Personal: Once school rolls around I often get so involved that I forget there is more to life. I need to work hard and do my best for my students, but I also need to do my best for my family and me. So, my goal is to find the "off switch" for school and use it regularly.
Organization: All I can say is that I'll try! I really am organized, but it doesn't always look it. I have everything mentally prepared well in advance, but it doesn't usually look like it! What's that old saying, "A messy desk is a sign of genius." Well, you can call me Albert!
Planning: I can NOT wait to start using my Erin Condrin planner. I'm hoping that it will help me with the topic directly above and make me WANT to do planning... I'm hoping!
Professional: I've gotten a bit lazy of late not reading professional material, keeping up with what the gurus are saying. I made a dent in this area this summer with reading "Teach Like a Pirate," and I recently purchased a book about Whole Brain Teaching. Now to just keep this up during the school year.
Students: Because I work with older students who are BIG, some taller than I, I sometimes forget they are kids. The CCSS I think sometimes forget this also. The demands being put on my aged students are incredible, bordering on age inappropriate. This year, I need to remember even more, because I'll be working with eighth graders, that they are still kids, kids who need time to just be, to just have fun, to just enjoy learning.
Motto: Try it! Do it!... When faced with new things I sometimes raise an eyebrow, smile, and just say NOPE! I almost did this when my principal called in June asking if I would teach eighth grade English. I've been teaching 5/6th Language Arts so long. I was in a nice, comfortable niche. How in the world was I going to add this section to my workload; nothing was being taken away. Try it! Do it! So, I am!!!!!
I am planning on printing out a full sheet copy of my completed goal list. It's going in my Erin Condrin planner, right in the front where I will see it frequently. Hopefully, this will serve as a reminder and give me that shot in the arm to keep me on track with these goals.
When Jess started this linky back in the Spring I was really taken with it. So much so that I contacted her and asked her if it was all right if I did something similar with my fifth graders. With her permission, I created a sheet similar to what she had created for us and gave it to my fifth graders. They were so excited. We took time to talk about goal setting and strategies for sticking to our goals. During the month we returned to our sheets (we kept them in our literacy journals) and talked about our progress. It was a great learning experience.
As part of their summer homework, I sent a summer goal sheet home with the fifth graders. This is what it looks like. Because I teach in a Catholic school, I have included the category "Spiritual" on each of the sheets we have done.
I'm anxious to see how the kiddos are doing with it. I ran into one of my students tonight at Wal-mart and we actually talked about this part of her summer assignment. She said that she had hung the goal sheet in her room and checked it all the time. Ain't that cool??????
THANK YOU, Jess!!!!!!
Happy Teaching,
Angela
The Teacher's Desk 6
AWW! Love that your student looks at her goals all the time! Love that she is learning to set goals and work hard to achieve them. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteJess
I work with the middle grades kids too! I feel the same way you do about the CCSS forgetting they are just kids, which I am guilty of too. I hope that I can remember this as I start this new school year.
ReplyDelete-Bagby
Math Madness