assessment

Today I sat through a seminar on assessments.

No, not the scantron, fill-in-the-bubble kind. This is the annual Music Teacher Conference. (Well, they don't actually CALL it that, but that's what it is.) So the presenter was talking about how she assesses her kids, and what she assesses them on. Then we talked about the CO State Standards, and how we include those in what we teach and what we assess.

I know, right about this point you are moving your mouse toward the little "x" in the upper right corner of your screen, and thinking about what you are going to have for a snack in a minute. It felt about that exciting to me at some points too. But stay with me.

Isn't it important to assess?

Isn't it important to take some time on a regular basis to assess? Not just in state standards and music lesson plans, but in life? In your family life? In your spiritual life? In your home life? In your work life?

Isn't this the basis of New Year's resolutions?

What if instead on assessing on December 30th, and marginally thinking that "I'd like to read more books this year" (which is an admirable goal, by the way) we stop on a regular basis and asses? What would happen then?

What if we regularly built into our life time to reflect and assess whether we are where we want to be, or way more importantly than that, if we reflect and assess whether we are where God wants us to be? What if we put our lives into perspective, and took our eyes off the daily grind to focus on the long-term?

I think that assessment is a great tool, and we should move it to the top of our life's toolbox.
I'm going to head off to do some assessing right now...What do you need to stop and look at with new eyes?
K