Either my children or I have been sick for the last ten days. I feel like I have just been treading water as far as my CFG projects go. I've kept the projects afloat with minimal emails and word processing, yet there has been no time to reflect. Although I have a to-do list with 18 items on it, I am going to take some time for reflection tonight. The to-do list can wait until tomorrow when I hope to approach it with a more focused mind.

Discussion question: How does our work suffer when we do not take time to reflect?

"I want to teach like Tiger Woods plays golf." I heard this declaration at a textbook presentation several years ago and it has really stuck with me. The speaker explained that Tiger Woods is truly a reflective practitioner when it comes to the game of golf. The public just sees him out on the fairways, but Tiger spends a lot of time behind the scenes studying the game, observing others, analyzing film, and reflecting on his own performance. The result is excellence.

Isn't this what CFG's can help us achieve as teachers? My hope is that setting aside time for study and reflection about our teaching practice will help us achieve excellence in our classrooms.

Here's another sports metaphor. "I want to coach like Bill Parcells."