Tomorrow I will welcome new students and their parents (and likely many recent alumni) into my classroom for open house. This fresh start is the perfect time to set some “gutsy goals” as we look ahead towards 180 days of learning together.
I will pray for my students, individually and collectively.
I will fail spectacularly. I will admit this failure and go with Plan B, C, D, or E.
I will give your daughter a tampon because the nurse is at lunch.
I will not accept excuses.
I will model what I teach through reading and writing myself.
I will hound my students when they are not at school because I know that being in my classroom is where they need to be.
I will set high expectations and make my students feel equipped to be able to obtain them.
I will say I’m sorry.
I will say thank you.
I will not bring my personal baggage into the classroom (no matter how little sleep or caffeine I have had).
I will celebrate small victories.
I will remember that being understanding and empathetic does not mean that I have to be a pushover.
I will remember what it was like to sit in a classroom for 90 minutes.
Sometimes I’ll be the good cop; sometimes I’ll be the bad cop.
I will not hesitate to laugh at myself.
I will remember that my students do not necessarily learn the same way that I do.
I will be flexible for each fire drill, lockdown, meeting, and field trip that disrupts my class.
I will not be defined by a test score percentage and neither will my students.
I will ask myself “how will this effect my students” before making any classroom decisions.
I will eat lunch in 10 minutes because a student needs to cry for 20 minutes about not getting accepted into the school of his/her dreams.
I will not apologize for the mountain of things that accumulate on my desk throughout the day. It is my process. I will just slide some things over and embrace the chaos.
I will pushback on top-down decisions that negatively impact my classroom.
I will take my class outside.
I will continue to learn from my colleagues.
I will share materials willingly and freely with anyone who asks.
I will make gutsy, lofty, maybe even unattainable goals, for my 17th year of teaching.
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