People across the globe are making lists of goals they'd like to accomplish in the year to come. Teachers can benefit from setting similar objectives to achieve throughout the school year. Here are some New Year's resolutions for educators to consider adopting:
Adapt to technology
There are exciting advancements every day in education technology. Teachers are learning new ways to integrate the Internet into assignments, assessment and even student communication. Make adapting to technology a goal for 2016, and you will find yourself learning ways to make your workload easier and improve the lives of your students. Try using your school's parent portal more, or talking with school administration about adopting one if you don't have a system yet. Even using email more efficiently to talk to parents and students can make your life easier and promote better relationships.
Better understand your students
One of the keys to being a good educator is understanding your class. Many teachers find that spending some time with each individual student offers great insight into how they are doing and ways you can help them improve. If you're preparing for the Common Core, for example, consider having monthly one-on-one meetings with each student to discuss each subject area and go through assignments. You can see how the child is doing and talk with him or her about any issues that pop up. Don't forget to talk about more personal subjects too, such as what hobbies the child likes or anything that's going on at home. While it's not your job to be a therapist, learning this information can help you understand how a student learns and if they may require some extra help due to outside circumstances.
Get more organized
Many people want to get their lives more organized as a New Year's resolution. For teachers, this may mean becoming better at filing documents and addressing assignments. You may want to learn a better system to assess student learning or perhaps just clean up your classroom and make it more efficient. You can start by thinking about what processes or physical areas of your class are in need of some help. Then, prioritize your list by what is most important. Tackle each individual task one at a time so you do not get overwhelmed and give up. While you have a whole year to achieve this goal, it's good to start early when you have momentum.
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