The Need for Routine

As this year has started, I have been reminded about the importance of routine.  This year, I started traveling between the High School and Middle School.  We are now offering Spanish 1 to 8th graders and all 8th graders not in choir will be exposed to a class Intro to Spanish.

One of the biggest issues for me is getting into a routine.  The first day of school proved this point BIG time.  Both the Middle School and High School ran on a two hour delay schedule.  My first ten minutes of Middle School life was a complete disaster.  I had three minutes to set up my computer to the projector of the room I am teaching and as you can guess, Houston we had a problem.  The projector didn't work.  Man, did I wish I would have taken five minutes the day before to make sure everything was ready.  It would have saved me time and my first impression could have been what I wanted it to be.  The next day I was able to get set up and my opening and transitions were much smoother.

This lesson in routine reminded me that my students need a routine as well.  If I need to have a routine in order to perform at the best of my ability, my kiddos do too.  As a high school teacher, the thought of routine always seems to be something that elementary teachers focused, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.  When a student knows what is coming at them, they can perform so much better.

I pride myself in always reviewing the types of test questions the day before.  The material changes, but the style of questions remain the same.  It is setting students up for failure if a teacher gives a test over material or asks a style a question that students do not expect.  My point is that students need routine just as much as the proper review.

What does a routine teach kids?  That things happen in a certain order and this eliminates anxiety over what is going to happen.  Whether kids admit it or not, having a routine makes their life and classes simpler.  The fear of what is going to happen vanishes and students can settle in, relax and focus on what they need to focus on, learning.

Our jobs as teachers is to set students up for success.  Why wouldn't anyone want to establish a routine?

Improving from Reflection

With the close of another school year, I set here and think about how things turned out, what I could have done differently and how can I improve.  One of the most valuable things teachers can do reflect on things. For this to be productive, the teacher needs to be honest and open to feedback from students, administrators and most importantly, themselves.

At the close of the school year, I created a survey through google forms for my students to fill out.  I asked a variety of questions dealing with pace, assessments, technology, favorite part, things to improve on, what they thought I could do to improve students speaking during class.  If I had to pick the one thing that I really need to improve on is having students speak more during class.  This will help students gain confidence and true language learning can take place.

I started the year using some flipped class in my Spanish 2.  The students struggled at first getting use to the new methodology.  The students adjusted after a couple of weeks.  However, I found myself reverting back to the traditional set up as I was planning during the school year.  I justified my actions because I was busy and had other things going on.  Now, looking back, I wish I forced myself to plan out and continued using the flipped model.  It's not easy setting here and realizing what I should have done this past school year. The way to curb this feeling is to take the experience and grow with from it.  This is the purpose for reflection anyway.

Starting this summer, I have decided to dive into one of my favorite hobbies, reading.  I am going to balance reading educational books by reading novels by authors that I enjoy (David Baldacci and Lee Child).  I am reading Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni and have started rereading Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess.  A colleague of mine has let me borrow her copy of Flipped 2.0 so I can read the section by Heather Witten on the flipped class in the World Language classroom.

My goal is to reorganize my curriculum to create units and to set up a flipped model classroom.  I also would like to dabble in #geniushour and standards based learning.  I would love to do everything right off the bat, but I do not want to do a disservice to any of the items, so I will focus on the flipped class and sprinkle in genius hour and standards based learning.

Teachers should always strive to improve their craft and never be satisfied.  That is why I LOVE Twitter. The amount of professional development at your fingertips is amazing.  I have already signed up for an edcamp in Hilliard, Ohio (suburb of Columbus), and have lined myself up for 2-3 google hangouts with the great group of LangCamp teachers.

My goal for the next school year is to make time to blog once a week about things that are going on, my successes and my struggles.  By using the blog, I am hoping to improve.  Any and all comments and suggestions are welcome!

My goal as a teacher is to do the best job I can impacting the lives of my students.  I am not satisfied just keeping the status quo.  I want to find new and innovative ways to reach my students and get them to reach their ultimate potential.

The Importance of Self-Reflection

As the first semester comes to a close this coming Friday, it seems like a natural tiime to relflect on how the first half of the year has gone so far.  This is where some do not like to tread.  I set here and realize that I haven't posted a blog update since August 31.  What does this mean?  I tell myself that I didn't have time and that life happens.  Is this accurate?  To some extent yes, but like all things in life people need to make time for things.

I am happy with the progress of my students so far this year.  I am happy knowing I am doing my best, but the burning question is can I still find areas to improve?  The answer to that is yes.  How?  Self-Reflection.

So......here it goes.  No holding back.

I started the year guns blazing on flipping my classes no matter what.  Spanish 2 started well.  I had some resistance from the students because things were new, I was making them redo work until it was up to standard and being very techy by using a weebly as the hub of things.  I liked the feel and how it was giong, but I still wasn't satisfied during the class periods.  I had various activities that needed to be completed by the end of the week.  Some worked quickly, some tood forever and some.....well, let's say I am still waiting for some work.  Then, the tests and I didn't really notice that much difference in how the students scored.  The next unit I did I went back to my old stand by from years past.  The students seemed more at ease and some liked it more.  However, I felt that something still wasn't right.  I wanted to change up my classes and provide my students with more ways to improve their communication and production and I fell right back to the grammar based ways I have always done.

Spanish 1 I decided needed to start my old way and I still haven't tried a flipped lesson/unit with them. I kept thinking that they wouldn't know how to do things and adapt.  The only person who was afraid of adapting and doing was me.  

This stings as I set here and look deeply into this answer.  I am holding them back because I am afraid of what's not know.  I am making all kinds of excuses.  I neeed to be the one pushing kids out of the box and doing something new even if that means failing to reach what you thought.  I let myself down by falling victim of self-defeat. 

I am continuously trying to evolve as an educator and looking for ways to reach my students and improve their Spanish.  I let my fears set back what plans I had because I didn't want to see the idea fail.  It is time to reevaluate and reset the paradigm with the new semester.  I still have one class period of exams still to give, but I now know where I am starting the new semester.

Self-Reflection.

I will be modeling this to the students.  Then we will work on goal setting followed by creating an action plan on how to acheive these goals.  It is time for Spanish to be more than A's, B's and any other grade.  Getting a grade shouldn't equate to learning.  Learning is an ongoing process day in and day out.  Once we reflect we can move towards our goals!

Reflection means openess to learning from yourself!