And school begins...

...sort of...

Tomorrow is day one for teachers.  We won't have students until Tuesday, but we start in earnest tomorrow.  And, really, I had meetings most of last week.  But tomorrow is official Teacher Day One.  So, it seems like a fair time to set in writing my goals for the year.


Goal 1.  I want to hold my students to higher standards than I have in the past.

I don't want to make my class harder or give fewer C's or anything like that.  Instead, I want to push students to achieve more by setting standards that they have to work towards.  We're adopting the Common Core Standards, which will help tremendously, but it still comes down to the tone I set, the curriculum I teach, and yes, the grades I assign.  I'm know what I want my students to be able to do by the end of year, and I want that to be THEIR goal from the get-go.

So far as giving more or fewer A's or whatever, I believe that with high standards and quality teaching, the As will take care of themselves.  Assuming...


Goal 2.  I want my feedback--including grades--to be informative, consistent and timely.

One thing that I've learned is that this is not nearly as simple as you might imagine.  Luckily, I'm in a position where I have the opportunity to work with an incredibly dedicated group of teachers to make sure this happens.  I hate to sound like a convert, but I went to a conference in the spring and it really opened my eyes to some major changes that I--and the education world as a whole, really--need to make in order to be a truly successful teacher of students.  On the surface, these changes seem simple:

1. Focus on specific, quality standards
2. Create proficiency scales to show students and teachers alike precisely what is expected 
3. Create assessment opportunities that allow students to demonstrate their proficiency
4. Create quality interventions for students who are at various levels

Ok, so once I type it out, it actually looks as comprehensive as it feels.  Those are not all of the steps, just four of them.  I'm lucky that I'm working with a group like I am.  We've got twenty or twenty-five teachers on board, plus the administration.  That number includes the overwhelming majority of my department, most of my grade level, and my team.  It's a lot of work, but it's exciting to be a part of it, and it will pay significant dividends.

Goal 3:  I want to be a constructive and effective leader.

This will be my fifth year of teaching, and my fourth in this position.  It's time to step up.  I was set to be team leader this year, but that isn't going to happen and that's completely fine with me.  Instead, I'm helping to spearhead the project I mentioned in Goal 2.  This is my first real opportunity to be at the forefront of something meaningful and new, and it's an opportunity I do not plan to squander.

Goal 4:  I want to be more organized.

Those of you who have spent time in my dorm room, my apartment, my car or my classroom, know that organization is somewhere near the bottom of my list of talents.  It's somewhere above reciting Greek poetry and below solving systems of equations.  Seriously, I'm better at algebra than at staying organized.  Honestly, it's a disaster.  My students and I were working on building detail into writing a couple of years ago, and I created this sentence (among others) for students to practice:

Mr. Susman's desk, _________________________________, is in the corner.

One group created this sentence:

Mr. Susman's desk, a piece of furniture closely resembling a landfill, is in the corner.

It was awesome, both in its descriptive power and its accuracy.  I probably will never be the person who has a desk with nothing on it but my laptop and a stapler, but I would like to be able to quickly find things that I need and I'm tired of being embarrassed by it.  Additionally, it's extremely difficult to convince the students to keep their work space orderly when my work space is an eruption of educational detritus.



Four goals is more than enough, and they're pretty major.  So, I've got my work cut out for me, and I'm ready to roll.

So, goodbye, summer--I'll miss you like crazy.  But, hello, school year--let's get to it.