30 Days of Reflection

I'm feeling a little rusty!  In the last few weeks of August I became so busy with the Back-to-School anxieties that I did not take the time to keep up here.  Well, once again I've been spurred on by a Twitter challenge.  When my motivation starts to dwindle, I can always count on my PLN to throw down the gauntlet to get me inspired again!  So, this newest challenge, brought to me by @teachthought is to spend 30 days reflecting and blogging on my teaching.  Each day includes a question for me to ponder and respond to, right here on my blog page.  So, today is Day One... and off we go!

Today's reflective thought:  Write your goals for the school year.  Be as specific or as abstract as you'd like to be!

As a Special Education Teacher, I know how important goals are.  I spend most of my days thinking about, writing, working on, and documenting goals for my students.  But unfortunately when it comes to myself and my teaching, I fail to seriously consider and set goals for myself or my classroom in general.  And when I do take the time to think about it, I have so many that I get overwhelmed and give up.  So I'm very grateful that this challenge is stretching me professionally and personally to carefully consider my goals for the year write them down.  I am setting an achievable  3  4 goals.....

1.  To help my parents, through consistency, communication and honesty, ease their anxieties and worries about their child attending school and giving control to another person for their child's well being.

2.  To be organized and keep control of the paper flow that comes across my desk each day.

3.  To challenge my students academically, behaviorally and socially 

4.  To take care of myself so that I can take care of my students

This is by no means an exhaustive list of what I'd like to accomplish this year, but if I can do these things well, it will create an environment by which I can accomplish all other wishes and desires for my special kiddos!

Michele