It’s that time of year again. Classes began this week. Here are a few goals that come to mind as I set sail for the year.
1. Conference with my students more. I have a table set up in my room designed for this. My hope is to sit and have small group discussions on a regular basis.
2. Lag homework/practice. I see the power in requiring students to recall information while learning new concepts.
3. Lag unit exams. I see this as a corollary of lagging homework; if students are spending the majority of their practice time on “old” content, then it only makes sense that their informative assessments follow suit. Therefore, unit exams will be given in the midst of the following unit. My hope is that it will set higher expectations for preparedness and promote better long term comprehension. I may be off my rocker, so we’ll see.
4. Be a better mentor and colleague to new and developing teachers.
5. Earn highly effective. It’s a label that can be subjective, but in my eyes if I can earn it, then I deserve it.
6. Encourage my kids to show their thinking (vs. show their work).
7. Work towards NBC. It’s daunting, but a challenge I’m looking forward to.
8. Simplify my school day and focus on what matters most, both in and out of my classroom.
9. Mandate all students to retake standards on which they didn’t achieve proficiency. This was an option in the past that I didn’t push hard enough for.
10. Set higher, more rigorous expectations for my kids. This is a fine line, but I’ve become too lax and my students are suffering because of it. In conjunction with 3 and 9.
11. Seek in-depth student feedback.
12. Get my kids to understand the ‘why am I doing this?’ aspect of each lesson. Thanks Z.
13. Give students more control of their learning. I simply do too much. When they have ownership over their own learning, the need for my inspiration minimizes.
14. Have a top ten posted in my classroom. Overall and Most Improved?
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