What To Do Now That School Is Out
School is out for many school districts and while everything is still
fresh in your mind, it's a good time to do some reflection. What would
you want to reflect on now - when you just get out of school and
want/need some down time? Well, you can think about your year as a
whole. Did you get to effectively teach everything that you needed to
teach? If not, why? Did you spend too much time on other lessons because
your students just needed more time? Did you not have the resources
ready for a lesson so you didn't have everything you needed to teach it?
Is there something you can think of now that might help for next year?
Or do you just need to put that on a back burner for now? If so, put it
somewhere you can find it later in the summer so you can work on it.
The same concept applies to individual lessons - were there lessons that
were winners? If so, why? What did you do in those lessons that were
your best lessons. Maybe you'll begin to see a pattern if you are
looking at several lessons. Then ask yourself if you had lessons that
were not up to par. If so, why? And importantly, what would you do to
change those lessons. Can you identify strategies you used in effective
lessons which weren't in these lessons (or for some reason didn't work
as well)? Make notes so that when you are ready to think about changing
those lessons, you'll remember exactly what needs to be changed and
maybe even you'll think now about some strategies you can use!
Reflection is a very effective strategy that can help you teach more
effectively. There have been many studies that show it improves
instruction. Actually, studies show that reflecting can make the
difference between an ok teacher and a master teacher. And it also helps
teachers from getting burned out. So think now and promise yourself
that next year you'll reflect after each lesson!
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