Did I reach my overarching teaching/learning goals this year?

This is the mini poster of my overarching 2019-2020 teaching/learning goals

Each spring or summer, I create a mini poster of my overarching goals for the school year ahead. Today as I think ahead, I want to first assess my success with this year's goals.

Relate to children by making time to get to know who they are, what they enjoy, and what they need

As we know teaching success depends on positive relationships. Overall I met this goal, however, there were a few cases where I wish I spent a bit more time getting to know a few students where the relationship could have been better. I don't want to forget the strength that positive relationships brings to any teaching/learning environment, and thanks to mostly positive relationships with the 69 students and families I teach, the transition to virtual school has been better.

Effectively embed social-emotional learning throughout the curriculum in engaging ways.

In many ways, I met this goal too. Helping students to develop a can-do, positive growth mindset towards learning set students up well for virtual school and typical school success. Our frequent class meetings helped to create a positive class culture. Going forward, I want to make sure that I continue to develop this aspect of the curriculum including regular class meetings that support a cohesive, supportive, kind, and confident learning team.

Look deeply at the schedule at the start of the year and create an effective routine for apt teaching and learning

Our team did this and we had a terrific schedule this year. Having a good schedule makes a tremendous difference with regard to what you can do. It's important to create that schedule with lead time in the days leading up to the school start. 

Arrange the classroom in ways that welcome, empower, and inspire students to learn with capacity and success

In general I achieved this goal, however, going forward I want to par down the supplies in the room with the theme of less things, more time and capacity for learning. While we face the unknown with regard to starting the year during what we hope will be the end months of a pandemic, I will make an effort to re-organize the classroom to meet this goal with even greater effect in the year ahead. 

Teach in a variety of ways to appeal to students' diverse interests and needs

Due to the time available and the large numbers of students I teach, it's impossible to vary the teaching/learning in multiple ways, however I believe our team did offer a varied schedule of learning and teaching events. Our grade-level team approach really helps out in this regard because it gives us more capacity to vary the learning and meet multiple needs. 

Inspire effective learning via positive, deep, interdisciplinary project based learning experiences

Our team definitely did this mostly with our multi-month environmental science efforts and our current interdisciplinary Global Changemakers project.

Offer an inviting menu of inspiring, enjoyable, and educational field experiences, expert visitors, and special events

We did this and the entire team of students profited from this good work. We will continue to do this in the year ahead.

Embed new research, tools, and activities from regular reading, research, and teamwork

We continually researched, read, and looked for ways to invigorate and improve teaching and learning--this was a positive ongoing process. We will continue this work in the year ahead. 

Support more consistent, targeted personal support for all students with particular attention to those without at-home academic support.

Our good schedule, wonderful staffing, PLCs and some new extra programming truly helped us achieve this goal.

Have a positive weekly routine that includes teamwork, standards-based learning experiences, and in-school/at-home practice

We had a positive routine and this routine was particularly helpful as we moved to virtual school. In general, a positive weekly routine leads to greater independence and support for students.

Respectful, caring, and kind interpersonal efforts and teamwork are essential to teaching/learning success

Thanks to an amazing team of educators, family members, students, administrators, and community members, this goal was easier to reach than in the past. I am grateful for this. Positive teaching/learning environments make it easy to do the right thing and have a great attitude.

Partner with colleagues, families, students, administrators, and the community to teach well. 

Our team fostered this partnership. Our efforts were positively matched by all members of the teaching/learning community. This factor led to a successful team approach to supporting students. 

This assessment process has led me to realize that as a grade level team we met the intent and action of these goals. Reflection also tells me that one teacher or team can't do it all and careful choosing makes a difference. In the year ahead, I plan to focus on the following:

• A more concise and explicit focus on developing students' learning mindsets and behaviors led by the overarching question: How can I be the best possible learner and why is this important? 
• Continued efforts to establish best possible relationships with all students, families, and educators on the teaching/learning team.
• A focus on model-making and note taking in math as a way to deepen students' understanding of the primary grade-level math concepts. 
• A focus on a positive, flexible response to the challenges the pandemic will bring to the start of school.

I'll think more on these goals in the days ahead, but this is a start.