For my school district, today was the first day without students in the classroom. Teachers are busy finalizing grades, completing paperwork, and packing up for the summer. One thing, one important thing, they should do is take the time to reflect on the school year.
Think about what worked and what didn't work. Really take a good look at the lessons/activities and ask yourself "Will these help meet the CCSS next year".
Many teachers find themselves adding and adding and adding, but never purging their resources. Now is a great time to purge! Do you really need 10 worksheets on the short a sound?
Look at your "staple" activities and see how you can bump up there rigor or relevance. You may need to change those "staple" activities all together.
Reflect on what topics/concepts you struggled with this year. Make those your top priority when searching for professional reading resources. The Internet is a wealth of professional reading resources and ideas for teachers.
The creation of lesson plans should probably not be on the top of your summer list. The creation of resource files, however, should be. Take the time to start sorting what you keep from the purge into files that align to the Common Core. If you want to become more tech savvy, try creating electronic files within Google Drive or Evernote. You can also start searching Pinterest and creating boards for collecting ideas and resources for your classroom.
The end of the school year has come. We need to take this opportunity to reflect and prepare for the next year.
How do you reflect on the school year?
