Thursday, December 23, 2010

New Year's Resolutions

I have been a super cranky, Grinch of a teacher lately. I have a lot of excuses, but it always comes back to me. In the moments of crankiness I can feel how awful it is but I can't seem to handle things in a better way.

So, I'm hoping the break will help me get rejuvenated and start fresh in January. My resolution is to stop reacting to my students and start reflecting more. I hope that if I can step back to reflect I will be in better shape to respond well.

This week my first graders created resolutions (we called them goals for the new year). They wrote their goal in Pixie and then illustrated it. I was amazed at how thoughtful and hard-working they were during our 45 minutes in the computer lab.

This is why my resolution is important to me. Kids who can create these goals deserve a patient, thoughtful, respectful teacher.


4 comments:

Mamie said...

Hee hee, I love it how right after you teach the wh digraph it starts appearing everywhere ("whant")!

Nice goals done in a fun way ("whay"?).

My resolution definitely needs to be the same as your - less reaction, more reflection. Thanks for articulating that so well.

Anonymous said...

I am with you, and will totally do it with you. The kids don't come back the same after Christmas, so why should we? Keep us posted.

Marva said...

I have a bear of a class this year. Have about five very disrespectful students that set the other nineteen off. Maybe by setting these "goals" for themselves they might be able to strive to be better students and therefore succeed more. Worth a try!

Jenny said...

Mamie and Underground Teacher, I have an intern who started with me in December. I was actually embarrassed by my behavior with the students. It was such an awful model for her. I told her I was going to do better in January and the first week back went pretty well. I'm not giving up!

Marva, I'd love to hear about your students' resolutions if you try it. I know my daughter's second grade teacher just had her class write resolutions and my daughter's was to use her words more (I hope she sticks with it!).