Well, hello there, strangers!
I know it has been a long time. I know. But something happens to me when I have free time. I write. I write about my two passions—the Lord (working on my 2nd Bible study) and teaching.
Why do I have free time?
Two reasons.
- I do not coach a spring sport.
- I have a few weeks off from my master’s classes (which I will finish this summer—If you could see me, you’d know I’m doing the happy dance about that!!!!)
So...my passion for teaching has prompted me to hop back on here and write a little something for the blog.
Every year that I have been teaching, I choose one thing that I want to work on over the summer. One thing that I want to improve in my teaching.
Why?
I’m the type of person that always wants to improve, to continue to learn and grow, to be the best that I can be. By choosing just one thing, it makes it a manageable goal that doesn’t eat away at my summer vacation and it also makes it easy to focus on implementing in the new school year. I know in the past, I’ve blogged about “too many great ideas syndrome.” You know...when you see so many wonderful things and you try to implement them all and you don’t end up executing any of them well.
My “one thing” has been writing...enter Writing Workshop which completely transformed my writing instruction and gave my littles the confidence to be authors!
My “one thing” has been small group instruction...enter Daily 5 which allowed me to structure my literacy block in a way to meet the needs of all learners, engage my students who were not in my group in authentic reading and writing tasks, and prompted me to make time for one-on-one conferencing.
My “one thing” has been small group math...enter math rotations which involved a whole group mini-lesson followed by small groups with targeted instruction and meaningful activities to review, practice, and extend math.
My “one thing” has been Whole Brain Teaching...that actually took two summers! First, I added attention getters and teaching strategies. Then, I added the Super Improver wall.
I could go on...but those are some big things that I researched and studied to implement in my classroom. Self-directed professional development really is the best kind!
This year in my role as the reading specialist, my “one thing” is to create a stream-lined process for gathering information and diagnostic testing of students who are referred to me, progress monitoring, and communicating that information to teachers and parents. I’ve got a few ideas...I just need to do some research, see how things are done in other schools, and form a plan that works for me.
What’s your “one thing”?
