@TeachThought Reflective Teaching Blog Challenge Day 1: Goals for the School Year

This post is my first as part of Te@ch Thought’s 30 day blogging challenge.  The purpose of this challenge is to focus on reflective teaching.  

Day 1: Write your goals for the school year. Be as specific or abstract as you’d like to be!

     It’s a well-known principle that goal setting leads to goal achievement. Putting your goals in writing increases the potential that you will be effective at meeting your goals.  
     My goals for this year can be summed up in two words: balance and focus.
     I love teaching, but this year I HAVE to find a work/life balance.  And thus:

• I am going to take better care of myself so that I can be the most effective teacher I can be.  A happy and healthy teacher is a happy teacher, right?
  
• I am going to leave school at a reasonable time each day.
  
• I am not going to advise anything, coach anything, or hold any union office.   This is not the year for me to multitask by getting involved with huge responsibilities.  These things have caused me enormous stress and have negatively impacted my health.  Not to mention, these things have reduced my focus on teaching.
  

     To achieve a better work/life balance and be a good teacher, I’m going to have to be focused.  I need to do the things that will help my students to be successful and to learn skills that will serve them well in their futures as adults. To achieve this:

• I am going to focus more on activities which require student inquiry. 
  
• Some of the ways that I am going to accomplish this is through continuing student blogging in my Psychology classes.  I love how it helps students to reflect on what they are learning.
  
• I’m going to give more assignments where students find the answers to questions and share their knowledge with others.
  
• I increased the amount of primary sources I used in my US History classes last year and this year I am going to include even more.
  

     There are other goals that I have but I’m not sure that this is the year for them.  I want to become a National Board Certified Teacher and I also want to become a Google Certified Teacher.  I don’t think that my “rebuilding” year is the time to take on such ambitious projects.  I can’t seem to just be a 9 to 5 teacher.  
     I have a million things that I want to do and I think that if I lose my focus, my balance will be out the window!  I may need to look back at this post throughout the school year to remember my goals and stick to them.  But then again, isn’t that the purpose of writing down your goals? :)