The best school year ever!

Where do I begin? Being a veteran teacher, I've broken out of so many things I used to do. I used to do lots of notes, Powerpoints, and Direct instruction. I rarely do any of those things anymore. This is how the year started….( Blog post from Sept.1st, 2016)

“My students test scores on the first two tests are higher than they have ever been in the last 3 years since we started the Common core. What’s going on???? This summer I decided to make very short  2 minute videos on my iPad to teach the skills and concepts. I’ve done very little direct instruction, and almost NO NOTES! They don’t have a formal notebook either. I didn’t make flip books like last year. But somehow they are learning, and much better than before.I MOSTLY WALK AROUND AND HELP INDIVIDUALS.”

     Since then I have continued my quest to have a more personalized learning model. I’ve designed my lessons to keep the students engaged. Reading many blogs, and books has been an inspirational and essential part of my learning. I learn daily from Alice Keeler, Matt Miller, Kasey Bell, and Dave Burgess on Twitter.

These are my takeaways from the year:
1. Engagement is better than compliance.( for the first time in my career, I didn't send a single student to the office) Students that are engaged, don't misbehave!
2. Keeping students in groups works. It became the norm to collaborate, and unusual to be in rows.
3. Feedback is CRUCIAL to student success.
4. Breakout EDU is an AMAZING tool for student engagement. (Especially on Thinglink 360 pictures). I plan to do ALOT more of this next year.
5. I should continue to share my ideas with colleagues in my WASC group, and other teachers by presenting at conferences.
6. Continue collaborating with like minded teachers from other schools, DON'T try to do it alone.
7. I need to continue learning by attending conferences, reading blogs and experimenting with new things.
8. Continue with mentoring from my tech coaches Paula Torres and John Stevens.