Perhaps strange, given that I’m entering the last third of the school year. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to a fresh start.

Just as with the students, each trimester gives me as a teacher an opportunity for fresher thinking, spurred on by new ideas and different ways of doing things.  Perhaps it’s the anticipation of warmer weather, but, I feel especially energized as I prepare for the Spring Trimester.

During my two-week “spring” vacation – it occurs in March – I’ve been reflecting on my teaching practice; not just what I do technically, but also on my relationships with students.  With regard to my teaching practice, I’ve been reading about formative assessment in particular.  I also explored new tech tools – at least new to me – that hold potential for greater engagement in learning for my students.

Perhaps I’m too much of a traditionalist grammarian when it comes to my practice, i.e. more emphasis on product rather than on process.  But, like so many, including myself, who as middle and high school students, were excellent at form and structure in as a writer, and, who was an especially adept reader, I could neither speak nor comprehend a second language with much proficiency. And yet, my speaking was inhibited, because I was hyper-concerned about producing grammatically correct responses.

Therefore, I am hoping to facilitate greater proficiency with speaking by providing more opportunities with actually using the language, and, focusing more on process.  That said, I do think that there is benefit to knowing what things are called, and how they function in a sentence, which, in our whole-language oriented classrooms, is a benefit to my students.

The other news? My classroom was renovated! All new furniture! I spent several hours in my “new” room, unpacking boxes and arranging things.

Looking forward to a great Spring Trimester!