New Year New…?

What does a new year mean to you? New students? New theme? New organization system? New books? New classroom set up? New homework policy? How much should teacher change year to year? How do you balance making changes that work better for you and changes that are made to fit the needs of each specific group of students?

No matter how many years you have been teaching, whether you feel like you want a change or you feel like all of your procedures are perfect just have they are, reflection is a key part of teaching. At the end of the year you just want to plan your summer trips not reflect, right?? The way I get myself to do it is by looking at pictures of my room set up from the beginning of the year. WOW! It always amazes me how the room is completely different than what I planned because I moved furniture, changed displays, and pretty much made almost everything different to fit the needs of my kids. It also helps me remember to not plan too much over the summer because who knows what your new group of kids will need!

Time for flashbacks to the first week of school…

Are you someone who rearranges your classroom furniture often? Like just student desks or your furniture too? I rearrange things so often it is a joke amongst my co-workers. The only thing the same in these pictures is my small group table and it made its way back there after trying several spots throughout the year. We want our kids to be reflective and working to get better so show them that we do that also. I talk to my students about the changes and why I make them. It is OUR classroom we share it, I take their input and ideas for how to set it up. The storage and decorations are even different, I can’t believe how much I changed this room around! Takes the pressure off the initial back to school night set up right? We can agonize over the decorations all we want, it’s going to change when we meet the kids anyway!

Take little moments to just appreciate the fact that you were reflective and met the needs of your students. You made a difference! No matter how small or big a change you made to respond to your students’ needs, you did it. Enjoy your summer knowing how great you did! That is the purpose of end of year reflection not to think of bad things you want to fix, it feel confidence that you did great and it’s ok to relax for a few weeks!

Happy summering!