Today I am thinking carefully about my career goals, actions, and results?
I am wondering about where I hit the mark, and where I have room for growth.
I am looking at the mountains that separate me from my best work too, and wondering how to ascend those mountains with strength.
The questions that lead this analysis include the following.
1. Are the children in my midst engaged, inspired, and happy?
For the most part, I will answer yes to this question. Over the past few years, I have devoted my study and work to changing the classroom choreography in ways that enhance engagement, inspiration, and happiness. Is there room for growth, certainly, but substantial gains have been made.
2. Is the learning program successful? Are children advancing in ways that make a difference in their lives?
This is a much more complex question, one that I want to address and explore with greater depth and many more questions:
a. What are the specific learning goals? How do we assess those goals, and do we meet the goals?
The goals and assessments are many, and in many cases we meet the goals of identified learning objectives, but in some cases we do not meet the goals. This is an area of school life I want to think more specifically and deeply about. I want to consider the goals we have, and which goals are the most important. I want to think about how we relay those goals to the learning community inclusively. I want to decide when a goal is so important that we will not accept a child's inability to reach the goal, and when the goal is secondary--not as important as others, and a goal that some children may not reach for multiple reasons.
b. Is our goal list complete? Are some important goals missing from our vision and agenda?
This requires deep thinking about current goals, students' needs and interests, and the overall movement of learning and knowing in today's world. A point of consideration for our collaborative teams and summer study.
3. Am I an effective educator?
This is a complex area of consideration as an educator's role is a multi-faceted role. Most educators, like me, have a fairly solid understanding of their strengths and challenges. The key is to share the strengths, and embrace the evolution the challenges call us to face. No educator is completely effective as it's a role requiring constant reflection and growth, but no educator is also without merit or strength, and that is important to recognize too.
The summer is a good time to reflect on the overall teaching program, and a good time to strengthen the areas of challenge. Leading this work with the questions above is helpful.
