My Goals for this Semester

I am a big believer in setting goals and using them as a way to guide your path. I think realizing your goals and priorities gives you a good sense of direction and allows you to see the bigger picture when you're having to pick and choose where you focus and expend your limited amount of energy. While I love setting goals, I have to admit that I'm pretty terrible about actually referring back to them once I've gotten into a rhythm.

With that being said, my first goal for this semester is to constantly keep these goals in mind in order to make sure that I am successful in obtaining them.

The rest of my goals are as follows:

2. LEARN MY STUDENTS' NAMES - This is a given, but I want to make sure it gets done because it is a vital part of building relationships among students and creating a successful learning environment

3. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LESSON PLANNING PROCESS - Creating lesson plans for everyday is probably the most daunting task to me when it comes to teaching. I want to learn more about how teachers balance and allocate their time for lesson planning, and also what they do in terms of prep for each day and unit. 

4. LEARN WAYS TO INCREASE STUDENT INVOLVEMENT/PARTICIPATION - I absolutely hate when I am at the front of a classroom and I pose a question that is returned solely with blank stares. I also hate when I'm talking and I see most of the students staring off in the distance with their eyes glazed over, looking extremely bored. I want to learn how to combat this and prevent this from happening. 

5. ATTEMPT AT LEAST TWO TECHNIQUES/ACTIVITIES THAT ARE EXPERIMENTAL - It is very much in my nature to like to plan things that are safe. I don't like taking risks when it comes to lesson planning because I want everything to go smoothly and to come across as someone who knows what she is doing. However, this hinders me a lot, and so this semester I want to be sure to force myself to step outside of my comfort zone and to try some things that originally made me say "THAT WILL NEVER WORK." One of my favorite quotes is "What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?" - I know I would attempt a lot more experimental things in my classroom if I wasn't afraid of failure. Therefore I refuse to let fear hold me back!

6. KEEP A JOURNAL/LOG OF MY OBSERVATIONS, EXPERIENCES, AND THOUGHTS - I really do love writing reflections! I benefit a lot from them, and they are also something that I can refer back to if I'm ever needing inspiration. Since this semester will be a significant learning experience, I want to make sure I am getting the most out of it that I can, and I think journaling will help me do that.  While this blog is great, I have a feeling there will be times I will need to be "unprofessional" in my writing, thus I will probably not use this blog as my personal journal.

And finally,

7. BE PATIENT WITH MYSELF - Throughout this experience I am going to do a lot of things really well, but there will also be times where I struggle, and possibly even fail...miserably. It is during these times that I hope I will give myself grace. I know I just said I want to get the most out of this experience, but I also don't want to be tense and hyperactive and a huge ball of stress. I hope I can realize when I need to step back and just let things ride, and that I let myself be okay with doing that.