Make Your Lists

With the new school year looming (is it looming already at the beginning of July?), it might be hard to remember the end of the year. I for one know I was in survival mode for the last few weeks. As soon as my kids were out the door I went into hyper-speed to get my checklist done and out the door for some summer fun and downtime with my family. 

Was I emotional about telling my students goodbye? You betcha. Was I ready for them to leave? Absolutely. Was I eager to reflect and improve on the year that had past? No way, at least not yet.

I firmly believe there are two types of teachers: those who are able to relax and unwind in the summer and those who are not. I am the latter. Yes I do have fun. I go to the library and the pool and on walks and to coffee with my son all the time. We've gone to the beach, enjoyed some relaxing time in the beautiful Texas hill country and lots of time at Gramma's house. But I can only handle so much downtime before I go crazy. I know there are other teachers like me who need to do something in the summer. I also know there are other teachers who would roll their eyes at this!

With that being said, I love that a few weeks into summer I finally am removed from the school year enough to reflect. One practice I love and see as a good bridge between two school years is to make some lists. I start with two that I call my "ADIOS" and "AGAIN" lists. 

As you can probably guess the "ADIOS" list of things that you've tried that you will not repeat. Sounds a little glass half empty, but I think it's important to reflect on mistakes as a learning experiences. Ideally, this list shouldn't be long, but I guarantee as teachers we all have a few things that we would like to move on from. 

The other lost, the "AGAIN" list is successes that you want to permanently fold into your teaching practice. These can include routines or procedures, classroom arrangement, specific units or projects. It doesn't matter how big or small. It's so important to name it and write it down because 1. You don't want to forget it come next year and 2. As educators I think it's a lot easier to list off our failures and overlook our successes. We wouldn't want our students to do that so why do we? 

The next thing I like to do with my "AGAIN" list is to look over it and see when in the year each must do falls. Things like routines and procedures will likely fall in August when you set those up. Units & activities will fall at various times of the year. I know for example, two years ago I started an end of the year countdown in April. It was such a hit that this past year, I put it in my planner right away so that I would be more prepared. Once I know when these fall, I jot them down in my new teacher planner. This way, I don't forget to implement whatever it is at an appropriate time and I'm not scrambling. Plus, it gives me a reason to run to Michael's to buy an adorable planner and all those fun planner stickers.

Of course any notebook and paper will do, but I have created an editable document that you can type into or print out and use and it is available as a freebie here in my TPT store! 

As the summer continues and comes to an end there will be more lists that I'll make but I'll save those for another day! Good luck and don't let your summer run out too soon.