YOUR Professional Goals and a Winner!

Thanks so much for your great response to my blogiversary give-away.  There were 81 entries/comments.  If you just can't wait to see who won, scroll down to the bottom of this post.  

But, if you can be patient for a minute. . . 

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In entering my give-away, I asked you to comment on what your goal was for the upcoming school year.  I mentioned that mine was to do more professional reading on teaching reluctant readers.  However, I could name a million more!  But, I didn't have to.  You all came up with an amazing list of goals.  Many of you gave more than one goal.  I enjoyed reading them and was able to identify with so many. I could have added most of them to my personal goal list!

I thought you might enjoy reading them.  I categorized your goals as best I could and listed them below. Some could be in more than one category and others were tough to put in a specific category.  The ones that are in italics were mentioned by more than one person.  Other than that, they are listed in no particular order.  Overwhelmingly, it seems one of the biggest goals across the board was to implement the Daily 5 and CAFE.  Behind that, the next biggest goal was staying organized.  Isn't that one battle we all fight? :-)

So, from your comments, here are the goals you all have for this school year.  

Personal

-Get to know my students more personally 

-Make more positive contacts with students’ parents

-Find balance; less work and more family time

-Prepare for a new job

-Get a new job

-Stay positive in a year of big change 

-Provide a great year for my students 

-Work hard to be a good teacher

-“Teach my daughter the alphabet!”

Productivity/Organization

-Stay organized! 

-Better manage paperwork   

-Use my time better

-Bring less work home 

-Keep planning fresh and motivating 

-Clean out the filing cabinets

-Be more intentional in implementing the wonderful things learned from other teachers

-Stay on top of grading and filing

-Keep each nine weeks of materials in one binder for use the following year

-Take advantage of my binder system for keeping all usable plans for individual topics

-Rework one unit each trimester to be a mini inquiry project

Professional Development

-Renew National Certification

-Begin coursework for admin. Certificate  

-Finish my Master’s program in Classroom Technology

-Read at least one professional journal, text, or article each week

-Present at the Massachusetts Computer Using Educators conference

-Become more of a leader in my school

-Finish reading the Lucy Calkin’s Guide to Reading five book collection

-As the school librarian, support more teachers

Blogging

-Keep up with/update my blog  

-Start a blog

-Write more about my teaching experiences

Special Education

-Read up more on autism

Technology

-Utilize more technology in my classroom in general  

-Introduce Edmoto in my classroom

-Use less paper in the classroom

-Implement the Smartboard in math lessons

-Teach more district wide technology classes

-Become more comfortable with social media to support my teaching

LA/Lit.

-Implement Daily 5 and/or CAFÉ ideas  

-Keep up with the reading VOICES board

-Use the common core in the library

-“Step up” my writing instruction

-Integrate more group work in reading & writing workshops

-Implement more strategy grouping

-Use a binder for guided reading to help me stay focused

-Do away with book logs and make reading more enjoyable for my students

-Put a greater emphasis on poetry

-Work more on guided reading and strategy grouping within Reader’s Workshop

-Find my way through reading workshop and guided reading

-Improve word study instruction

-Use reading notebooks to keep track of skills and strategies taught & to record thinking

-Focus more on Greek & Latin roots in vocabulary instruction

-Give my students more opportunities to discover that reading is awesome!

-Introduce book clubs

-Manage time better during student conferencing

Math

-Implement guided math workshop

-Utilize the common core in math instruction

-Get state math test (scores) up

-“Amp up” math lessons in preparation for common core using more manipulatives, group work, and student instruction

General Ed.

-Implement “The Leader in Me” program in the classroom 

-Survive the common core!

-Implement the all new curriculum that is now aligned with common core

-Focus on more flexible grouping

-Improve my small group instruction

-Better classroom management to help the day run smoothly with the help of procedures

-Do more whole brain teaching

-Differentiate instruction as much as possible

-Figure out what my state test is actually looking for!

-Use journals in a more effective way

-Improve partner talk

-Encourage more true collaboration in small group settings

-Implement morning meetings

Funny!

-Get to work on time! 

-Not go insane! 

-Keep calm and carry on. . . no matter what happens!

-Relax. . . I know it will all work out!

Well, don't you think that is a pretty amazing list?  If that doesn't show how dedicated teachers are to their job, I don't know what does.  I especially like "not go insane!"  It made me laugh out loud because, oh, have I been there!

No matter what, let us all remember this. . .

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Now, on to the blogiversary give-away winner!

There were 81 entries in all.  Using the True Random Generator, the winner was  number 23.  Comment number 23 was from Silvia.

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 Silvia said...

I have been following your blog for only a short time, but love all of the ideas and resources you offer! Thank you for your great blog!

August 15, 2012 11:18 PM

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Silvia, email me  your mailing address and I will get your goodies out ASAP!  I went to your profile and blog, but there wasn't any way for me to contact you.  So, I hope you come back and read this! :-)

Again, thanks to everyone who commented with their goals for this year.  It was fun to see what was on your mind.  And, thanks to all who come by and visited my blog.  It was a very good blogiversary!