This year I want to use dialogue journals using Google Docs (perhaps try Google Classroom or Schoology too), where students will engage with sustaining conversation with me regarding their progress and learning. I want to rely on this instead of Writing Portfolios as our main tool of reflection. I realized that I was using the reflection portfolio mostly as an "event" instead of a true routine in the classroom. We are supposedly getting our Chromebooks for the classroom next week. Can't wait to begin.
I also want us to read more, both class books and choice books. I think as a younger teacher I still make the mistake of underestimating students. We are staring with choice novels, and then 9th grade is reading Octavia Bulter's Kindred (can't wait!) and Laura Halse Anderson's Speak, and 10th grade will begin with Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. From there, I want the freshmen to flip flop, and 10th grade could move on to.... haven't decided yet. :) 
I want to get away from teaching MELCON, and actually write, using strategies from writer's workshop. I want students to write for more diverse purposes and audiences. R.I.P. MELCON. (Somewhere, there are teenagers cheering.)
DAY 4: What do you love most about teaching?
I know as a high school English teacher I should say something about literature or writing, but I love the students. I really feel it. Especially now at the beginning of the year when students from last year are stopping and I spot others in the hallway. I consider myself an introvert, but what I love most about my job is connecting with other people so deeply, both colleagues and the students. I can't imagine any work that is as rewarding. Sure, I would like more time to write, but there is nothing that can replace that genuine human connection, even if it's as simple as a student telling me they had a boring summer. I wish I had a more profound response, but in all honesty, I don't! I love making this connection. I love how it's made up of daily attention and details. I was always shy growing up, so perhaps now that I'm able to reach out to so many people it's refreshing.
Day 10:
Share five random facts about yourself.
1. I'm not a good speller even though they let me become an English teacher.
2. I think I'll regret it if I don't go for an MFA in fiction writing.
3. I think about the past a lot.
4. Patti Smith is my idol.
5. I think I have an moderately above average sense of intuition, and I think intuition is undervalued in our culture.
Share four things from your bucket list.
1. Run a marathon.
2. Visit France.
3. Train as a boxer.
4. Publish a book.
Share three things that you hope for this year, as a “person” or an educator.
1. I hope I can live a more balanced life in terms of school, home, creativity (as a writer and artist) and health.
2. I hope I can drive my students to read and write EXPONENTIALLY more than last year.
3. I hope I can maintain and build a savings account.
Share two things that have made you laugh or cry as an educator.
1. I am heartbroken over a student who shared with me she had attempted to harm herself.
2. It always makes me laugh when students try to bribe me with gifts/compliments related to cats. Because they're usually effective! :)
Share one thing you wish more people knew about you.
1. I love to write, like really. Like how authors write. Why don't more English teachers like to write!? This baffles me.
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