My BIG goal for October is to re-establish balance! I'm drowning ... mostly under paperwork. Time to figure this out.
You've probably seen that graph for new teachers ... here it is ... I am NOT a new teacher ... in fact ... I've been at this a LOT of years! I have continued because I absolutely love teaching ... love my students, love the content ... and I think I'm still useful. But I am definitely experiencing the survival slide! I don't want to land in the pool of disillusionment!
So here I am ... October goals ... reestablishing balance. Taking walks, reading, thinking, praying, singing, gardening ... taking some time each day for things that feed my soul ... it will make me a better teacher!
That's my ONE BIG goal.
My goals for my classroom ... well I'm working on verbalizing those ... and determining how best to monitor them.
I have too many goals:
- Develop students’ metacognition by asking them to reflect on their work regularly.
- Make thinking more visible ... asking students to explain their work in words and illustrations.
- Develop students’ ability to think critically and creatively by the questions I ask.
- Engage students in rich worthwhile tasks balanced well with routine practice. Inherent in this goal is to use technology to modify and redefine learning at a higher level.
- Open students’ understanding that math is so much more than the typical work found in a textbook by offering opportunities to explore math outside of the TEKS.
In October I want to figure out a good way to reflect on these goals and to monitor them.
Balance is such a hard thing to find with the unrealistic demands of teaching these days. I have made a great effort to spend less extra hours in my classroom after school and spend those with my family instead, but I am swamped during the school day trying to get everything done. Good luck finding the ever elusive balance.
ReplyDeleteGoal number 4 resonates with me. Finding that balance between rich tasks and skills practice is hard. I know I much prefer when my class works on 3Act tasks, estimation180 exercises, visual patterns and projects. At the same time, I know there are so many skills I need my students to learn about and/or master before they move on to their next math class. Finding the right balance is something I am always working on. Good luck!
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