- evaluation of students (progress reports)
- evaluation of materials and classroom set-up (clean-up)
- evaluation of teaching (summer study schedule)
- evaluation of professional efforts (next year's goals)
Conducting this evaluation of the year at this time will free me up to give students my full attention and care during the last days of school.
Students
This was a great year when it came to putting students first. I believe the curriculum program was strong, varied, and student-centered. The growth to come here is to continue to move towards as much as possible dynamic attention to specific and collective students' needs, interests, and standards with thoughtful researched learning design and delivery.
Materials and Classroom Set-Up
We ordered lots of great materials last year which really helped us teach well. I'll do the same this year. Also most materials were organized well with child-friendly, easy-to-access plastic containers. I'll work now and in the summer to create a well organized STEAM classroom made up of terrific materials.
Teaching
The more I write, read, research, design, deliver, assess, and reflect, the better my teaching gets. I simply need to continue these efforts regularly to teach well. Overall this was a strong year of teaching.
Professional Efforts
The strong side of this included the many learning events I attended and participated in throughout the year. All of these events served to boost my teaching and learning with a focus on student success.
The weaker side of this was successful navigation of all the specialists and initiatives I am involved with--the lopsided equation of leaders/specialists/initiatives and time to coordinate with care resulted in challenge.
Overall, my efforts to coordinate with the special needs department grew this year thanks to the following efforts:
- a reflective special needs teacher committed to learning and growing her program with transparency and regular share to serve children well.
- a start-of-the-year lengthy meeting to schedule and target services and communication with care.
- online scheduling and share with lead time related to all student efforts.
- frank and honest communication, debate, and discussion about students' needs.
Efforts in other areas were less successful, and I hope to develop this area with the following actions:
- greater focus on my role, and less attention to other's roles and charge. With so many big ideas, I find myself wanting to change all aspects of school--I'll save those for my blog and center my approach at school with targeted care.
- less emails, and using one Google doc for collaborative share and questions instead for multiple curriculum leaders and specialists.
- somewhat less effort to integrate everything. Simply due to time and numbers, some areas of school life have to be discrete--standing alone to serve students well. Integration is advantageous to learning, but impossible in all areas at this time.
- targeting my own goals with greater specificity, and building an ally group, a group of educators who are invested in similar goals and focus.
- cognizant of others' debate and learning styles--in the teaching/learning world, similar to the student world, everyone learns, communicates, and develops in different ways--it's never a one-size-fits-all.
We are never "there" when it comes to our best work as learning and teaching well is a lifelong pursuit, a pursuit with a moving target since the challenges we face are always changing as the world around us evolves.
It is in our best interests to assess our efforts and work with honesty and a growth mindset. It is also in our best interests to seek the honest consult and guidance of peers, leaders, and others who share our goal of learning/teaching excellence with a focus of engaging and empowering student growth and development.
We start each year with strong goals and intent, and we end the year with a mix of goals met and new goals to reach for--this is the teaching/learning journey, a journey that at its best is a dynamic road to travel, but never a road without challenge and need as well. Onward.
