With a new year comes a fresh start…the same is true for us here in the education field. I look at the turn of a new year as chance to make “halftime adjustments”. Meaning since we are at the halfway point of our school year it is time to improve our class experience based on what we learned last semester. Today my students and I made our educational new years resolutions. I asked students to write down changes they wanted to see in themselves as students, me as a teacher, and our class as a whole. I received fantastic response from my students and was able to get some valuable advice from them. I though I would take this time to share a few of our resolutions.

• Better notification of test (by me)
• Keep a better written record of notes and activities
• Have a better attitude
• Be on task/relevant
• Treat each other with more respect (student – teacher relationship)
• More labs and group activities
• Addition of another theme day…Jersey Friday
• Make class more interesting and relevant

While all these resolutions just involve things that I can change in my behavior and how we together can change our class experience, I did also ask students to reflect upon what they can do to be better students. I feel like it is very important to stop and do self reflection from time to time in order to become a better student/teacher/person. As a teacher I am looking forward to improving my performance as a teacher and provide a better educational experience for my students…and I hope that my students are looking to make improvements as well. So with that said, here’s to a wonderful 2010 inside and outside of school.

Mr. McClung