Glows and Grows from Year 10 and Goals for Next School Year

Here we are at last, the last "week" of school ("week" being actually only 1.5 days since we are off today and our last day is Wednesday). What a year it has been!  Busy for sure, but we made it.

Wednesday will mark the end of my tenth year as a teacher, which kind of blows my mind because I can still very clearly remember counting down the hours until I was no longer a first year teacher, and now fast forward a decade, and here I am.  I had my EOY meeting with my AP this past week and I thought it would be fitting to share my own glows and grows from this past year, and my goals for the upcoming school year:

Glows:

• I survived planning, teaching and assessing 5 classes across three different grades, not to mention planning and running an advisory, and an elective class
• 100% of my 8th graders passed the Algebra 1 Regents exam and the mean score was an 87.  I had these students last year in 7th grade too, and I was proud to see them graduate this past week... they will definitely be missed.
• Facilitating one of the challenges at the STEM Family Fun Night at the NY Hall of Science last month was a lot of fun and something I am looking forward to continuing in the future
• I enjoyed mentoring a new teacher (and a half) this past year (see Grows below)
• I included more Mathalicious, MAP, and Desmos work in my curriculum this year across all three grades
• I followed through with my assessment schedule this year, starting with a Baseline, three Interim Assessments, and an End of Year exam, in all three grades, all with exams I created using released 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Algebra 1 Regents questions (see Grows below).  Although we haven't gotten the state test scores back yet, I know all my 8th grades did well on their Regents exam. 
• I participated in the Spring 2017 NYC Teaching Lab Demonstration Cycle and am considering applying for the Teaching Lab Fellowship
• I shared at the Chancellor's Conference on Designing Instruction to Challenge Students in January 

Grows:

• I was consistently behind in grading, giving student feedback, and updating my bulletin boards this year
• I feel like I did not do a good enough job supporting my lowest level students in class this year.  I taught both the 6th and 7th grade ICT classes this year (with a co-teacher) and it was challenging to support my lowest students during our regular class time.  This is not something that is exclusive to teaching at a G&T school, but it was definitely a challenge for me to give every student what they need (including my time and attention that they all deserve)
•   Although I enjoyed mentoring a new teacher this year (and then another new teacher half way through the year) it was hard spreading out my time equally, especially when we only had opportunities after school to do so.  Trying to keep up with my own planning and grading and then making the time to support my mentees was a challenge.  Also, both of my mentees were not math teachers, so although I could share with them my own experience, content-wise, I'm sure I wasn't as helpful as I could have been.
• Our elective schedule was fuzzy this year at my school.  We were supposed to have smaller cycles, but ended up having one long first session, and then one short cycle at the end.  I did the National Math Club for my first cycle, and then Photography for my second, and with everything else I was planning for, these (as well as advisory) were never a main priority since they were not everyday classes.  Although we did reach the Gold Level in Math Club again, we didn't participate in any math competitions this year (last year we went to two) and didn't participate in the St. Jude's Math-a-thon.  In advisory, we also didn't do a service learning project this year and student-led conferences were only OK.  Although I did the best I could, I know I could have been doing more in each of these. 
• I didn't do as much cross-curricular collaboration this year as I would have liked
• Even though I followed through with an assessment cycle, I don't think I used the data from it as effectively as I could have
•  I only went on one trip this past year, and it was only with my 7th & 8th graders, to see Hidden Figures through a DOE promotion

Goals for Next School Year:

• To continue my 100% Algebra 1 Regents passing rate, with a higher mean score, or at to at least have no score lower than an 80
• To use data more effectively, by using Student Profile, EOY Student Survey data, and possibly SchoolNet.  I am also thinking about adding another interim assessment into my assessment calendar.
• To give my students more effective and timely feedback on their work
• Better curriculum planning and homework, especially focusing on the the Common Core Math Shifts - focus, coherence, and rigor
• Use Math for America Professional Development Resources to support our small professional learning team
• This summer I will join the Algebra for All initiative, and I hope to be able to bring things back into my classroom
• Be more strategic and thoughtful in planning with my grading system to make sure that I plan for equal opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning
• Possibly find outside teachers to collaborate with on projects
• Embed more inquiry problem solving into my curriculum using Illustrative and NRICH tasks.  I also hope to have my students participate in Global Math Week in October and the Global Math Challenge in November.
• Lastly (for now) I would like to continue to work on becoming a Google Certified Educator, which is something I started doing last year, but didn't follow though

Space Mud & the NYCTF, Wrapping Up This Year, Planning for Next Year, My Favorite Math Resources, and Mastering the Art of Living

Space Mud and the NYCTF
On April 5th, nine years ago, when I was but a Stony Brook senior about a month away from graduation, I went on an interview for the NYC Teaching Fellows.  Part of this interview included me doing a 10 or so minute demo lesson.  I chose to do a science lesson on the properties of matter and had my "class" (aka other interviewees) make "Space Mud", which I had made several times with the kids at the Child Care Center.  I don't remember why I chose that particular activity.  I suppose I thought it would be fun, educational, and (hopefully) memorable enough (in a good way) to get me into the Teaching Fellows.  Today, nine years later, I made Space Mud again, although the context was in the form of "potions class" and it was with my 6th & 7th graders who are part of our Harry Potter elective.  I hadn't thought about that demo lesson in years, but it was (at least partly) what set me on this journey called teaching.  I would ultimately get accepted into the math immersion program two days before graduating from SBU, and moving back home, and had to let them know in less than a week whether or not I accepted.  And it all started with Space Mud.

Now that state tests are over, I've been thinking a lot about next year, as most teachers do.  I am looking forward to Spring Break next week as well (as all teachers do) even though I'll be scoring math state tests every day during the break.  Being in a new district this year, I'm curious to see how it is different than in my old district.

Wrapping Up This Year
As we wrap up this year, my 6th graders began their final unit on statistics and data analysis, Data About Us and my 7th graders will began their Gameathon Challenge projects and then it's right into Algebra 1.  I'm happy with how this year is turning out so far.  My goal in the next few months is to continue to use this blog as a place for me to reflect on my practice, ultimately with the goal of being a better teacher.

Planning for Next Year
As I begin to think about next year, I started formally collecting my favorite math resources from the past nine years.  I'm sure I will be adding to it as the year goes on.  This summer I will be taking grad classes (yet again) for six weeks at Hunter for my G&T certification.  I have some awesome sounding District 30 PDs coming up on the Algebra 1 Regents, and Creating a Student-Centered Math Classroom, and I'm staying optimistic about getting into Math for America, as well as the NY Teacher Leadership Summit with my colleagues.

Before I close, I wanted to share a quote that I heard for the first time yesterday, that I think sums up my goal when it comes to teaching and you know, life...