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Sunday, August 6, 2017

My Goals

I'm a few hours late with the #MTBoS blog initiative this week for #SundayFunday, which is to write about my goals, but I do want to jump on the bandwagon so that I can think through what I want to set out for next year.

Math (i.e, teaching) Goals: 

(I noticed after I wrote them that they really don't apply much to math at all, but more about making students feel even more comfortable in class.)


Goal 1: After listening to Susan Cain's Ted Talk on the Power of Introverts, I am convinced that not all students ALWAYS have to work in groups. She claims that many students are introverts who do better when they can think and work on their own. I am going to really make note of this as well as having students think on their own while solving a problem FIRST (cue this tweet:)

I need to teach this skill and have students (especially in Problem-Solving, but all classes really) know it's NOT okay to blurt the answer (I need to have WAIT time and not tell them the answer so fast, too.) I have been a big proponent of vertical non-permanent surfaces (#VNPS), and my classroom is supposed to have more board space when I walk in next week, so if some kids do not want to always work in groups when up at the boards or in their pods, I have to be okay with that and support them, too.

Goal 2: I love this post from Megan Hayes-Golding,  Perfect Teacher Move to Support LGBTQ Students. Here is a snippet.
It really got me to think, if we could all just do one small thing to make all of our students just a little bit more comfortable, wouldn't you do it? I am going to try to go out of my way to make a student like Ev feel good. It might make the difference for one student. 

Goal 3: Last year, I had some games set up on the back table: Towers of Hanoi puzzles and Rubik's Race. My kids loved them and played them during Brain Breaks and before and after school/class. My goal is to have more kids playing next year. 
After reading Sara Vanderwerf's post on You Need a Play Table in Your Math Classroom, I bought these spiraling pentagons to leave on the back table for play. 


Play Goals:

Goal 1: I am going to get my yoga certification this fall, which will be fantastic and crazy all at the same time. I will basically be giving up entire weekends for 6 weeks, but I am looking forward to growing with the group I am going to be working with. And it will help me to heal as I am feeling the pain of my childhood best friend, who was diagnosed with ALS last year. Here is her blog, http://notgonnabeadebbiedowner.blogspot.com/ which is beautiful and unbelievably written, but also hard to read. She is so raw, and she blows me away with her strength and the things she notices.

Goal 2: I am hoping to go for a walk at night after dinner and listen to some podcasts. I finished my first podcast ever, S-Town, and now I'm listening to Serial. I'm also listening to some other ones, such as the one from Grammar Girl and others. I'm new to Podcasts and am a bit overwhelmed with all of the options! I also hope to listen to them in the car to and from work on most days.

Eat Goals:

Last year, I lost 15 lbs which was amazing. I've put some of it back on, so I hope to go back to the healthy diet I was following when the pounds came right off. It's 80% diet, 20% exercise for me, so now that I am finished with vacation and eating whatever I wanted (pretty much), I am hoping to get back on track!


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