This is a guest post by Drew, who currently teaches 7th Grade Texas History in the San Antonio area, where he has taught since 2004.

At the end of this, my sixth year, I have a few moments to reflect on the road taken.

While I am looking at this year with the rose-colored glasses all teachers wear on the last day of school, I urge one and all to take whatever time necessary to enjoy all that you have accomplished this year. But do so as objectively as possible. All teachers have growing pains every year, but don’t let those get in the way of what you did right. In no particular order, here is what I did right this year, and what I hope to improve upon next year.

1. Student Council – With our new bell schedule this year, my Student Council meetings had to change. We had to meet after school which took lots of members out of the mix due to athletics and band commitments. We still managed to get to Austin for a field trip, and I really enjoyed sharing lots of info about our capitol complex. And instead of waiting until the start of next year, we have designs for our shirt ready. We learned a lot about flexibility.

2. Moving on up – This year I moved up from 6th to 7th grade to teach Texas History. The bonds I developed last year in Geography only got stronger this year. I was able to work on bonds with my new students really quickly, so this year went really well. Coincidentally, the entire faculty has been encouraged this year to focus on our student relationships as a way to effectively reach the economically disadvantaged and reluctant learners.

10 Things I Wish I Knew As A First Year Teacher
5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers
April 2007

Drew