Miss Rixie's 2005-2006 School Year Goals: a Reflection

Please refer to the August 2005 blog to review the goals:

1. I will leave no child left behind ... except those who blatantly refuse to keep up by not doing their homework, yeah, they're so getting left behind. It's like those kids who won't get back in the car at the rest stop when Dad stops to go to the bathroom, and then he has to drive away to teach Kid a lesson so that it won't happen again. Well, I'll be the one teaching those idiots a lesson: You snooze, you lose ... but beyond that, I will leave no child left behind. Unless they really deserve it. Obviously. Okay, will leave a minimal amount of children behind.
Reflection: Okay, several children were left behind, mainly because they are too lazy to do their goddamn homework. Well, they weren't so much left behind as advised, then warned, and finally threatened that if they weren't waiting at the bus stop, not only was I leaving without them, I wasn't looking back. One kid's MOTHER actually said to me in May, "Why should he bother doing any more work because we're 95% sure he's going to flunk fourth quarter." In the words of Justin Timberlake, um, cry me a river. Hello, he still could have passed the SEMESTER. But he didn't do any work, so he didn't pass. And he wasn't the only one.


2. Will do a minimal amount of study guides and instead try to find a more engaging way to teach students.
Reflection: This was a fairly successful goal. Many reading strategies were done, but I tried to pick fun ones and didn't hear many complaints.

3. Will not allow Scary-Mary from next door to torment me by blazing in the door in all her glory to yell at students to keep noise down and glaring at me from behind her glasses only to mock-apologize the next hour. Will simply explain that I, unlike her, do not choose to teach by making my students keep their noses in their books five days a week without ever discussing what they're reading or doing activities to keep them engaged.
Reflection: Amazingly, Scary-Mary did not blaze in the door in all her glory even one single time this year. She did send a student in once, but it was minor. And, of course, now I'm moving rooms, so her reign of terror has come to an end. For me, anyway.

4. Will write a kickin' choral reading script for speech season beginning in November/December. My choral reading kids will not be subjected to Scary-Mary's "I am a better speech coach" attitude because they will be too caught up in what an awesome job they are doing putting it together.
Reflection: We did "How to Eat Like a Child" by Delia Ephron. And we kicked it!! I had a great group of kids and they had a great time!!

5. Make choral reading more of a student-led event. Instead of having me do everything (write script, figure out poses, etc.) will encourage the kids to figure out how they want to stand, what they want to do, how they will be grouped, etc. Yeah!!
Reflection: Didn't do any of the blocking by myself. At one point, when we were trying to set up a scene that looked like a classroom, I even said, "Help me!! I'm not sure what to do and I need your input!" and one of the kids came up with the inspired idea of having two students sit at the back of the "classroom" wearing Dunce caps. Brilliant!

6. Will not allow self to feel intimidated by scary/psycho members of staff such as scary gym teacher who looks me up and down and could be my grandfather (well, a really young grandfather anyway) and Bitchy-Brenda and Bragger Barb and, obviously, Scary-Mary. Will introduce self to new student teacher since I know how it feels to be a young woman on staff in a building full of middle-aged men who haven't been outside small town in last two decades.
Reflection: Wow!! Was just realizing at the end of the year, around April, or so, that I'm starting to know and feel comfortable--amazingly, like colleagues--with most members of the staff.

7. Be tougher when grading--make my students have to work for it. But also motivate them by doing kicking activities that stretch their critical thinking and application skills.
Reflection: Feel pretty good about this. Want to keep doing it. It's tough to remember in today's grade inflation world, that average means a C--not a B+ as most teachers seem inclined to give.

8. Will concentrate on reading skills and improving reading abilities in classroom by doing research, practicing different reading strategies with students, and generally, becoming Queen of the Reading Pool of Knowledge.
Reflection: Did lots of reading strategies that seemed to work, and built a reputation for myself. So much so that I am teaching a remedial readings strategy class next year. While I'm not the only one, I am the one my boss chose to have go with him while we were scoping out different programs, and I am the one that ultimately chose the program and designed the curriculum.

9. Will not allow self to get roped into doing things for other teachers such as stage or technical manager or director, etc. Will be strong and stick to my guns. Will be self-confident and self-assured. Mean what I say and support what I mean.
Reflection: Well, I got rid of the title "Speech Contest Manager" and refused to take on stage manager again. This may be the thing I am most proud of. Look at my little backbone growing!!

10. Will kick Iowa Standards and Benchmarks of Teaching in the ass, rock my Individual Career Development Plan into orbit, and make my Reading Strategies rule all. As Esme said, I will kick pedagogical ass.
Reflection: My portfolio of Iowa Standards and Benchmarks ruled all, but I still feel like I could use some improvement here. I hope that the reading class next year will actually improve reading scores. That is my number one goal as a teacher, and the reason I do everything I do.