Sunday, July 20, 2014

2014-2015 School Year Goals!

It is my first post EVER!!! I have been dragging my feet with this whole blogging thing, because I always think, "What do I have to say that other people would want to hear about?!". One of my friends, Lindsey is a blogger and has finally convinced me to jump on the wagon! So, here it goes! Lindsey & I were chatting and decided a perfect first post would be my goals for the school year! 

I'm linking up with Jess over at I Heart Recess for this first post! Go to her blog so you can link up too! 




Personal: Goodness, don't let my mom see this goal! She'll quickly go, "How long have I been telling you this?!". Confession time, I am a....WORKAHOLIC!!! It is absolutely exhausting. Not only was last year my first year teaching so I was learning everything new, but I also have not given up my part time job of babysitting. I absolutely adore all of my families, because it's kind of like having a family right down the road as opposed to my parents being an hour and a half way. Although I do love them, I have to remind myself frequently that I'm a 24 year old who needs to have a life of her own! I have a problem saying no sometimes. I need to learn to put Kadie the Babysitter on the back burner and put Kadie the Human in the front of my mind and not exhaust her. I don't want to get burnt out! 

Organization: I was SO blessed to have an AMAAAAAZING para educator in my room last year. We learned each others moves very quickly, and everything felt so natural. I rarely had to ask her to do something, because she was so on top of it! With that being said, every Friday when homework was due, she'd grab the papers, check them all, and check in with kiddos who didn't turn it in. This was SUCH a time saver for me! Unfortunately next year I won't have her in my room, or any other para, so I HAVE to find a quick strategy to see if the kids have turned their homework in and a quick way to check it. Any great ideas you have, I'd love to hear them! 

Planning: Science is my downfall. I used to get SO nervous going into a new science class all throughout high school and college. I LOVE science, it amazes me, but I just don't get it sometimes! My fab fourth grade team is often in my room, helping me out after school. I need to start planning science much more in advance & finding some supplemental materials for myself and the kiddos, so we can ALL understand it better. 

Professional: Remember how I said I have a problem saying no?! Yeah, that's at school too. I'm actually really excited for this though! We have conflict managers at our school, which is offered to 4-6 graders where they go out to younger kids' recess and help solve conflicts if one comes up (before they go to the teacher). One of our teachers jumped down from 4th grade to K last year, so it doesn't make much sense for her to do it anymore since she won't have had the kids for at least 4 years by the time we're ready to assign them, so I offered to take over for her. The guidance counselor & I are going to try to come up with ideas for how to get kids excited about this! Hoping we can encourage students to do this, and show them how important it is. 

Students: Along with our curriculum for reading, we also read novels based on students' reading levels. The kids absolutely love being able to have an actual chapter book to read. Last year I tried to implement lit circles on Fridays, where the students met with their assigned book group and were completely independent doing this. It didn't go as well as I hoped, and I take full blame for that. I really need to do a better job of explicitly teaching how to ask questions, make thoughtful comments, etc. I think this year I am going to read a short novel with them together & show them the types of questions and comments we should be making. My students last year had this amazing love for reading, and I'm hoping my class this year does too. I can only imagine where the lit circle conversations could go if I explicitly teach it! 

Motto: Kid President is THE BEST EVER! If you haven't seen any of his videos, GO RIGHT NOW! STOP READING & GO LOOK HIM UP. If you have heard of him, you know exactly what I mean. He's the cutest little kid, who has a BRILLIANT mind. We love him at our school and our principal encourages us to show some of his videos! Oh, and he's funny! I am all about class community, and this will definitely be a sign in my room next year. You can disagree, but being mean is a big NO-NO! 



It's hard to believe I'm writing goals for next year already since that means school is right around the corner! In fact, I think I'm heading in tomorrow to go do some rearranging of furniture in my room. Where did Summer go?!