Fall 2018 In Review...
I'm sure you can't help but notice that I have been MIA for 6 months....my bad!
It has been a very rough 2018, I was hoping that a fresh start and new school year would make it better...but it did not. As I reflect on my Fall 2018 semester, I realized that I super neglected this blog, and I want to try and maintain it. It is my New Years resolution to blog once a week. I also want to try a little vlogging, but we will see what the year brings us.
Reflection is important in any profession, but I think it is essential in the teaching profession. Reflecting on classroom management techniques, lessons, pacing, activities, and all of the other things which we plan to repeat in the next semester is vital in making growth in the profession. Honesty is important when reflecting on the year - not everything we try is awesome so we need to be honest with ourselves when we make mistakes. It is on that note that I want to point out some things that I think could have gone better in Fall 2018 and what I plan to do to make them better:
1. Pacing - Due to Hurricane Florence, and trying to pack in too many funtivities, my pacing was totally off in Fall 2018. I did get to hit everything in American I, but had to give a general overview of many things in the second half of the semester. In Civics and Economics, I noticed there were many things in the Economics units that I completely missed. This was because I love doing certain projects and refused to cut them, even though I didn't really have time for them. I need to learn to let go of certain projects or maybe find a way to shorten them, in order to stay on pace with the course content.
2. Differentiation - I am horrible with differentiating between my standard and honor's students. They are all mixed together in the same classes, so I tend to just treat everyone as either honors or standard - this is bad for both. I used to try and teach everyone at the honors level but found that to be difficult as some of the students were in the standard level because they need extra help. It is my goal to try and build in more scaffolding tools for my lower level students while also providing more challenging work for my higher level students. Part of the way I intend to do that is with honors projects. I am hoping to implement honors projects each quarter, so when I am working with the lower level students I can have something for higher level students to work on. I will also work on differentiating their reading by providing unabridged versions of reading, abridged, then abridged with vocabulary support. We read primary and secondary sources almost daily so I definitely think this will help.
3. The first week of school - In the Fall I decided to hit the ground running with content on day one...this was a mistake! My students need time to get to know me and each other, also to build a classroom community. This time I plan to revamp my first week of school lessons to include more teambuilding, community building, and skill building to make the rest of the semester run more smoothly. I plan to discuss this more in my next blog.
4. Quality over quantity - I get into this rut that we must do several activities in a class period. I need to slow down and make sure we are doing our activities in depth, and not just trying to take up class time. I have a hard time with planning too many things to do, but instead of slowing down and making sure we do everything thoroughly I just speed through it all so I can get to everything. I need to be more mindful in picking activities, and then also making sure we don't move on until everyone is together. This also means that I need to come up with some blanket "while you're waiting..." activities for students that work faster than others. I think this is why I speed through everything - I hate watching them just sit on their phone scrolling through Instagram while others are finishing their work.
5. Say no more - I say yes to everything that my colleagues and students ask me when it comes to making huge time commitments - planning trips, leading committees, advising clubs. I need to learn to value my own time and say no. I spread myself too thin then I wind up half-way doing everything. I would rather give a few things 100% than to give 100 things 10% each.
That is my Fall 2018 in review! I am so excited for the Spring 19 semester which begins on January 7th! I will have a new group of kiddos - two Civics and Economics sections (seniors) and one American History I section (sophomores). It is going to be interesting teaching seniors during the Spring semester, something I haven't done since my very first year of teaching (8 years ago). This time comes with a lot of hustle and bustle...also drama! Let's hope for the best in 2019.
Reflection is important in any profession, but I think it is essential in the teaching profession. Reflecting on classroom management techniques, lessons, pacing, activities, and all of the other things which we plan to repeat in the next semester is vital in making growth in the profession. Honesty is important when reflecting on the year - not everything we try is awesome so we need to be honest with ourselves when we make mistakes. It is on that note that I want to point out some things that I think could have gone better in Fall 2018 and what I plan to do to make them better:
1. Pacing - Due to Hurricane Florence, and trying to pack in too many funtivities, my pacing was totally off in Fall 2018. I did get to hit everything in American I, but had to give a general overview of many things in the second half of the semester. In Civics and Economics, I noticed there were many things in the Economics units that I completely missed. This was because I love doing certain projects and refused to cut them, even though I didn't really have time for them. I need to learn to let go of certain projects or maybe find a way to shorten them, in order to stay on pace with the course content.
2. Differentiation - I am horrible with differentiating between my standard and honor's students. They are all mixed together in the same classes, so I tend to just treat everyone as either honors or standard - this is bad for both. I used to try and teach everyone at the honors level but found that to be difficult as some of the students were in the standard level because they need extra help. It is my goal to try and build in more scaffolding tools for my lower level students while also providing more challenging work for my higher level students. Part of the way I intend to do that is with honors projects. I am hoping to implement honors projects each quarter, so when I am working with the lower level students I can have something for higher level students to work on. I will also work on differentiating their reading by providing unabridged versions of reading, abridged, then abridged with vocabulary support. We read primary and secondary sources almost daily so I definitely think this will help.
3. The first week of school - In the Fall I decided to hit the ground running with content on day one...this was a mistake! My students need time to get to know me and each other, also to build a classroom community. This time I plan to revamp my first week of school lessons to include more teambuilding, community building, and skill building to make the rest of the semester run more smoothly. I plan to discuss this more in my next blog.
4. Quality over quantity - I get into this rut that we must do several activities in a class period. I need to slow down and make sure we are doing our activities in depth, and not just trying to take up class time. I have a hard time with planning too many things to do, but instead of slowing down and making sure we do everything thoroughly I just speed through it all so I can get to everything. I need to be more mindful in picking activities, and then also making sure we don't move on until everyone is together. This also means that I need to come up with some blanket "while you're waiting..." activities for students that work faster than others. I think this is why I speed through everything - I hate watching them just sit on their phone scrolling through Instagram while others are finishing their work.
5. Say no more - I say yes to everything that my colleagues and students ask me when it comes to making huge time commitments - planning trips, leading committees, advising clubs. I need to learn to value my own time and say no. I spread myself too thin then I wind up half-way doing everything. I would rather give a few things 100% than to give 100 things 10% each.
That is my Fall 2018 in review! I am so excited for the Spring 19 semester which begins on January 7th! I will have a new group of kiddos - two Civics and Economics sections (seniors) and one American History I section (sophomores). It is going to be interesting teaching seniors during the Spring semester, something I haven't done since my very first year of teaching (8 years ago). This time comes with a lot of hustle and bustle...also drama! Let's hope for the best in 2019.
Comments
Post a Comment