Thinking Ahead

As I enter my twentieth year of teaching I am more aware now of how much learning I have to do than ever before. Sounds crazy, right?

The new school year has begun. The transition of moving from relaxed-long-and-cruising summer holiday mode to incredibly-busy-high-speed-motorway work mode is most definitely underway. As students complete their second, and teachers their third, week back at school the well oiled machine is up and running as smoothly as any school does at the start of a new academic year.

So it seems like a good time to sit down and think about the year ahead. I have three main goals for the coming year. They are all interconnected and related to both my classroom practice and my pursuit of a Master’s Degree (I’m halfway there).

1. I want to become a more reflective teacher. I know this is something I already do, something all teachers do, but I think I could be reflecting more consciously. I could be thinking more deeply about the way I work with the students. Part of this is because I feel as if I’m finally getting a better grip on working with a concept-driven curriculum (this is my fourth year working in a PYP school). I like the messiness of it all. No, I LOVE it. But I still have a lot to learn in this area and I’m lucky enough to have some great colleagues around me to learn from. By constantly reflecting on the learning engagements I design – what worked, what didn’t, and more importantly WHY they did/didn’t – I will continue to learn about myself as an educator. 

2. I want to continue to find authentic ways to integrate technology into my performing arts classroom. This is something that I have been interested in for some time now and something I will continue to pursue. I discovered a great post last year called What’s the Difference Between “Using Technology” and “Technology Integration”? (via @TeachBytes). I find myself referring to the diagram shown in the post when I’m designing new learning tasks, just to keep me on track.

3. I want to assist in the development of the use of technology for learning in the school. I’ve recently become a member of the Learning Technology Committee (LTC). I look forward to working as part of this team. By nature I am not a confident or eloquent speaker, but I hope to make meaningful contributions to the Committee as the year progresses.

For these three goals to be achieved I need to learn a whole lot more. A lot of reading and studying to do. A lot of thinking to do.

Here I go…

Image: ‘On the road again … / De nuevo en el camino …‘ http://www.flickr.com/photos/8991878@N08/3354840032 Found on flickrcc.net

#Thinking #messy #Reflecting #backtoschool #action