In my first few years teaching, I'd dedicate a few days of break to prepping for the next chunk of the school year. Now I've got it down to a science, and it just takes me a few hours. The further I get into teaching, the more I know ACTUAL BREAKS ARE IMPORTANT. Otherwise we'd burn out!
Tag: planning
Executive Functioning
Teaching is a profession which requires you to be ULTRA organized. You have crazy weird time constraints ("second period starts at 9:34 and ends at 10:29, at which point you only have three minutes to use the bathroom and make it to the third floor of the building"). You have weird location requirements ("fourth period you teach a physics lab course in someone's ELA classroom"). And you have a million tasks to keep track of ("grade the math test by Tuesday, email a student's family, make your lessons for next week, debrief your observation with your admin"). Teaching requires the highest levels of executive functioning (organization, chunking up larger tasks, etc.), yet we rarely teach this skill to our students.
STUDENT OUTCOMES
As I'm getting into the nitty gritty of my planning for this fall (TWO WEEKS TO GO AH!), I'm starting to think about what student outcomes I want this year. I already reflected on last year and revisited my teacher "why." Before I think about what I envision for myself professionally this year, I want to decide what to prioritize for my students.
END-OF-SUMMER TO-DO LIST
I've got two weeks until school starts, so it's now time to really dig in and get some prepping done. Many things are still up in the air, so I'm doing what I can now to help future Julia.
Your Class Scope & Sequence, plus examples!
A scope and sequence for any class is a list of each unit name and the name of each lesson underneath that, in the order you want to teach them. It's often required by school administration but I find it SUPER USEFUL to keep me on track during the year.
Sneak Peak! ’20-’21 Teacher Planning Workbook
TOMORROW my '20-'21 Teacher Planning Workbook will be live on Amazon! I created this workbook because it's what I want to use to plan for next year. It's full of meaningful reflection questions and space for planning everything from your classroom set-up (if we're in-person), to supplies, to calendars, and even clubs.
Reflecting on the 2019-2020 School Year
I've been on summer break for a few weeks now, so I've decompressed enough to start unpacking exactly what happened this spring! Needless to say, THIS. YEAR. WAS. CRAZY. While I was in the thick of remote teaching, I honestly felt a lot like I did my first year teaching...
Define Your Teacher “WHY”
What is your Teacher "Why"? What even IS a Teacher "Why"? Your Teacher "Why" is a few sentences or a paragraph about why you first became a teacher, and what keeps you in teaching year after year. Teaching isn't just a job, it's a profession with a clear impact. And for many teachers it's their vocation.
MUST-HAVE Teacher Supplies
I LOVE school supplies, but what teacher doesn't? I think the hardest thing for teachers (especially those in their first year) is HOLDING BACK from buying ALL the supplies. So I'm going to share my bare bones list with you.
Julia Ziac 