We're on Spring Break and whether you're on yours, it just ended, or it's coming up this is a good time to reflect on the year so far. What's been working? What triumphs, no matter how small, have you had this year with your students/classes? I took some of my students on their first trip to the brand new local library. I got my fourth graders, who had been complaining that reading is boring, begging me to keep reading an exciting series I got them hooked on (I'll blog about it when we're finished).
I've gotten a bit more organized and had a lot less stuff fall through the cracks this year. For me, that's a big deal. Part of that was trying to keep my desk cleaned off and make more use of my inbox (and trying to keep that cleared out as well).
Now to try to keep the momentum going and end on a good note with my students. This is one of the hardest times of the year for me. We have two weeks of mind-numbing standardized testing: the anti-teaching. I get discouraged but it also tends to make me react by getting looser and more creative the last few weeks of school. This is usually the time I have the kids start working on poetry and going outside more. We do a lot of haiku and free verse and publish and share a collection these last couple weeks.
What about you?
