Using Your Reflections to Prepare for the New Year
Every week I want to highlight a teacher’s win. This week I want to take a moment and say thank you to all the ESL teachers who are advocating and standing up to racism.The events that are happening against black people in this country, have made me take a deeper look into my teaching practices. I believe reflection is the key to growth as a teacher and that is what I am planning to do.
Many times we rush into the new year without taking the time to reflect on how we can adjust our instruction. During my first year of teaching, my teacher mentor always encouraged me to reflect. Sometimes it was difficult because I get so caught up in wanting to move forward.
In the “Insiders Club” for my course the ESL Teacher Master Plan, I encourage teacher reflection after every lesson. This allows you the opportunity to grow and make your classroom better than ever. To guide my reflection I asked myself four reflection questions. You can download those questions by clicking here.
Let’s jump into my reflection for the school year.
What was the highlight of your school year?
The highlight of my school year was finally having that moment where I connected with my students. This year was particularly difficult, not because the students had their guards up more but the students that I taught needed more time for me to nurture the relationship. I was basing how long it takes to form connections with students from my previous years. This class needed more time to get to know me and understand me versus me being in such a rush to jump into the content and procedures.
So when I finally had that moment which was after I first field trip together, I finally felt like we had built a connection. I always say there is something about taking a trip that connects you with other people. Now that I know this I will be planning field trips in the first quarter of the school year if we are not doing online teaching. If we are having virtual classes, I will be planning sessions with my students that encourage getting to know them and further building relationships.
What were some challenges during the school year? How would you address the challenges if they occur next school year?
Some challenges that came up for me during the school year was striking the balance of doing right by the curriculum and doing what is right by the students. What I mean by that is that the curriculum needed to be sculpted to support the ELLs in the four domains. Last school year, I was more intentional about doing that and it showed. At the beginning of the school year, I wasn’t as intentional as I should have been because I was overly worried about keeping pace. It was an unnecessary pressure I was putting on myself and the students. This challenge will be at the top of my radar for the upcoming school year. I plan on addressing this challenge by preparing my long-range plans and daily lesson plans for the upcoming school year in the next few weeks. In my program the ESL Teacher Master Plan, I coach other amazing ESL teachers to do the exact same thing. This year I am doing my long range plans earlier, so I can catch any holes and be more intentional about my instruction.
Were your lessons during the school year “student-centered”?
My lessons throughout the school year were mostly student-centered. Reflecting, I am going to do more student-centered lessons this upcoming school year. I immediately thought of the fact that I had to “read aloud” a lot of the text to the students. I do agree it helps hearing a fluent reader, but I am going to turn that task to a more student centered task. I am also going to include more activities such as hyperdocs, playlists, and online collaboration.
What did you learn from the school year that will guide your instruction for the next school year?
The biggest thing I learned from the school year that will guide my instruction into the next school year is to be flexible. I am going to be flexible with the technology and the circumstances. I am a planner so of course I am going to try my best planning for this flexibility including ways my lessons can be in person and hybrid.
At the end of the school year or close to the end of your school year take 15-30 minutes to reflect on your school year with your ELLs. Be honest and raw about your highs and your lows. Remember growth is important as an educator. You can use the questions that I provided as a guide to help you with your reflection. You can write them down or simply say them aloud in an audio recorder. Then create a plan of action for the new school year. As you can see from my reflection, I am planning to start planning for the new school year with the curriculum.
Here are your next steps:
- Find a quiet place and think about the school year.
- Complete the four reflection questions in the download.
- Create a simple action plan for the upcoming school year.
