Well, here I am on summer vacation but I feel like there is a ton of unfinshed business and hopefully I can wrap it up for the summer in this reflective post.
I still need to completely clear my desk in the classroom and decide if I will keep, update or discard some of the activites we (the students and I) completed this year. Every year is a different experience and I'll know when they walk through the classroom door in September what kind of map I need for the students I will be entrusted with for the new school year.
Everything seems so simple in the summer...lots of plans and ideas and idealistic dreams ...you know what I mean the reality of the classroom and its real life interruptions are on hold for a couple of months and I get to imagine what is possible...I am such a 'great teacher' in the summer!
The good thing for me is the number of resources that I have amassed over the years as well as the professional development opportunities I have been attending make the preparation for the new year one of deciding what to implement and make goal(s) for the year. Teachers can't do it all at once so choosing from the plethora of ideas and programs and new initiatives means I need to choose one (or two) ideas to implement and test. It is always an exciting time.
In mid-June this year a number of colleagues (and myself) from Squamish Elementary and from other schools in our district attended a two day Kagan cooperative Learning Symposium right on our own doorstep (DRS) organized and encouraged by our superintendent. Cooperative learning strategies have been around for many years and it was a great opportunity to revisit some tried and true classroom management strategies which now incorporate the new understandings about brain function and best practice learning habits. It was worthwhile and a great opportunity to have the chance to work with district colleagues that I do not often get to see let alone learn with. Thank you to our Superintedent, Mrs. Lisa McCullough and to Mrs. Linda Pietla who managed all the resources books binders etc for the days we met. For our prinicpals to let us go for two days in June was also a leap of faith. It takes a village!
On the last day of school (June 28th) I was in Tacoma, Washington with another couple of colleagues (primary teachers who I very seldom get to talk educational matters with) to attend a Daily 5 conference- they do things BIG in the US and there must have been 500 people there. Great experience.
Daily 5 is a literacy (and math) strategy that has been taking hold in North America (and internationally considering how many folks were there from places far flung: Singapore, China, Norway, Khazikstan etc.) and inspiring a modern twist on the best practices for reading proven by research for managing, instructing and encouraging best practice literacy among all our students. It was a worthwhile conference and personally I gained a great deal of insight into the current practices and really enjoyed the candidness of the presenters. They updated their ideas and showed us video of things that they wrote in their first text that they realized no longer worked or at least needed a new approach. They were entertaining and the workshop provided lots of opportunity to talk to other conference attendees as well as share in a giveaways of neat doo hickys and books that complement the Daily 5 routine. The giveaways were fun but kind of like a low end Ellen show I kept waiting for the car but I was very happy to receive the classroom chimes and timers etc. (Send one person from your table and everyone in the audience will receive a......[ inset your dream here]!!) lol- just kidding
Before I head into school today, I will put you on hold for the results of my 2012-2013 student report card. Every year I have the students write me a report card on the last day before I give them their packaged report cards for the year end. They have always been insightful and I make note of the things the students would like to tell me I did well and what in their opinion needs to improve. Out of the mouths of babes, indeed...I have never made the results public before- I guess partly because I thought no one would be interested but I have decided that this Blog is the perfect place to air my students picks and pans. The format was two stars and a wish with comments and a place to give me an overall grade for the year.
The students always seems to have some fun with it and I always get both encouragement and a proverbial 'kick in the pants'.
This year's reports were insightful, honest, FUNNY and I have to say inspirational. They made me laugh outloud and celebrate my strengths as well as consider my weaker performances. Talk about worthwhile
...I intend to make the next Blog post a reflection of my year in the classroom from the perspective of my students. Hope I'll still have a job in September!!!
Until then...
Mrs. J.
No comments:
Post a Comment