It seems like only yesterday that I walked into A102, nervous to meet my new kids and assimilate to a new school. Time goes by way too fast, although I'm sure our students are feeling quite the opposite with the bombardment of final projects, POLs, and tests.
I figure, I haven't had a reflective post yet, so why not now? This year was absolutely crazy. My husband completed his first combat deployment to Kuwait in which he flew to and from Baghdad, avoiding gunfire. We made it 7 months apart. We packed up our home, well the Marine Corps packed up our home, and we moved across the ocean to Hawaii. I started a new job 3 weeks after my old teaching job ended. I met 31 young people who have stolen my heart and joined a team of 4 extremely hard working and inspiring teachers. Holy cow. I love looking back on everything that happened in the last year, but man I do not want to do it over again. Moving stinks!
As I reflect more specifically on my classroom, I realize that I have so much room to grow. For me, that is a feeling of inspiration and excitement, not one of stress and pressure. This was the first year I fully turned my grading into formative and summative based grades. It was the first year I implemented socratic circles and paideias as assessments for our class book. It was the first year students have written blogs in my classroom. And, it was the first year that I had an all-boy class. I am grateful for these new opportunities and for a classroom that is unafraid of me trying new things.
2017 is coming, and it's coming fast. I look forward to the new learning next year. I look forward to being able to pronounce more street names that just my own. I look forward to pushing our students to perform their spoken word poetry at a banquet. I look forward to maybe trying spam for the first time in my life. But mostly, I look forward to further building the relationships I have created with my students and my coworkers.
Winter Break, I am ready for ya.
