#MTBoS12days - What I Want to Improve On this Coming Semester

Oh where do I begin?  I always feel like there's a ton I can improve on, to the point that I get overwhelmed when I begin to think about all of the areas that could use some improvement.  So let me try not to send myself into a state of inadequacy the day before I return to work.  I'll try to focus on a few areas.

Homework - 

I'm going to start using a Stamp system for homework checks.  I'm using a version that came from a friend in the district, Leah Cramer, but I'm revamping it a bit.  I love how Pam Wilson (@pamjwilson) uses a color coding method for student feedback, so want to incorporate that idea.  I also plan to have a reflection area on the back of the stamp sheet so that students can jot down important things from the lesson that they will need to remember for tests and quizzes.  Here's what I've come up with so far.

I only give 5-8 problems at a time, and the grade area is for students to keep track of their own progress.  I don't actually take the grade in the grade column, its for their own record of how they are did on that lesson.  I plan to collect these stamp sheets on test days and use these when discussing with a student the opportunity to retest or do corrections if they do poorly on the test.

Planning -

Another area that I would like to improve upon is timely planning.  I typically start out the semester way ahead, but within a few weeks I always feel like I'm scrambling to put things together for lessons.  I want to stay on top of this more this semester.  I'd like to get my assessments done before we even start the unit, which is always a goal, but by mid semester it falls by the wayside.

Relationships -

I think I have pretty good relationships with my students in my classroom, but I want to make an effort to be involved with them outside of my classroom.  I want to get better at attending some of their extracurricular things like band concerts, sporting events, theater, etc.  I always have good intentions of attending these types of activities, but when the event finally comes around, I can find some excuse to go home and not stay around to attend.  I know how much it means to the kids for their teachers to be there, so I want to really make an effort to do this.

I'm sure there are a lot more areas I could improve upon, but I'm going to focus on these three for now.