Goals

Gah!  Where did the last year go?  I cannot believe that it has been over a year since I last blogged.  I recently saw @jreulbach post about the new MTBoS Sunday Funday blogging initiative and am going to try and jump back into blogging more regularly.

So what kind of goals do I have this year?  Honestly, I sometimes become overwhelmed with all the things I want to do in my life in general, which then results in getting very little accomplished.  I know, I know, I need to just focus on one or two things to make it all more manageable.  This is a very hard thing for me to do.  Here's what I have so far...

Classroom Goals

• Incorporate the use of the Desmos graphing tool in more lessons.  I was very inspired by @saravdwerfs post about Evangelizing Desmos and just how Desmos can be a game changer in the classroom and how it can build equity and access for all our students.  I want to use it to build great conversations and to help them see the math they are doing.
• Student Reflection and Feedback.  This is another big one for me this year.  I want to really focus on teaching my students how to reflect on their learning by providing feedback to them in a variety of ways.  I want to get away from just getting the answer and being done.  I want them to really see the value in really digging deeper into the problems and being able to explain what their thinking was when they were solving the problem.  Not exactly sure how this will look, but I'm working on it.  

Professional Goals

• Reflecting on my teaching even more.  Obviously if I value this for my students, then its something I need to model and refine for myself too.
• Focus on being an encouragement for me team at school, seeking ways to build them up and help them become better teachers.

Personal Goals

• I got really lazy about exercising last year, always with a good excuse why I couldn't make it to the gym.  This year I want to get to the gym more often and if I can't manage that I want to at the very least walk regularly.  
• Be more consistent about cooking and eating healthier meals.  We will be down to just the two of us this fall as we send all four of our kids off to college.  I know that it would be easy to just grab something for the two of us, so I am going to have to really make an effort to plan and cook.

Just for Fun

• I used to be more of an artsy kind of person, but just haven't had time to pursue those things in the last couple of years.  With my kids all out of the house I am hoping to dabble a little more in some crafting areas.  Right now hand lettering and calligraphy are on my radar, as well as pulling out the old rubber stamps to start making cards again.
• Finally, reading.  I absolutely love to read and really hope to squeeze more of that into my life.

Well there it is, finally a blog post.  Now here's to hoping I don't wait another year to write again!