Category: Goals

Classroom Strategies, Goals

Setting Goals for the New Year

Mari Venturino

This post was originally written for and published on KidsDiscover on January 7, 2021!

Celebrating the new year, whether it is in January, the start of the school year, or turning one year older, it is so much fun to set goals. It is important to model how to be a reflective human, set goals, and encourage ourselves to be our best selves! 

Here are three ideas to help students set goals for the new year! All three can be used as either digital or analog activities, and are perfect for virtual, blended, and in-person classes. 

Future Me

Have students write a letter to themselves using FutureMe! Students do not need an account and it is free. I have had my students write themselves letters to be delivered at the end of the school year, at the start of the next school year, or even at the start of their senior year of high school. 

If students do not have a school email address, have them use your teacher email, then give the student their letter once it arrives to you. 

For analog options, have students write themselves a letter, collect them, then return them to students on a specific date. If you have funding available to purchase stamps and have access to students’ current addresses, mail the letters to your students (remember to alert them ahead of time that you will mail this and/or give them the option to opt out–they may want to be more selective of what they write if they think an adult will open it before them).

OneWord2021

Have you seen people share their #OneWord on social media? Try this same idea with your students. It’s simple: everyone picks a word that will represent their goals, hopes, and aspirations for the year to come. Many people prefer to use this in lieu of a New Year’s resolution. Use this template with your students as either a digital or analog (print it out for each student–I printed 2 per page to save some paper and cut down on wall space used when hanging them up) activity. 

If you’re doing it as a digital activity, have students post their final product on Padlet! For the analog option, it is awesome to hang these up on the wall, in the hallway, or in the windows as a reminder for each student. When I have done this as an analog activity, I pass them back at the end of the school year; it sparks awesome conversations with my students about how their OneWord has represented their year so far. 

Where I’ve Been, Where I Am, & Where I’m Going Reflection

Finally, try out this more in-depth reflection activity: Where I’ve Been, Where I Am, and Where I’m Going. I first participated in this type of reflection in college during Resident Advisor training; we used it during a week-long workshop on diversity and inclusion as a way to process what we had learned and what we would learn for the upcoming day. I have repurposed it as my own yearly reflection! 

Use this template to have students fill in their own reflection. It pairs well with soothing background sounds (like these ocean waves!) and some deep breaths. 

Happy New Year! No matter your teaching situation as you start 2021, remember that you matter to your students! 

Goals, Reflections

2019-2020 School Year Goals

Mari Venturino

I’m already 4 weeks into the school year, and I haven’t yet posted my 2019-2020 school year goals. I’ve been blogging a ton at my Mari’s EdD Journey blog, mainly because I was taking a blogging course, and felt like I’ve been blogged out lately. Not burned out, just a lot of effort directed to blogging for a different purpose.

That being said, I am hoping to maintain both blogs this year. I know it’s a lot, and my goal is to post weekly, and alternate blogs each week. I enjoy sharing, and I like to think I have something of value to add to both spaced (edtech/teaching in general and the EdD process).

This year, I am only teaching 7th grade science. It’s a huge difference from the last few years, where I’ve had 1 class period of technology resource plus 8th grade AVID. It’s strange to have 5 sections of 7th grade science and nothing else.

Science

One thing I am most excited about with science this year is that, since our enrollment is low (not a positive), there are only two of us teaching 7th grade science. The other teacher and I had a rocky start when he joined our team about five years ago, and since then, we’ve really worked hard to collaborate better. Now, we’ve built a solid friendship and partnership; I’m grateful to work with him!

Another thing I am looking forward to is supporting student teachers this year. I will have at least one student teacher placed with me, and I will be supporting two intern teachers (they are contracted .6 and .4 teachers of record, in lieu of student teaching) as a coach. We have a district grant that funds Residents and Resident Coaches to provide additional coaching and support to enhance the student teaching experience.

Ultimately, my goals in science are to help my students love science, help them collaborate effectively, and teach them how to write claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) paragraphs. If I can achieve that, then I’ll be happy. All of this comes with loving my kids to bits, and making sure they know how much I love spending time with them.

EdD program

As I shared previously, I started an EdD program in May (read more here). I just finished up my second summer course, and I start fall semester in a couple weeks. I know it is going to take a lot of intentionality to balance the demands of work and being in school. Luckily, I have other friends in masters and doctoral programs, so I’ll have some weekend coffee shop study buddies.

I’m excited for this new adventure. I plan to blog about my learning, research, and reflections on the program on my Mari’s EdD Journey blog.

Ultimately, I want to have fun, relax, and do great work! It seems simple, and I know it will take a lot of time and effort. My kids are worth it!

Goals, Reflections

#MyRelaxing5 – My Commitment to Take Time for Myself!

Mari Venturino

I love a good group blogging challenge, so I’m starting this one: let’s all share out 5 ways we commit to relaxing as we close out 2018. Please share out and tag #MyRelaxing5!

Lately I’ve seen a lot of us talking about work-life balance, and how we make sure we spend time to relax away from teacher lives–especially without feeling guilty! Shout out to Brian Costello for writing “Put Yourself First,” which inspired me to write this post. Despite what those on social media and trumpeters of eduspeak say, a good teacher doesn’t equal putting our 24/7 into teaching. Rather, it means putting our whole heart into our work, then stepping away to attend to our heart’s health (physical, social, mental-emotional) outside the classroom.

Each Friday, my teaching neighbor asks me what I am going to do for fun over the weekend. With the [annoyingly pointed and I-really-need-to-listen-to-this] caveat that presenting PD and snuggling my dog don’t count! Cue the total exasperation. But, it’s made me really think about how I spend my non-teaching time. And, I’m more aware that there’s a big distinction between “I’m having fun doing my work” and “I’m doing something fun outside of work.”

The #MyRelaxing5 are 5 non-work things that we will commit to doing for ourselves before the end of 2018.

Here’s #MyRelaxing5!

1. Crocheting — This keeps my hands busy and brain creative. Usually, I crochet while watching sports or something else on tv. The best part is, I can’t also be playing on my phone or computer while I’m crocheting. And, it’s always rewarding to finish up a project, especially when it’s a gift.

2. Baking & Cooking — I enjoy being in the kitchen and cooking, especially when I can share what I make with my friends! As the holidays approach, I love trying new dessert recipes, and bringing them to work where I always have a captive audience. Last weekend, I successfully made a beautiful lemon meringue pie, entirely from scratch, and brought it to work to share with my friends. .

Beautiful lemon meringue pie I made from scratch. My work friends and I enjoyed it at lunch on Tuesday!

3. San Diego Zoo / Safari Park — I have an annual membership, and it’s easy to go for an hour or two. A bonus of my membership is I have a +1, making it the perfect friend adventure. There’s something so peaceful about walking through the zoo, enjoying the animals and plants, and chatting with a friend.

4. Beach time — I live in San Diego, there’s no excuse for not getting to the beach every so often. The weather will be at least warm enough to walk on the beach, even if it’s not warm enough to lounge.

5. Make it to the gym — I’ve totally fallen off the workout wagon, and I desperately need to climb back on. It always makes me feel better after I go to the gym. So, by adding this to my list, I am officially committing to getting some more exercise. It’s easier to convince myself to go when I know I can get a free hydromassage after.

Ok, now that this post is written, it’s time to make plans to accomplish my relaxing goals. I know that I need to prioritize myself a bit more, especially facing the stress (even if it’s positive and fun) of the holidays and end of the semester.

What 5 things will you commit to as we end 2018? Remember to tag #MyRelaxing5 when you share out yours!

 

 

Goals, Reflections

2018-2019 School Year Goals

Mari Venturino

I can’t believe it’s already back to school! I’m starting my 7th year teaching–it’s really amazing to look back at how far I’ve come over the past 6 years of teaching + 2 years of pre-service teaching! Thank you Teacher2Teacher for this awesome #TeacherStats graphic! Make your own here!

My kids start on Monday, July 23rd, and I think I’m just about ready. We’re on a sorta year-round schedule, with a 6 week summer and longer breaks. I really do love it, even if it’s hard to go back when everyone else is still enjoying their summer.

The 2017-2018 school year was stressful for a number of reasons, and I am hoping to really focus on balance this school year. I need to do a better job taking care of myself, managing all the things that stress me out, but are not in my control, and not working nearly as much.

The following are my goals for each area of my responsibility. If you have expertise in any of these areas, I’d love to know and learn from you!

Science

With my science kids, I have two different areas I’m working on. First, as I continue to improve with mastery-based grading, one big thing I’d like to work on is helping my students to be more self-reflective and self-evaluative. Part of that will be teaching them how to provide effective feedback to their peers and themselves, then use that feedback to improve their work.

Second, I’m going to continue to transition my class social media over to my students. I’ve had them post regularly in the past, and I’d love to make it a class job, where we are regularly sharing what we are learning!

AVID

I love teaching AVID, and my 0 period AVID 8 kids are a special bunch. I had many of them in 7th grade science or knew them from popping into their AVID 7 classes, and I always look forward to continuing to build these relationships for a second year.

AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, and my focus this year is to guide my students in the “individual determination” piece by making the class portfolio-based, and potentially eliminating grades. I’d love to help my students find their own intrinsic motivation, and build their own external accountability, if they feel they need it. At the grading periods, students will self-assess and assign themselves a grade. This will prepare them for both college and adult life, where they are responsible for their own educational path. I have no idea how this will turn out, and I’m a little nervous, but isn’t that how we truly learn?

Blended Learning Specialist

As my school’s Blended Learning Specialist, I have 1 class period dedicated to technology resource and integration. Last year, we became the first Common Sense Media Certified School in our district, and I my goal is to double the amount of lessons taught, and provide a good foundation for our student, not only in digital citizenship, but also in effective searching and internet safety.

Furthermore, my goal is to encourage our teachers to share out the great things they’re doing on Twitter, using #VikingsLearn, our school hashtag. As of now, we have 22 teachers and admin on Twitter, and I’d love to get that number up to 30. I’d added a “Twitter Challenge” section to our monthly Virtual Vikings #PottyPD newsletter with specific things to share, such as “try a new tech tool” or “show off how you engage your students in reading.”

Teaching, in General

One thing I love doing is observing my colleagues! I’m in their rooms quite often, admittedly to say hi, see what’s up, or sometimes goof around (when appropriate, of course…we have SO much fun!). I want to spend more time intentionally observing, leaving feedback, and asking questions to make us all better teachers. We have a paper peer observation template; I don’t mind that it’s analog, it’s easy to grab my clipboard, then snap a picture of my observation before leaving the paper with the teacher. Plus, I can tweet out a shoutout when I visit.

I’m also hoping for more observations this year. When my colleagues walk in, I love handing them my clipboard and asking for feedback. This year, I’m going to add a sticky note or half-sheet of paper with my current goals for them to focus on.

Who wants to come observe? I’d love to have you!

Personal

Very limited work at home. I know no-work may not be possible, but I’m hoping that’s the case 93% of the time (meaning, once every two weeks or less!). I learned how to leave work at work through my “April No-Work Challenge,” and I expect to keep up these habits.

Please keep me accountable and check in with me over the next weeks and months. You have full permission to ask me how these goals are going, nudge me to share evidence of growth, and guide me in a positive direction! Thank you PLN, I love being on this adventure with you all!