In the beginning...

Every summer I take some time to reflect on the last year of teaching and how I can improve, what changes to make and any new things I want to learn over the summer.  This year is no different.  Looking back I have to admit it was not my best year.  I was out of the classroom 18% of the time - most were school related...but still - 18% is a lot of day!  Being out of the classroom that often made it difficult to keep classroom management in line and it felt like we were always playing catch up!

So in the coming year I have set four goals for myself professionally:

1. Be in class

This seems obvious, but I say "yes" to many things which means I end up going here and being there all too often.  I am a member of our district's advanced SDAIE training team, I am part of a cohort of teachers piloting a 1:1 netbook inquiry program, I am a BTSA support provider and last year I was a mentor to another teacher who needed some help getting on track.  Anyway, my school year is usually pretty busy - but I want to be in the classroom more than just 82% of the time this year!

2. Blogging

I started a blog last year and it lasted for about a month and only contained 3 blogs.  This year I am going to (try) blog at least twice a week.  I am going to force myself to sit down and reflect on what I am doing in the classroom each week.  I also will tweet them out and I am sure my great PLN will help keep me focused and offer advice as needed.  I believe blogging will help push me forward...after all, tt seems like all the awesome teachers/admin I follow on Twitter have a blog...and suggest blogging to everyone else.  

3. Flipping the classroom

My chemistry class is broken up in to four units - two before winter break (when did we stop calling it Christmas break?) and two before state testing.  Last year I tried to flip my class after the first unit - but the students did not approve.  I blame myself, I did not really explain what it was or how it would help them.  This year I am going to start off using the flipped model and hopefully things will go a little more smoothly.  I have started making my videos - but what I am most nervous about is the class time - or the prep for the class time!  I know flipping will give me more time to do labs...but labs take time to set up and put away...so hopefully I end up with an awesome TA!

4. Going paperless (or using less paper)

I recently had the pleasure of co-moderating #CAedchat with @SamPatue and @JenRoberts1 about the paperless classroom.  I was inspired by all the teachers who are looking to do the same thing as me - use less paper in the classroom.  This morning during that in and out sleepy state - you know it...the time after you have looked at the clock but before you actually get out of bed - I had a dream.  It was the first day of school and I did not have a syllabus ready for my students.  I quickly grabbed last year's syllabus and ran to the xerox room.  As I was dream copying I was beating myself up over using so much paper on day 1.  When I woke up I knew I needed to get my syllabus ready and put it on Google Docs so I won't need to use paper for it this year!  That will save my first 185 or so pieces of paper!

• By the way - for a great 'going paperless' blog read Sam Patterson's blog  
• Jen Roberts has been nearly paperless for years! Here is her blog

Well that is it! Those are my goals.  I will have to refer back to this post in June to see how it has gone!  Wish me luck...and I wish all of you luck with what ever your goals are for this year!