I didn’t quite mean for this blog to fall to the sidelines during May and June but here we are.

My master’s program through Western Governors University started in May, and it has taken most of my focus during any extra time that I have. The other key piece of missing so many weeks is that it was the end of the school year, as any one else who teaches knows, the beginning and end of the school years are a marathon.

So, what did I learn?

It’s both a hard and an easy question. For one, I have worked in school and education adjacent positions for nearly ten years. I am not by any means a complete newcomer. That said, I was a first time fully certified classroom teacher.

I think the most surprising thing were the parent interactions. At the middle school level, it didn’t happen nearly as much as I had expected it to, and only about twice were the interactions less than favorable. In the future I might discuss the conflict trainings I have been through and how I believe they contribute to working toward good parent-teacher relationships, but to sum, it was a lot of “I” statements and customer service that repaired any near damage.

I also did not expect grading to be so intense. I specifically chose to pursue math licensure not only because it is important to a student’s future outcomes, but also because you either get to the solution or you don’t, regardless of the way you use math to get to the answer.

But then, all my students, except maybe four, needed a better growth mindset, so test corrections and retakes became a thing. About once every three weeks, I would have to spend 4 hours or more outside of the contract grading tests. And then, students would start turning in fixes to their questions, and grading took at least another 3. I’m not complaining, it’s not nearly as bad as it could have been, but I am trying to figure out how to promote growth mindsets while also keeping my own work-life boundaries in a healthier balance than being work-obsessed.

The other area I know I need to workshop before next school year is the behavior plan. I have used CHAMPS in the past, and while my district has not formally adopted it, I plan on implementing it within the first few weeks of the new school year. Next year’s students are likely to be, well, a handful. The sooner I can set expectations in place, the more quickly I can hold students accountable and in turn, students understand exactly what they are supposed to be doing in any context in my classroom.

Throughout the masters classes I’m working through now, I’m also gaining quite a few ideas for adjustments for classes next year as well. There are some pieces to grading and moving to a more standards based approach that I’m starting to play with how I could implement.

Overall, I think the school year went well. Feedback from admin and notes from students seem to support that, but I am also aware of where I fell short of what I would have liked. The biggest thing I can do is keep putting students first and making surewhat I’m doing is fair for all of them.