School Year 2011-2012 Goals

 So tomorrow is the first day of my fifth year of teaching. I can't believe Year 5 is actually here! Typically, teachers begin to feel like they are hitting their stride in years 3-4. I had to switch grade levels and had several change of curriculum and change of teaching partners so I feel like I am just now hitting my stride.


We had Meet the Teacher last Friday night and I am so glad I am at the point in my career where I have built a reputation for myself. I remember taking my little brother Calvin (who tomorrow will be a senior in high school!) to see who was his 5th grade teacher. While we were there I could hear kids saying, "I hope so and so is my teacher". I remember thinking that I want to be that teacher that kids are hoping for. Friday night I had several kids say that they wanted to be in my class. I also had a former parent who told me she pushed for me to be her other son's teacher but for other reasons, he had to be in a different class. Luckily, you can't go wrong with any teachers in my grade level at my school in my unbiased opinion. ;) I also had a cousin and aunt of one of my former students stop by and see me. They told me that he is doing well and it is partly because of me. :) I cannot express how much that meant to me. Teaching is not one of those professions where you get immediate results. It can take years for the fruits of your labor to blossom and we many times don't even hear about it. Now that I am a teacher and realize this, I praise my former teachers and past and current mentors to their face and behind their backs. :)

Ok, on to my goals for the year.

1) Effectively balance being a teacher, a student, a wife, and all my other hats.

This is one I have been working on for the last 2 years (at times more successfully than others).  Luckily, I have an amazing, supporting husband. He is VERY patient with me as I try balance everything as much as I can. There is no way I could be the teacher I am and have a 4.0 in grad school if it wasn't for him. That does not mean I can keep going the way I am devoting most of my time to work in his expense. I want to work smarter and not harder this year. I have to figure out how to lessen my distractions and be productive in my work life so I can be a better wife at home.

2) Encourage my students to think deeper and more critically

This is something I was thinking about before we found out that the STAAR would require this of us. More than memorizing math facts other math concepts, my students need to be able to decide WHEN to use certain math concepts and WHY they need to be used. I hear about grown adults who can DO the math, but they have to be told step by step what to do! I also recently become interested in brain development and how the brain works. I won't go too much into it but I really want to teach my students about their brain and thinking and help them become independent thinkers.

3) Math and science writing

I would like to have my students do more writing in math and science. This goes along with thinking because when writing, they have to explain the thinking behind their math. My students in the past have doing writing assignments but I want to concentrate more on it this year.

4) Technology

Last year, I became more passionate about not only teaching WITH technology but teaching ABOUT technology. Being on the curriculum writing team helped this. I would like to continue teaching my students WITH and ABOUT technology because they will need this learning to be successful in this day and age.

I know it is still early but I should start getting all my stuff together for tomorrow and getting ready for bed. 5:30 will come early tomorrow and I still have things to get done before my students enter my classroom in the morning!