Reflecting on the School Year

       Did I do all I could to help my students to learn?
       Did I improve as an educator this year?
       Did I encourage my quietest students to participate?
       Did I emphasize "learning" over "getting-a-good-grade"?
       Did I communicate my expectations clearly?
       Did I establish good relationships with my students?
       Did I call on every students everyday?
       Did I help my reluctant learners to do their best?
       Did I work with parents to help my struggling learners?
       Did I push my highly-able students to do better?
       Did I model a growth mindset for my students?
       Did I provide appropriate and timely feedback?
       Did I demand the best from all of my students?
       Did I engage my students in their learning?
       Did I collaborate with my colleagues?
       Did I try something new in the classroom this year?
       Did I share my knowledge with other teachers?


       Teaching is an imperfect profession.  We get better every year; but we always have room to improve.  We connect with our students, but there are always some students that we can't reach.  We learn new strategies to address different learners, but we struggle to succeed with everyone.  Since we work with people (students) and not robots, every year is different--every day is different.  What worked last year doesn't work this year.  The lesson we spent two hours preparing usually leads to good student understanding, but not always and not with every student.

       The need to reflect on our practice and to improve every year is necessary.  Students change, principals change, resources change, the world changes.  We can't do the same thing for ten or twenty years.  We have to change too.  And when our results are less than we desire, we can't expect better results unless we change.  I often hear people say that there is no manual for being a good parent; the same is true for teachers.  But there are lots of books and courses and journals and EdCamps and conferences and colleagues for teachers to turn to get ideas and suggestions.  Experience helps; and our best teachers are those people who consistently seek to improve--those that reflect on their successes and failures of the past and yearn to improve.

EdCamp

       EdCamp is sweeping the nation!  Have you heard about EdCamp? Check out this quick (1 minute) video:

       EdCamp is like a huge faculty room with teachers from all over your school district (or state) coming to one place to talk about whatever education topic they want to talk about; and to do so with other teachers who are interested in sharing ideas and hearing from others on the same topic.

       I often tell our new teachers that an important way to grow and to improve professionally is to talk with and hear from other teachers.  Everyone has ideas; everyone has something to contribute.  Different teachers have different experiences; different teachers hear about and use different resources.  One teacher uses Desmos (for example) to demonstrate attributes of graphs and equations; another teacher uses PearDeck to gather quick formative information from students (and to enhance student engagement); a third teachers uses TenMarks to determine the level of understanding her Algebra 1 have of a particular standard.  (And so on.)  The teachers using these resources may feel like they don't have anything special to share, but these resources that they use everyday might be completing new to someone else.  Everyone gets better at what they do when they hear from other teachers.

       EdCamp brings together teachers to talk about teaching.  And the teachers that come to EdCamp are the teachers that want to share their knowledge and want to hear from others.  Contact your state education office or your district's Office of Professional Learning.  See if there is an EdCamp being planned near you.  Or host your own EdCamp.

       Better teachers make better students; and EdCamp makes teachers better.