Teacher New Year’s Resolution

As this year comes to a close, it is time to start reflecting on 2020 and looking forward to 2021. What worked well in your classroom? What do you need to change? With COVID, teaching probably looked different for you this year, but what resolutions can you make that will help next year be better?

1. Get your classroom organized. Use the time that you have available to you when your students are working on independent tasks or watching a fun holiday video to clean out closets where things have been being stacked in precarious piles the last few months. Sort through your desk and file folders so that you are ready to go when school is back in session after break. 
2. Redesign your student learning space. I find it refreshing to rearrange things and have a fresh look on the classroom for the new semester. With COVID restrictions, it may be difficult to make another arrangement of desks work in your classroom, but take the time to change some of the decorations on your walls or the color of the border around your white board. 
3. Create ways to not take work (or not so much work) home with you. Find ways to utilize time when students are working in the classroom to do some of the work you would take home. Stay after school a few minutes every day and spread the work out over the week instead of taking it home. 
4. Encourage more peer engagement projects. Project-based learning is a great way for students to learn together and discover information for themselves instead of being lectured at by a teacher. 
5. Send more positive notes home with students. Students love to know that they are doing well, but we often only take the time to write notes about not-so-great behavior. Encourage your students who are doing a great job and find something great that you can praise your students who are more often troublemakers. 
6. Have more positive talks with fellow teachers. Instead of complaining about the volume level of your classroom during the math lesson, tell your fellow teachers how much your students love the community they’ve created in your classroom. 
7. Do a daily grateful. This is one of my favorite resolutions. I take the time at the end of each school day to write down something that I was grateful for. It is a great way to end the day on a high note. 
8. Write down all the crazy things students say. We always say we should have started a journal from day one of our career to look back on what things our students say, but it is never too late! They are always saying or doing crazy and funny things. 
9. Learn ways to apply more technology in the classroom. Technology is a constantly expanding field. The ways we teach integrated with technology are always being improved. Make it a goal to incorporate more technology into your lessons. 
10. Focus on health. I know, easier said than done, especially in this current climate of COVID. Don’t put your own health on the back burner. Take care of yourself so that you can be the best version of yourself for your students. 

These are just a few ideas I came up with for some New Year’s Resolutions. Try some out! Do you have a different New Year’s Resolution? Leave it in the comments, it might be exactly what someone else needs to see!