A Time for Reflection

Every year as we approach the end of the school year, we are asked to reflect on ourselves and our teaching practices. This may not seem important to some people but for myself it is an important part of who I am. When I was a younger teacher I would try to keep a journal and write reflections in it once a week. I always tried to keep one positive and one negative about what happened. Of course my life became busier as my children became older and the journal slowly slipped away. About that time I was going through my National Board Certification. WOW - now that is really a time for reflection. Since then, I have taken on many more responsibilities through the years along with teaching full time. One of my favorite roles is coaching. I love to mentor and coach science. This time of year we are making reflections about our coaching strengths and weaknesses. Those answers don't come as easily for me as do my individual teaching reflections since coaching impacts others than myself. How have I helped teachers find effective ways to teach science? What impact am I making to each grade level I coach? What do my teammates need from me to become stronger in science content? What do I need to do to strengthen our K-5 team? What am I going to do to make the work deeper next year? Today I may not know all the answers to these questions but I know that they will be the center of my goals as we begin to think about next year. I know that being a teacher truly is about continuing to be a life long learner- isn't that is what reflections are all about!