We did it. We made it to the end of another school year. As we breathe a sigh of relief that little Johnny managed to pass with the grade that he wanted, Susie received all of the credits she needed to graduate, Bobby is now a discipline problem for his English 2 teacher, and Laurie received the scholarships for which you wrote rec letters, we all probably manage to take a little time to reflect on our year and ask a few questions.
From my own school year experience, I am left with the following questions:
1. What do I feel I did well?
2. What would my students say I did well?
3. What lessons/units were the most successful in terms of student learning and meeting lesson objectives?
4. What do I feel did not go as well?
5. What changes would I make next year in terms of the following: classroom management, content selection, learning objectives/enduring understandings, classroom procedures and policies, and lesson and unit design?
6. What learning/research should I do over the summer to improve student achievement?
7. On what aspects can I collaborate with my colleagues over the summer in order to improve student achievement?
8. How do I apply a social justice to all of my thinking so that the decisions I make create an equitable environment for all students?
Honestly, these eight questions will stay with me all summer as I begin planning for next year. As humans, we have a tendency to focus on the negative, but I have found that it is equally important to think about what we do well. We can learn just as much from the good as the bad. So, for every negative item you may have to list, be sure to find two or more positives. Rest assured that if you are taking time to think critically about your teaching's impact on your students' achievement, then you are definitely doing your career "right."
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