would encourage you to look through your year and find your successes. While resolutions and goals keep us on task, we also need to be able to identify what is working and should remain the same.

Everything that I tried in my classroom in 2018 was not a success, but the fact that I kept working toward that success is what gave the end result that we were striving for. Do not get lost in the difficulty. Do not get lost in the demands. Do not get lost in what you might see as failure. Let God continue to guide your decisions and work. He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it. Let Him.

” Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. “- Phil. 1:6 (NIV)

I would love to hear your successes from 2018 in the comment section below. One of the greatest forms of encouragement, is to hear it from others. Think through your year and share a success below! Keep your eyes on Him for 2019 and do not get lost in it.