The restart button we’re blessed with each year is a beautiful thing. New school year, fresh start, fresh eyes, fresh ideas, fresh class list and fresh new set of whiteboard markers.
As the school year wraps up and we approach this precious little window of reflection time, I think about my successes, my failures and how, come August, the slate will soon be clean again.
In late spring, we get the opportunity to reflect on what turned out to be a disaster, learn from it and drop the major fails in the dumpster of dumb ideas (or maybe the recycle bin of bad timing). For me, the biggest takeaway this year is that I don’t let my kids collaborate enough. I failed to incorporate enough group work and partner activities. Blinded by the mission to get students to take ownership of their learning and push them as individuals, I overlooked opportunities for them to talk out concepts and ideas with their peers. No wonder why I always felt like they were so “chatty.” That was my bad.
One of my big wins was tossing out the good ol’ gradual release learning model. Being less rigid about the I do, we do, you do model and formatting lessons to be inquiry-based was a real eye-opener. Students independently tackled guided questions (with scaffolding as needed), then we reconvened for a whole class discussion to share out and analyze findings, clarify misconceptions, and squeeze in a mini-lesson or two before the culminating exit ticket.
Kids began to encounter authentic reading strategies and had epiphanies about characters or historical events without me spoon-feeding first. They started to ask more questions and think for themselves. Persevering through the messiness of trying this new teaching approach reminded me that it takes more than just a few weeks for something or someone to have an impact. It took six months for me to see the impact here, even just a little bit.
Teachers may go a whole school year without seeing our impact. That doesn’t make us less influential...it’s just the way it is.
Things I Ask Myself Before Summer Break
- What went well?
- What went wrong?
- What did my kids love?
- What did my kids hate?
- What can I build on?
- What can I simplify?
It helps to put it on paper now, not later. We’ll be in vacay mode this summer and forget or simply not care to reflect. All these upcoming state testing proctor hours should give us days upon days of meditation and quiet reflection. No cell phone, no writing tool, nothing but 21 hours of daydreaming and breathing through our mouth from a classroom full of nervous farts, while our students take their thirteenth standardized test of the year.
Oh what a feeling to tuck your reflection notes away for the summer and dig 'em out when your head’s back in the game. Ahh, summer days are almost here.
Power to the teacher.
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