Previously in the 2008-2009 school year, I focused on school-wide items for my PDP such as World Math Day, Florida Math Day, and redesigning the Math 2 course. I was happy because I received Exceeds Expectations on everything except 1 item. However it was bittersweet. At the end of the year, I felt like my student surveys scores were low and that my students had suffered. I decided for 2009-2010 that I wanted to draw my focus in on my classroom and students. I was hoping to make more bonds with my students and their families and use my surveys as a guide and as a measuring tool.
In order to achieve this goal, I would mainly communicate with my students more. I would do this primarily by phone but also weekly emails and record and sends and texts to parents. I called all of my students twice a month every month. I called when they were doing well and when they weren’t. Although I have a great “tracking” system in Excel, I was able to “catch” many students who weren’t keeping up with their DBAs a lot quicker through these regular phone calls.
Throughout the year I felt like I made more of a difference and helped more students, however I am still not satisfied with my student survey results. I am pretty sure this year’s “scores” are lower than any other year. I am devastated by this. I have thought about this a lot. The only thing I can come up with on why this might be is that I had to make 20 outgoing calls a day to speak to all my students twice a month so often students calling in would have to leave a message. Maybe making so many calls hurt my students. I will need to find a better balance.
In the 2010-2011 year, I would like to investigate the top scoring teachers in math 2. I would like to see what their systems are and try to model them. It seems like I should start by making less calls so that my phone line is more available. In 2010-2011 I really want to improve my student surveys. I want my students to do well and know that I care about them.
I would also like to continue my PDP in this blog format but document more frequently with more specifics as the years goes by. It has been very helpful when trying to reflect on the past year.