2020 Goals Review

At the beginning of 2020 I came up with a list of goals that I’d like to try and get done.  Little did I know how this year would get turned on its head just a few months later.  With that being said, let’s take a look at how I did this last year.

Professional Goals:

  • Finish my Master’s Degree with a 4.0 – This happened!  I thought for sure I would have one class that I didn’t make an ‘A’ in, but I was able to pull it off.  The last semester was a close call.  If you’re interested in Instructional Technology, I highly recommend the Texas A&M program…but I’m biased.
  • Develop a 1-year and 5-year plan for my career – I started work on this, but my plans had a curveball thrown at them when I changed jobs and some of the items on my plan were taken care of.  A post on this is in the works if you’re interested in my job change.
  • Find 1 mentor to continue my development – This particular goal was when I thought I was predicting a career change outside of K-12 education.  While this may happen at some point, this goal has changed significantly since the beginning of the school year.

Personal Goals:

  • Read 1 book per month (not degree related) – I started off strong on this one.  I believe I made it until August, but have since fallen off the wagon.
  • Cut my screen time – This goal was difficult for me during the quarantine.  I feel like I managed as best I could, but I don’t know if the numbers would bear out a decrease in screen time.
  • Develop one tradition with each of my children – This was a fun experience.  I think we’ve gotten to a good spot of traditions with my children.  My son and I have Cub Scouts to bond over (I am an Eagle Scout) and my daughter and I have bonded over a love for cooking.  

Overall, I could have done better with my goals, but it was fun trying new things and learning as this crazy year went on.

Professional Juggler

I have never been a very good juggler.  In P.E. they tried hard to get me to juggle.  We started out with scarves, bean bags, and tennis balls but I just could not manage to be very good no matter how I tried.  Sure, as an adult I can occasionally spin a few items in the air, but I will never be confused with a circus juggling act.

As a professional I feel like I am learning about having to juggle a lot of responsibility.  I have multiple arenas all vying for my time and attention and it seems like as soon as soon as one of these areas is doing well another of them falls apart.

As a parent, my kids are growing up fast.  Right when my wife and I think we have things under control they grow into another issue.  I understand that this is a part of “growing up” but it still freaks me out that my two are growing up so differently.

As a teacher, my life is always a bit out of control.  Right when I think I understand Middle School students they will do something that surprises me.  I love that they keep me on my toes, but at times it seems a little overwhelming.

As a student, I feel like I am constantly on the edge of losing control.  My classes have been great and I am learning a lot.  With that being said, I wish I could learn in a classroom as opposed to learning through technology.  I am hoping that learning in a different way will help me in the end grow from my experience.

With these three balls in the air my life tends to feel on the precipice of falling apart.  I am looking forward to some down time over the holidays to relax and prepare for the craziness that is the spring semester.

Sickness As An Educator

I’ve never felt more like I live in a petri dish than this school year.  With all sorts of news articles swirling around the nation about the Flu epidemic and people dying because of the Flu, I stood firm on my long held belief that the Flu shot was worthless…either I was going to get it or not.

I had this belief because the majority of my life I’ve never had the flu, and I also can’t remember getting a flu shot before I had kids (dang my fatherly guilt).  I went through the motions when my kids were little out of family solidarity and because it was “free” through my insurance.  I almost mocked others that seemed to get the flu every year because I never did.  Then I got the flu.

I won’t say it was terrible, the two cases of pneumonia I’ve had were far worse, but there is something about being quarantined off in both your personal and professional life that is somehow shocking.  I didn’t see my kids for almost three days and that was more difficult than I had imagined.  I used my time at home to catch up on some less-than-important media consumption and purging the illness from everything I touched with bleach and lysol.

When I came back to school, the kids were so happy to see me (for the most part).  Subs are necessary, but stressful to both teacher and student.  After that small euphoria was over, I then had to pick up the pieces of a classroom that had lost my expectations of both work and behavior.  Neither side was pleased with the return of the teacher once the welcome back was over.

My hubris and defying the flu is over.  My class’ joy to have me back is over.  Now learning can begin again.

The Future…Of History

I go through this cycle every couple of years.

I start the cycle by loving where I’m at in my career.  I’m enjoying where I’m at in life, everything is going well, and there is not a care in the world.

At this point, I’m minding my own business, and someone starts talking about academia.  I think back to my time in college and graduate school.  I think how much I learned and how great it was to learn about subjects I’m interested in and the wheels of my mind start spinning out of control.

Next in my cycle is I start thinking about what kind of degree I would go after, if I were to decide to go get one.  I think about a history masters degree, but I don’t do languages well, so that is out.  I look at religion degrees, but the universities in my area don’t have religion programs I would be interested in being a part of.  I settle on education degrees and narrow them down into some I would be interested in and others I would not.

Finally, I start researching programs in my area and the cost of attending, details, etc.  I then present my findings to my family who agree this would be a great idea, but the timing isn’t quite right.  I’ve always known this in my head, but hearing them vocalize this snaps me back to reality…oops, there goes gravity… (bad Eight Mile reference there).

Added to these realities right now is the fact that I’m not sure what I want my next step in education to be.  Do I want to be an administrator?  Do I want to move into educational technology?  Do I want to move into counseling?  Who knows.

A New Beginning

This summer has been summarized by change.  I’m changing schools, school districts, and subjects taught.  The thing I’m most excited about is that I’m going to be closer to home.  My commute wasn’t awful, but now I’ll work about ten minutes away from where I live.  This is going to allow me to work with kids in my community and hopefully allow me to bring about change for the good in my area of Denton.  I was so sad to say goodbye to Coppell, but it was a move that I had been thinking and praying about for a long time.

The other main change that I’ve been thinking a lot about is leaving the G/T classroom for a district that does not have a specifically gifted history classroom.  In my new district they have Pre-AP as their only distinctive grouping.  I’m not going to start a debate for one and against another because that’s not productive at all.  The change is stirring up philosophical questions for me like, “is separating gifted kids what is best for everyone?”, “what is the best way to break up students into leveled groups?”, and “how will my teaching need to change given my new context?”  I’m not sure that I have answers to any of these questions, but I’ll be wrestling with them throughout the next few school years for sure.

Survive and Advance

It’s getting to that time of the year that two distinct things happen to teachers: survive and advance.  No, I’m not talking about the ESPN 30 for 30 film of the exact same name.  Rather, I’m talking about the mindset of teachers during the last months of the school year.  I’m finding more value in this state of mind this year because I’m trying to force myself out of what I’ve always done during this point of the school year.

Survive

In the past this part of the school year has been completely about surviving from day to day.  The units that I’ve taught in my social studies classes haven’t been re-imagined in years.  We do the same things as we did last year (which happen to have a higher number or videos in them than most units) and bank on the fact that its the end of the year and we all need a break before the final six-weeks madness.  Generally speaking, there are fewer administration walkthroughs being done and less attention being paid to the details of the school day.

This school year I’m trying a new approach.  I’m using this time to test out things I’m interested in using more for next school year.  I’m creating differentiated lessons, trying new technologies, and reading more books than I ever have before and it’s caused me to stay on my toes.  My kids enjoy the trial and error process of new things and aren’t beaten down by the way my class always operates.  I’ve also been able to redesign the way my classroom will operate next year (thanks to a certain book given to me by my principal) and being able to connect with people who have tried something similar and incorporate similar attitudes has been refreshing.

Advance

To a point I am talking about moving on to the next school year.  I’m looking forward to a number of changes next year.  First my family will be growing by one in the next month.  Second, hopefully I will not be coaching next year and can really embrace my role of history department head.  Third, my wife will be transitioning to a stay at home mom role next year and all the changes that will bring along with it.  I’m also planning on attending a conference this summer through an educator grant I may be getting and making myself aware of all the growth and learning opportunities available to me through Twitter, co-workers, as well as my local library.

All in all, I’m enjoying a season of the school year I never really have and I’m excited about the possibilities for what changes will occur in my teaching style in the coming months.