Goals for A New Year

Tomorrow marks the first day for me as a teacher here in Arizona. While it will only be trainings all week, which will most likely be boring, I am so excited to get started. For those of you who don't know, I am teaching something completely new this year: English Language Development. I have worked with many students in my past four years of teaching that spoke another home language, but never before have I been given the task of specifically helping them develop their English language. I know my teaching practices as a reading teacher will serve me well in this new venture, but it is a new state with new standards and test, a new school with different expectations and procedures, and a very different demographic of students. While in some ways that is daunting, it is also incredibly exciting. I really can't wait. To mark this powerful new moment in my life, I , as always, made a list. There will be a learning curve. I won't get a lot right. I want my expectations to be realistic. This is what I want from this year:

1. I will learn something every day. Even if it is what doesn't work with a group of students or something new about a single student. If I walk home knowing something I didn't know coming into the day, I have accomplished something.

2. I will share my love of reading...and writing...and speaking. I may not be a reading teacher anymore, but I can't think of a better way to learn English than by reading. I learn new words all the time when reading books. I know not all of my kids will love reading like I do. In fact, it will be an incredibly frustrating enterprise for many of them. I think attitude goes a long way. If I am just honest about my love for all of these things, students may see potential for the same love with practice.

3.I will have an organization system. While many amazing teachers are very disorganized, I learned in the past few years how less stressful a school year can be if you do the work of really thinking things through up-front.

3. I will give students the opportunity and the encouragement to participate. I think this is incredibly important when learning a language. I know Spanish in theory fairly well, but I am not fluent because I never actually talk to people in that language. When I am given the opportunity, I always feel as if everyone is judging what I say. So, it is my goal to make sure the environment is safe and encouraging for everyone to talk without judgement.

4. I will be open to feedback. I think one of the best ways to get better is to ask others with more experience. As I learned early on from speech competitions, it is difficult to take negative feedback, but if we utilize the criticism and understand it is not a personal attack, we can get better. I also think it's important to ask students how they feel things are going. I don't have to take all advice, but I need to listen to all of it.

I am so excited to start this new adventure and will keep you all up to date on the things I learn along the way!