My freshmen are engaged in the revision process. They are taking rough drafts and transforming them into secondary drafts. Since my students are involved in revision, I thought it only fitting that I consider where in my life I could use a little revision. Here are the places in my classroom, my writing, and in my life where I could use a little revision.
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Revision in the Classroom
As a new teacher, there were classroom techniques I swore I would never use. However, I’ve since learned to never say never. Here are some places where I have made revisions to my classroom pedagogy:
- Brainstorming: For the longest time, I fell into the brainstorming trap, but it’s become such an important part of my pedagogy! Check out my favorite brainstorming tool here.
- Visualization strategies: Like brainstorming, visualizing was something I used to blow off. But, also like brainstorming, visualization helps students interact with texts in a meaningful way. Here are some of my favorite visualization tools.
- Seating charts: As a student teacher, I balked at seating charts, but now I wouldn’t teach without them.
Revising my Writing
What I ask of my students, I must also ask of myself. If I want to encourage students to be life-long learners, then I must also be a life long-leaner. Similarly, if I expect students to revise their writing, then I must also be willing to revise mine. Here are some places where I have recently revised my writing:
- Take the Thank You Challenge: Just in time for Thanksgiving, I’ve revised and updated the Thank You Challenge. You can take it alone, with a colleague, with your family, or with your students! Check out the challenge here.
- How to Find Success as a Traveling Teacher: In a year when I have my own classroom (swoon!), I’m still reflecting on and learning from last year’s experience. Read about it here.
- Assemblies 411: How to Enjoy Assemblies with Your Students: After our Veteran’s Day Assembly, I revised my previous post about strategies for surviving and enjoying assemblies with your students. Check it out here.
- Seeing Straight: Getting Perspective as a Teacher: Gaining perspective on education has been one of my long-term goals. This is as much a revision of a previous post as it is part of my continual personal growth. Read about it here.
Revision in My Life
While Moore English focuses on my professional life, I also set goals for my personal life. And while I’m sharing revisions I’ve made to my classroom, I thought I’d also share some revisions I’m working on making outside of the classroom.
- Most importantly, one of my biggest revisions is to make sure that I don’t die a teacher martyr. Read about the growth process here.
- Similarly, finding a work-life balance is also important for me, so I’ve created an entire Pinterest board focused on this idea. Check it out here.
- Finally, one of my personal goals for 2019-2020 is to try to make healthy choices. I’m not great at this, and I spend a lot of revision power focused on this. Read about my goals for the year here.
What role does revision play in your growth? How do you bring revision out of the classroom? Let us know in the comments!
Photos by Steve Johnson, Kelly Sikkema, Richard Dykes, Volodymyr Hryshchenko, and Forest Simon on Unsplash
