What Worked For You This Past School Year?

Well I am back!!!!  I feel like I have been in a storm the last 3 years and honestly have not had time to blog.  I think it started when I changed grade levels, took on the AVID coordinator position, became a tech coach on campus, and above all....accepted the common core math challenge and my textbook was taken away.  That all actually happened about 4 years ago but it did not hit me until the next year.  I have felt inadequate as a teacher, quite frankly.  I bounced my students around from topic to topic, unsure in which order to teach my new standards and how to incorporate all the mathematical practices.  My road-map, as curriculum maps were often referred to, had been taking away.  I am an over planner, an "over-achiever" according to a previous administrator, and suddenly there were too many resources and I was constantly re-thinking and second-guessing everything.  Has anyone else felt this way?  I can't be alone.

Fast forward to present day and I am satisfied that I actually taught my students this year!  I feel like I made an impact on their education.  My students enjoyed my class and learned.  Sounds like everything I hoped to do when I started teaching.  But, I also taught them so much more than math and science.  My students learned many different ways to use technology to demonstrate their learning, to take risks and realize failure is sometimes where learning happens most, to engage in meaningful discussions where there is not one right answer, to respect others even though you may not like their point of view or even the person, and most importantly to work passionately and compassionately as a team with a diverse group of team members.

Ending a school year, feeling accomplished made me want to set myself up for success for the following year.  I wanted to make sure that next year and the years after are only improvements upon this school year. So, my partner in crime and I decided to create a Google Doc titled "What Worked?"  The two of us made a list of everything we felt worked over the past school year.  We included ideas to improve certain projects and highlighted standards we either did not get to teach or were taught ineffectively.  I highly recommend that you do the same as soon as possible while the school year is fresh in your mind!  It was sort of cathartic to reminisce and bring some closure to the school year.  Enjoy your summer break!  Reflect, read, schedule work time, be present when your family and friends are around, and relax.