Reflect on Your Teaching Everyday

I like that.  At the end of each lesson, or the end of each day, taking a moment to reflect on how students are progressing and what I can do to further their learning; to make a real study of my effectiveness as a teacher and of my students as learners.  At first this feels burdensome, a heavy brick added to an already back-breaking load (I went for drama because I liked the alliteration!).  The sooner we tend to this however, the sooner we can stop wasting time and resources on an unproductive path and find something that works better for our students.  The best way to get the information we need is to have very regular assessments of all kinds that don't feel like assessments to the kids.  We need to pay attention, formally and informally, finding many ways to check for understanding everyday.  We should also pay attention internally; maybe have some sort of engage-o-meter.  We can feel when the students are engaged, and keep notes about what really works.  I wonder if this comes naturally after a time?

I appreciated Robin's categories on her lesson plan: Share and Summarize; Application and Extension; and Assessment that is followed by Reflection.  Working these right into my lesson plans will help me make a habit of it.

Writing, writing, writing

What is the dang deal?!  Writing for me feels like such a labor.  I have really enjoyed reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.  She is emotionally dramatic and deft at writing about it.  It makes me laugh out loud!  My own problem with writing is that I am not sure that what I have to write about is all that interesting and worth the time to put it to paper.  Don't get me wrong.  I love, love, love to learn.  And I get very excited about many of the things I learn.  I really enjoy the interconnectedness of all the things I learn; the metaphors, large and small, that play out in my mind across disciplines.  It is the putting it to paper that feels like pulling teeth for me. I am just not sure that my meanderings are worth the time and effort.  Once in a while I appreciate a well-turned phrase that falls onto the page from my mind, but overall it feels like so much digging, so few pearls.  And all that work when there are so many other fabulous things to put my energies to.  There. I wrote it.  This is really hard for me.  Now I need to get on to writing some other reflections for other assignments.  Perhaps some more coffee, some feeding of the animals, a breath of fresh air, a snuggle and then some more writing . . .