Amanda Madden over at Teaching Maddeness had a great idea for a linky party: New School Year Resolutions! As soon as I heard about it I wanted to join the fun. So, without further ado, here are my resolutions for the upcoming school year:
1. I need to let the children speak more and listen to what they are saying. I'm going to do this by planning more cooperative games and think-pair-share times. I'm also going to do less explaining and more asking them why they think the answer is right, or why they made a choice that they did.
2. I'm going to set up my centers with very concrete picture directions so that my students don't need to ask me for help but can ask each other, look at the picture directions, or listen to the pre-recorded directions.
3. I plan to not eat the snacks that I buy for the students, so that I can lose weight! Last year, students were kissing my stomach and saying hello to the "baby"! I told them that I was not having a baby, and that I was just eating too much. Then, at the end-of-year ice cream party, my smartest little girl told me to put down the ice cream! She said "Put down the ice cream, Mrs. Dudley! You'll get fatter!" That was it! I'm on a diet!
4. I want to include more art. It's not one of my strengths, but I feel it's SO important for five-year-olds. I'm not going to make excuses this year. I will incorporate art with science, math, social studies and language. I am counting on all of you to keep me honest with this! Please, post integrated art activities!
5. I want to post more things that I make on TPT and TN. Sometimes I'm a slacker and I make great things for the classroom without posting them in my stores. A fellow kindergarten teacher is going to keep me on track this year, because she's the friend who got me into TN in the first place.
Have a lovely school year!
I love the new look on your website! How did you decide to change it? I have thought about doing the same with mine.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you like the best about the Lego conference? I always hope one comes near me because I would LOVE to go to one! The Google Apps conference was terrific!!
Christina, I set up my web site in the beginning to be very friendly for blind folks, with captions and labels on everything so a talking computer could read it. Then, one of my sighted friends told me that the banner looked a little plain, and that the blog wasn't very colorful. So I changed it because I wanted to make it both blind friendly and appealing for sighted people. I hope I accomplished my goal.
DeleteThe Lego Education conference was mainly talking to the Lego manufacturers from Denmark. They wanted to know what the curriculum looks like for teachers across the country, what their teaching goals are, and what they're looking for in Lego Education products. I applied for a seat on the Lego Education Advisory Panel and was chosen out of more than a thousand applicants. I know they're really looking to expand their pre-k and kindergarten teacher base, so if I'm still on the panel next year, and if you're interested, maybe I could give them your email. Speaking of email, I sent you a PDF file recently by email and I'm not sure you received it. Has your email address changed? Write back if you can.
Thanks for linking up to the party! Oh, the mouths of babes...sometimes you've just got to laugh at the things that come out of those mouths! :) I love your first resolution...I need to work on making sure the students have more of a voice!
ReplyDeleteAmanda
Teaching Maddeness