Reflecting on the 18/19 School Year So Far

I'm almost halfway through this school year (couple more weeks!) and I realized that I have not stopped to really process how things are going during my second year of teaching on my own.  So I want to write this post to do just that. 

Last Year... 

I feel like I learned so much last year during my first year.  People are very quick to tell you how hard things are going to be throughout your first year and how you'll be overwhelmed a lot and you'll have to make choices about what you actually want to focus on for the year.  For the most part that's true.  First year is difficult because you're constantly being asked to juggle and you just have to figure it out or fake it until you get through whatever it is you're trying to get through.  But even with all of this, I feel like I had a really great first year.  After going through my end of the year evaluation, my lowest scoring section was my assessment section (there's also a section for the Principal's observation and for a score that students partially give you that focuses on how well you build relationships).  I was definitely disappointed but decided to focus on the silver lining which was at least I knew what I needed to focus on the following year. 

Classroom Layout

I started out this second year feeling pretty confident.  I knew I had some solid lessons and units I was excited about.  I had a better idea of how I wanted to run my classroom and how I wanted my year to go.  And I do feel like I had a solid start to the year.  I was happy with my classroom layout and I was happy with the extra organization that was in place this year but was absent last year.  I had more bookshelf space and bins that hide the mess but still hold a lot of art supplies.  We use art supplies quite a bit for an English classroom.  Last year, I had my desks in pods and learned fairly quickly that they didn't work for my students and it wasn't really something that I could make work either.  So this year, I started the students in rows of three desks.  This was a much better start.  

Things have changed a bit in my room since the beginning of the year.  I now have three columns in my room and desks are separated into groups of two.  I set it up this way for their first round of MAP testing and then liked the arrangement, so it stayed!  I think it's easier to place students in seats this way... kind of.

Student Connections

I'm really happy with the relationships that I'm building this year with students.  Like, I thought I had decent relationships with students last year, but these one are taking it to the next level.  I'm connecting with students I didn't think I could connect with for one reason or another and students seem to feel safe in my room.  Generally, we have a really good feeling in this classroom.

I've had some really great conversations with students.  I'm not even talking about conversations in class necessarily.  But just talking about life and taking time to listen to students.  One student even said that he thought it was weird that I was just listening to him, because he wasn't used to having that from teachers.  Other students have been able to open up about their home life so that I can better understand where they're coming from.  We have great conversations after school lets out and after school programs are finished for the evening.  It's really special and I feel lucky that I have this with students and that they're letting me have these connections with them.

Subject Matter

We have done literature circles (they need a LOT of work), read American Born Chinese and did some discussion around that book, I did an enrichment project for those who needed more of a challenge, and now we're nearing the end of Romeo and Juliet.  We left off on Act 1, Scene 1 before break and when we get back, we'll make a push for the end where they will stage and perform scenes.

I have been trying to be more intentional about talking about social justice with each of our units.  With American Born Chinese and the enrichment project, I took this to a much more serious level than I ever intended to go and I asked my students to come along with me.  We delved into race and tried to start conversations and talk about it.  We tried to share our experiences and apply what we already knew and learned to our own lives.  I was really proud of my students because they were able to be aware of where their knowledge fell short when it came to talking about race and were able to, for the most part, articulate when they needed help navigating a conversation.  And they did it without attacking one another.  Even if it started off with "You shouldn't say that!" it turned into a learning moment.  And I got to learn a lot too by making virtual lessons where I could be upfront about what I had learned and have practice talking about race.  It was uncomfortable, but I'm really happy that I tried, even if I have a long way to go.

We have some new content that I've never tried coming up and I'm both really nervous and really excited for these units to happen, especially because I think there will be some directly applicable to life parts that we'll go over.  I'll have to talk about those at the end of the year once I've been through them.

Life Organization

I feel like I have been better about getting assignments graded this year.  Prior to winter break was the exception because I essentially stopped grading and now I have a giant pile that I need to grade.  But I have been good about getting things graded in a timely manner.  It's passing things back that really needs work.  But students are always willing to help me pass things back, which I'm really grateful for. 

I am not doing very well at the work-life balance.  I took on another student for tutoring after I had told myself that after the end of last school year I was done tutoring.  I'm in a position now where the student I work with is really great, but I'm very acutely feeling that I need to be done with tutoring.  One full-time job is enough.  Unfortunately, it seems that it's taking me longer to learn that lesson than I thought.  I'll get there though.  I am trying to be more intentional about coming home at a reasonable time, but there have been several late evenings in the classroom.  I want to get better about leaving when I say I'm leaving.  I want to recognize what absolutely needs to be done in the classroom and what can be taken home when I reach the point where it's time to go home. 

I'm thoroughly enjoying this year and I can't wait to see what comes next!

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude