Derek L. McCoy

Like all schools, as we wrap up the end of the year, we schedule conversations with teachers and staff to reflect on the year. We try to talk at length about things that have gone well and not-so-well and what adjustments can be made for the next year.

I’ve recently began these conversations at West Rowan Middle. This being my first year here, its been great to be part of these conversations with a new staff as we embark on our change journey. From some of these conversations, I’ve come up with some topics I want to make sure I cover at the end of next year. They are reflective and show some vision building on their part

1) What have you learned, unlearned and relearned this year? – This year, we gradually introduced new topics and operational procedures. We all know change is hard – I’m going to be interested in seeing how we make adjustments and look forward in anticipation for the things the things coming up next year.
2) How will your learning space look different next year? – At the beginning of the year, we make some concerted efforts to create some collaborative spaces for each grade level to give our students some space and opportunity to produce great work. Throughout the year, I have also shared lots of resources of flexible spaces and classrooms and how they all tie into creating different learning opportunities for students. This topic should get teachers to thinking on how environment affects learning, operations and procedures in the classroom and what they can do to enhance that is happening in their rooms, grade levels and department plannings.
3) What summer learning experiences do you have planned? – Encouraging others to build PLN’s is always good measure. Nothing shows initiative and commitment and value like joining conversations on Twitter or group discussion on Voxer to keep our own growth continuous and impactful. [This summer, we also reading for our second book study, Mindset]
4) How will student engagement/student learning look differently? – We always stress to teachers that improvement, not perfections, is a process goal. This is an opportunity to reflect on things that have gone well in class and collaborative planning and make plans for taking chances with activities or learning models that help take us from good to great.

I would love to hear from you on some of your favorite end of year questions that either you ask others or have been asked that have helped you in your growth to being a better educator.