Lifelong Learning
As we approach June 5th, we need to instill in our students to not leave the knowledge they have gained this year in the building. They should have goals and enrichment activites they are able to work at during the summer. Help them prepare.
As adults, we too must be "wiser today than... yesterday." Region 10 and Dallas ISD have many opportunities for professional growth and continued learning this summer.
Embrace lifelong learning -
"The best teachers are also students. Sure, they might still be taking classes, but what I really mean is that they are also lifelong learners.
Find ways to increase your own content knowledge about the subjects you teach. Find ways for the students to teach you. Remember, those who do the teaching are the ones doing most of the learning. When you give students those opportunities, they learn much more than they would from a lecture.
And when you, the teacher, become the student -- neurons firing, brain bubbling -- just imagine how much you are growing as an educator (Wolpert-Gawron, 2009)."
Student Engagement: Ending the Year on a Positive Note
It's that time of year. You look up at your calendar and begin counting down to the last days of school. You might even have little numbers in the corner of the boxes indicating how many days are left in the year or until graduation
Likewise, your students are on the edge of their seats. Maybe the weather has been getting nicer and nicer, or maybe students are in a hubbub about... their summer vacation.
Administrators are wringing their hands with everything that needs to be done before the school doors close for the summer. Maybe they have preparations for summer programs, or maybe they're awaiting those all-important preliminary test scores from the State.
May is a tough month for anyone who works in a school.
I won't pretend to be immune to that end of year feeling, but I'm determined not to let it make me crazy.
Here's how we can stay sane and end the year with a bang.
Celebrate Your Accomplishments
Rather than counting down the days, start a list of your most successful uses of technology this school year. Celebrate your growth and make either a pencil and paper list (I'm picturing one of those papers under a magnet on your fridge or tacked to your corkboard), a blog post or Facebook note listing at least 5 things that you have done better this year (try tagging a few colleagues or teacher friends in your Facebook post to get a nice conversation going), a few new things you have tried or changes you have made in your classroom because of technology. This could be as simple as creating a filter in your email inbox, trying out a new Web 2.0 tool, starting a blog or using email to correspond with parents.
Encourage Student Reflection
Have your students reflect on their own use of technology [or the content they have learned] and have them brainstorm ideas for next year. Let them offer up ideas for how [what they've learned] could have been implemented in a lesson or project or have them list their favorite ways that the class has used [to achieve mastery] this year.
Practice a Positive Mindset
When you walk into the staff lounge, do so with a smile and find something positive to share with your colleagues about this year. Try to pull a happy memory out of them of a successful lesson or bright moment in their year. Both of you will return to your students feeling refreshed.
- Mary Beth Hertz, 2011
Herbert Marcus Elementary
Email: jgillis@dallasisd.org
Website: http://www.dallasisd.org/marcus
Location: 2911 Northaven Road, Dallas, TX, United States
Phone: 972-794-2900