Goals for 2016-2017

I always encourage my sophomores to make goals for the coming school year. I remind them that every school year is a chance to change. It is true for me, too. Even after 37 years, I still have changes that need to be made and many skills that need improvement.

My two main goals for this year:

1. Every afternoon when I leave school, I will have my room ready to go for the next day.
         In the past, I have left quite a few things undone, making it necessary to arrive at school at
7:00 the next morning. I'm a morning person, and I like being in the building before students arrive, but one little disruption can throw off my prepping for the day.

         This year when I leave, I will have the date and quote for for the day on the board. Bell work
         will be posted, and I will have any materials I need for classes organized and ready to go.

2. I will brainstorm, write, and revise with my students.
          I used to do this all the time. Last year, it dawned on me that my students dreaded writing more than they have in the past. We have concentrated mainly on the writing evaluated on State Testing for the past few years.

         This year, I am going to discover ways to make writing fun again. Writing with them and all
         of us sharing writing is one step in the right direction.

Other things that need improvement: developing stronger relationships with students, creating lesson plans that require student movement out of seats, and actually using my classroom blog again.

I figure I have a maximum of eight years left. I plan to enjoy every one of them!

Daughters in Education

I think I have written before about being the 4th generation in a family of teachers. Well, that makes my daughters 5th generation educators. Both of them are now in the administrative end of education.

Daughter #1 is my assistant principal at Tiny Town High. She, along with the head principal, have implemented quite a few changes in our curriculum and even our teaching schedule. It has been interesting working with her--and I am always quite proud of the work she does. (Even when I don't agree 100%.) She does a great job of letting teachers know she appreciates the extra effort we put in. She has even added a bit of fun into our days.

Daughter #2 is leaving her elementary classroom and becoming an Instructional Coach in another elementary school in the same district. She has excellent classroom management skills that she needs to pass on. (She puts me to shame.) I know she will be working with a new discipline plan that the school has adopted. She has already been trained in the plan and used it several years in her own classroom. I am eager to hear how her year goes.

So that leaves me... still in the classroom. And frankly, I would hate what my daughters are doing. I love putting my room together, learning about my students, and dealing with the challenges. My classroom is where the fun is. I don't plan on leaving it.

I'm guessing you can figure out what we talk about when we are all together.

Oh, and I won't be at all surprised someday if they find an educator gene. I'm pretty sure it runs deep in my family.