Habits

Well, it looks like I'm keeping my job. It's amazing how relieved I feel. And now I keep thinking about all the things I can keep working on improving for next year.

Now that I'm in my third year of teaching, I finally feel like I know what I'm doing teaching, but lately I've noticed that my good habits cycle. Like lately I've been doing pretty well with keeping the students engaged: my 6th graders are starting to appreciate classical music, because I have them conduct it. My students get more comfortable with foreign-language songs because I have them listen while doing movement, or learning a percussion part the first few times.

On the other hand, I had stopped pointing out my objectives. I did that during my first few years as an induction requirement, and had continued to write them on the board. Today, I pointed them out to the students, as well as the plan for class, and we actually got through everything. I also had much fewer "requests".

I'm so glad I can continue to refine these kinds of things.