Reflections on Term 1 & My Goals for Term 2

I can't believe it's already the last week of the first term of this school year. Ten weeks flew by really quickly in retrospect.  We were able to have a lot of adventures--Diamond Fork Canyon, getting lost, keyboarding, Leonardo Museum, SEPs, and getting taxed with math facts sheets.  It's amazing how each year brings a new batch of personalities and the fun I have as a teacher to learn how to interact with those personalities, try to bring out the best, and enjoy working with and playing off of my students' strengths and weaknesses.

Some of my favorite memories from this first term would probably be getting lost at Diamond Fork Canyon, "taxing" my students, and helping them to write their short stories.

As scared as I was and as terribly worried as I was (especially for the kids that didn't have their lunches with them) getting lost at Diamond Fork Canyon really was a bonding experience and is fun to joke about now.  I was able to see that my students are made of stronger stuff than they thought they were.  I also learned that I get really turned around in a canyon I've never been in before and that modern technology is wonderful (thanks again to Sherie and Jennifer for helping me out!).

I loved taxing my students because it helps them to step back into history and realize the injustice of what was occurring and why the colonists rebelled. I think that the American Revolution and the events leading up to it are some of the most important events in American history and I am so glad that I was able to get my students riled up enough that they wanted to write their own Declarations of Independence from math facts (which were all written quite well, by the way) and rebel against my tyranny.

The short story writing experience was also a treat.  Even though it was difficult for some of my students to think of an idea and then to follow through with it, I am proud to say--and I am proud of my students to say--that everyone wrote a short story matching most of the criteria set for the assignment. I'm sure that for some of my students, that was the longest piece that they have written so far.  Not only did everyone write engaging, interesting stories, but everyone used their typing skills to type their own story.  That is quite an accomplishment.

I look forward to what the next three terms will bring.

My goals:
1) Decrease talking between activities (i.e. when we move from math to reading groups, just moving into that without a huge eruption of noise and talking)
2) Increase the amount of positive feedback I give--more brag notes, more class points
3) Start to shift more of the responsibility for solving problems between students back onto the students so they can learn to problem solve and be civil
4) Continue to help students get time to work on and turn in homework on time
5) Continue to find ways to teach engaging lessons so that everyone can learn and be successful