At the end of each school year, I reflect on the experience. What worked? What didn’t work? And what do I want to work on in the future?
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Classroom Reflection #1: Management First
Last month, Smart Classroom Management described three categories of teachers: those who prioritize classroom management, those who learn to prioritize classroom management, and those who will always struggle with classroom management.
This article really helped me crystalize one of my reflections from this year. For me, in a year of crazy traveling and building construction, classroom management was everything. I am not a classroom management expert, but this year really helped me appreciate the absolute critical importance of classroom management.
So my first classroom reflection is to keep prioritizing classroom management because with out a grip on the environment, I cannot help students learn the content with the depth they deserve. Check out more ideas for classroom management here.
Classroom Reflection #2: Talk Matters
This was also the year I came to value productive classroom conversations. I have long been an advocate of Socratic Seminar and fishbowl discussions, but this was the year that verbal processing became central to my classroom.
In particular, verbal processing strategies like turn-and-talk, think-pair-share, and say something became crucial. I’m not really sure why it took me so long to embrace verbal processing activities, but I think classroom reflection #1 enabled #2. Without good classroom management, it’s hard to create an environment for productive talk.
In the past, I struggled with what I thought was wasted instructional time. But talk time is not a waste! That’s the time when students get to dig into material and try it on and try it out. Experimentation is one of learning’s “between” spaces, and it’s important for students to have an environment in which they feel comfortable enough to take risks and to even fail. Check out more ideas for classroom discussion here.
Talk is also important for teachers! This year’s professional development time was often consumed by construction-related chaos, so I really missed unstructured PD time. Dave Stuart Jr. writes a lot about good professional development. An important aspect of professional development is getting to work with the concepts, ideas, or strategies. Missing that kind of PD this year helped me realize its importance, too! Having hallway conversations with peers is good, but digging into the material is even better!
Classroom Reflection #3: Goals Evolve
At the beginning of the year, I set my classroom goals. I revisited those goals half way through the year. Although I made adequate progress, around February, careful reflection got away from me. I did a good job meeting my goals related to annotating text features. I developed this tool for making parent contact. But I didn’t quite meet my goals in their original forms.
Rather than be upset and down on myself for not making the classroom reflection I set out to make, I realized that goals evolve. By the end of the year, my priorities had shifted. Classroom reflection #1 and classroom reflection #2 changed my approach and perspective. As a result, my goals shifted, grew, and evolved. And that’s okay! If perfection isn’t the goal (and it shouldn’t be), then I am happy to evolve with my goals.
Epilogue: Preparing for 2019-2020
In August, I will set my goals for the 2019-2020 school year, but I’m beginning to wonder if I wouldn’t be better off with just one goal. I want to evolve as a teacher. I hope you’ll join me!
