6/13/17: (this was originally posted on the past blog we have used)
One thing I love about being in education is the natural ending and
starting of a new year. Even if we work through the summer, we are still
allowed a fresh start with each August. I use summer to reflect over
the past year; pieces of work that were successful and pieces of work
that need redefining. As I begin to reflect over the past school year, I
know an area I would like to focus more effort into next year is
growing capacity with adults I work and coach on a regular basis. I
often go into classrooms to support teachers and students and end up
being called back due to a lack of sustainability with the teacher
implementing the supports. Next year, I plan to spend more time working
with teachers on truly understanding how to implement supports required
for students with disabilities through modeling, practicing together,
and observing the implementation with feedback.
Summer is a great time to reflect on our practices and consider the impact of our work. It is also a great time to consider the feedback we may have received from our colleagues. Reflection is critical to our personal and professional growth. Embedding more opportunities for reflection during the school year would also be great. With regards to supports, the cyclical process, as you mention of modeling, practicing, observing, gathering feedback do ensure that supports are sustained and also help teachers to determine which supports perhaps students no longer need which is the ultimate goal- gradual release of responsibility.
ReplyDeleteReading your post today was timely because I had a similar conversation yesterday with one of the teachers I'm supervising in summer school. He too is looking forward to the next school year to make a fresh start. He expressed to me that he felt that his school year could have gone a lot better, but he would be using his summer school class to help him "sharpen his saw" and begin to hone those skills and strategies that he felt could have made his school year go more smoothly.
ReplyDeleteLike you and him, I use the summer to reflect on the year before and think of things that I could do differently or more of. One of my goals is to improve my methods for teacher feedback and like the teacher I mentioned earlier, I will be using my time as the Summer School Administrator to practice those skills that I want sharpened for next years and years to come.
Summer reflection has always been a favorite of mine as well. Being able to self evaluate to determine aspects of the previous year that were both good and bad and then determining a plan for the next year. Being able to start over fresh in August is definitely a perk of the job, especially as a classroom teacher.
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