How did I not integrate more technology this year? Why didn’t I think of this before? Ugh! I should have used this new amazing app during my social studies unit in March … what was I thinking? Cut to me dissolving into a puddle of self-doubt. Before I know it, these questions can quickly lead me down a shame-spiral of self-doubt in myself as an educator. I consider what I can take out of my day to make room for these new ideas. I am curious if these new strategies will actually make a positive difference in my students’ ability to read. I feel frustrated by my actual resources and their potential to thwart my best-laid plans. As I share this with you, it all sounds very inspiring, professional, and productive-you know, very what’s-hot-in-education-right-now.īut in reality, these moments of professional growth and reflection have been punctuated by moments of sheer panic. Toward the end of the summer, my nerdy reading carried me off into the world of educational apps and how to add a technological spin to my thinking about close reading. I managed to read two amazing books (complete with vigorous head nodding and rampant highlighting), and a handful of both print and online articles that felt really practical and classroom-oriented.
My learning journey this summer focused on close reading, particularly what it can look like in the lower grades, with an emphasis on making cross-curricular connections. All of the above seem luxurious to a teacher. It is my form of self-selected professional development … but with cocktails or a cup of hot coffee … or bathroom breaks. Is there a new trend-du-jour at your school? Does it have a fun acronym? Does it necessitate many meetings? Does it make you feel crazy and as if you are being asked to toss aside everything you know and love to make time for “The Hot New Thing” that you, personally, aren’t too sure about? Or maybe you are sure of it, but are being asked to do it all, like, yesterday, and you already feel as if your restful summer never happened.Ĭan I take you back a bit? Back to the summer when the days were long and time was your own? To be nerdily honest with you, I actually relish summer as a time to read a professional book, catch up on back issues of The Reading Teacher, or browse through online articles that make me reconsider my own practice. Summer flew by and back-to-school season will soon be a thing of the past.
Mimi of the education blog It’s Not All Flowers and Sausages, shares her advice for how to take a step back and remember what’s important. To mark the release of her new book, Be Fabulous: The Reading Teacher’s Guide to Reclaiming Your Happiness in the Classroom, Jennifer Scoggin, a.k.a.
0 kommentar(er)
