Second verse, same as the first...??

Not even remotely.

Last year caught up with me. I muddled through, effected some changes, kept my head above water but failed to document and the absence of valid reflection has left me sincerely sorry to myself. I feel robbed of the learning process. The U of C MT program would be so proud to see that 2 years too late I can finally acknowledge that there is value in metacognition.

The brief overview:  New teaching position this year - Grade 4 Math/Sci with a homeroom. Phenomenal, innovative and decorated team teaching partner, somewhat traditional and less enthusiastic pod partner. So many more lessons to be learned, and this time, to be documented.

I'm not sure how this will look in the long run, whether the reflective process should be general and vague or focused, lesson-specific, it might be moments, it might be units, revelations.

Challenges:

• Construct meaningful, valuable, innovative lessons
• Manage the classroom, papers, information, students diverse learning needs
• Master the art of dealing with people

Goals:

• Reflect daily on what went well, what I achieve, what I will make sure to do forever and must remember at all costs
• Reflect daily on what I would do differently in the future

Today was a PD day. It was productive, SO busy, lots of good ideas but they don't feel totally organized. I have written everything down but it is not all in one place which worries me a little. My biggest effort today was to start every reply with positivity (yes, definitely, lots of nodding). I think it went great distances in helping our team to build cohesiveness. We have big ideas. I hope we can make them feasible in the classroom. I also hope I don't get so excited that our my explanations are confusing or that tasks are not clear. In the last few weeks I have learned that children cannot see inside my brain and that my explanations, when I am excited, can become fairly muddled.

Tomorrow it is my goal to slow down. To allow them time for transitions, to settle, to ask questions at the start or end of each period and to make sure that I always wait until I have all of their attention to speak.

It is also my goal to consistently give indication of the amazing things I believe them to be capable of. I'll keep you "posted". HA!