Resolutions

I sometimes feel like January 1 is anticlimactic as a teacher. Yes, we change calendars, and I take a few days to remember to write the new year on checks and such. But really, the new year is more appropriate for us teachers in late August or early September in most American schools. (I would love to teach in a year-round situation sometime, but that’s another story for another post…)

Lots of people spend the last few days of December coming up with goals for the new calendar year. Lose weight, eat better, spend more time with family, and the list goes on. Teachers do the same exercise, just a different season.

So teachers, what are your goals/resolutions for this school year? More communication with parents? Better promotion of your program? Starting a new class? Writing grants? With all that I’ve been involved with this summer, I haven’t spent much time on setting goals like I want to do. Here are some of mine, now that I’ve had a chance to catch my breath from grad school, band camps, and faculty meetings:

1. Implement digital portfolios with all of my music lesson students, including self assessments, goal setting, and reflective activities.

2. Do less book work in my Pre-Algebra class and more meaningful activities that help the kids with number sense. For so many struggling math students, it all boils down to number sense.

3. Spend some time each day with my kids, no screens on, ignoring the phone and texts. They’ll never be 7 and 3 again.

4. Find ways to supplement method books with other activities and lessons that encourage listening and develop musicianship.

5. Stay on top of writing my master’s project paper so that I don’t succumb to my usual procrastination. I have a lot to say. I don’t want to be strapped for time.

6. Have at least a few minutes of meaningful adult conversation everyday. This may not seem difficult to many, but when I teach private lessons most of the day and then come home to 2 little kids, meaningful conversation is hard to come by. Even with my husband. At the end of the day, I crave it.

7. Find time to read every week. That may not seem groundbreaking either, but I need it. Bible, professional topics, pleasure. I need to feed the mind and soul.

Fellow teachers, what are your resolutions?