Back to School Goals

It is that time of year again! The students will be arriving next Tuesday and the teachers are busy assembling their classrooms. The last few weeks have been a little crazy and I must admit I have been ignoring my blog a little. Thank goodness for the link-up at I {heart} Recess.

Personal: This goal is a double whammy. My husband and I have been running this summer and my cardio has gotten way better. I definitely don't want to lose that progress now that school is back in session so keeping up with exercise is key. The other part of the goal is to try and keep a balance between school and the other aspects of life. I tend to get slightly majorly focused on work and ignore having a social life or keeping up with stuff at home. This year I really want to get better at keeping things balanced by working less.

Organization: I have spent a lot of time this summer getting my classroom cleaned up and organized. Now the trick is for me to keep it that way and make sure I stay in the habit of putting everything in its place. Part of that is keeping up with my marking. The faster I can get things marked, entered in to my marks book, and handed back to students the less paperwork gets piled up in various places in the classroom.

Planning: Our district has a central printing office that takes care of all the teacher's printing. The challenge is they need 72 hours to get everything back to you. My goal this year is to stay on top of planning so I don't get caught unprepared in terms of photocopying.

Professional: Last year I got the chance to attend a conference on differentiation and I am still trying to figure out how to best implement all the strategies I learned. This year I want to continue building on what I know and practice more strategies for differentiating. One of my big plans for doing this is introducing math rotations (thanks to 3rd Grade Thoughts for getting me started) to help meet each student where they are at with my math instruction.

Students: I love the book "Mindset" by Carol Dweck and her take on learning. She has the attitude that every person is good at learning and every person can improve themselves in multiple areas by applying themselves. This is such a great attitude to try and pass on to kids - if something is difficult that means you are growing your brain and learning.

Motto: As a Christian school teacher I love this verse from Proverbs 22. It reminds me there is more to school and teaching than covering curriculum; it is my job to try and instill in students skills and attitudes that will enable them to be life-long learners and continue to grow beyond their years in school.