I subscribe to a lot of things online - my inbox is filled with things from people I don't know in person. I will admit I don't read them all closely, giving them a quick glance before sending them off to delete-ville. One did catch my eye, though, and in thinking that this is probably my final year before retirement, I went back to it several times. It was a blogging challenge, and it seemed simple enough - blog every day for the 30 days of September about teaching, reflecting and improving my practice. I could do that, I thought; I already have a blog I haven't touched in two years, and I like writing, so I figured I'd give it a try. Here goes....
Day One: Write Your Goals for the School Year
It seems as though every year my schedule changes. I am a teacher-librarian, and so my library schedule changes, mostly because of my teaching schedule. The classes I teach are the variables. This year it's U. S. History, which I've never taught before, and Psychology, which I taught two years ago. These are both high school classes, because somewhere along the way this elementary trained, middle school teacher morphed into a high school teacher. I'm still not quite sure how that happened! My goals aren't particularly complicated, but divided into several components: library, instruction, and relationships.
Library
My library goals are pretty simple. Create a schedule in which one week is check-out only, and the alternate week is a lesson of some sort. Examples of a lesson might be a library scavenger hunt, book talks, genre lessons and book examples, digital safety and citizenship, using the online catalog and finding materials on the shelves, dictionary lessons, etc. Suggestions are always welcome! In addition, on the backroom side, submitting at least three book orders this year, and catching up on cataloging, or at least taking a long hard look at materials that have stacked up in the workroom. I may even consider hosting a book fair, but I'll wait to commit to that to see how the year starts.
Instruction
I have always approached instruction from a technology point-of-view. Several years ago I was the recipient of an Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant, and my high school classes have always used Moodle as the learning management system. I approach high school teaching from my master's degree model of virtual instruction, and my goals for my high school students have always been understanding the core concepts of the topic, being able to use 21st Century skills, and Digital Citizenship concepts. I want my students to go to the college having experienced a class knowing that they can work in an online environment. One of the things I've noticed is that students are not trained, for lack of a better word, in being able to work independently, and so one of my focuses will be to improve their ability to do this. I'm lucky this year in that I actually have textbooks for both classes, and while I will use these as the foundation material, I will add supplemental material to the Moodle page. One of my challenges will be to find material in U. S. History to supplement and complement the adopted curriculum. In addition, I would like to work more with Socratic Seminars, and other forms of class discussions.
Relationships
I admit it - I tend to judge others. I'm also speak Sarcasm fluently, so sometimes things don't always come out as they should. Over time, I've ended up in leadership roles at school. I'm the Association president, and the treasurer of the Joyce Community Education Foundation, aka Ed Foundation. I'm on the leadership team. I've always been involved behind the scenes. One of my weakest areas is in parent communication. I have been at my school since the 1977-1978 school year, and often parents are former students. I'm a known entity in the school and the community. The superintendent referred to me as "an institution" during Freshman Orientation (and I promptly revealed my second language of Sarcasm.) I am not fantastic about getting in touch with parents. I need to contact parents about the positive first, and build relationships with the people who care the most about the kids I work with. With staff, I need to keep in touch with them so the time I share with their students is productive and what they need for their teaching. Remembering that I am support staff for them is critical, but somehow there has to be a nice way to communicate that an emergency on their part isn't always my emergency. Think laminator...
This is probably my last year at my school. As much as I've enjoyed my career, with a husband set to retire in mid-October, I don't want to be left out of that fun! I don't think I'm done with education, but I may be done at the local level. Having said that, I'm going to take a wait-and-see approach, look at my 180 days as a series of opportunities to improve the lives of kids and prep them for their futures. I like the idea of starting off the year from a place of reflection, and that's why I'm taking up this challenge.
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