Planning Ahead For Next Year

Next year, I hope to mostly work on two things.

First, I want to develop clear expectations, procedures, and consequences from the get-go. This means I cannot be lax on cell phones and eating. I need to follow school rules consistently from day one, which will make it easier on me as we go. Also, I will be more firm. It took me almost half the year to find my spine and stand up for myself when I was being disrespected and ignored, but when I did, the kids responded, and things got better. I still have one period I struggle with, but that will probably be something I have every year. I just need to develop more tools to deal with it.

The next thing I want to work on is making and using assessments effectively. When I got my job here, I was given so many resources. Included in this were tests and quizzes. I confess in the beginning I did not always look at them first to determine the best way to prepare my students to pass and to understand the material. I think next year I will completely rethink these assessments. I will decide what they need to know and then build the assessment from there. This way I can build the lectures and activities around the end goal like I should have done this year. Yes, this means I will have more work ahead of me, but it will benefit the students in the end. That makes it worth it.