Freebie Friday

It’s Friday! This week I am especially excited because we are finally going to get away. We are going camping this weekend, with our usual camping buddies – my sister, her fiance, and our two closest friends.  We are only going about an hour from home, but it is on the lake shore, and on tomorrow we get to go to Put-in-Bay. If you aren’t familiar with Put-in-Bay, it’s also been called the Key West of the Great Lakes, so the atmosphere makes it feel like we are far from home. I’m looking forward to exploring island wineries, hanging out around the campfire, and laughing a lot!

Today’s freebie is from my store. This is my daily reflection check sheet. If you have even started to consider next year at all, you might think about including this little piece of paper in your daily routine.  This sheet is designed to help you reflect on your day quickly – so you can get it all down on paper at the end of the day, and then come back to your check sheets when you have a little more time, to see if there are any patterns that need your attention.

The reflection sheet is broken down into three categories; General reflection (your daily routine, what parts of the day are going well, which parts aren’t working out), Project reflection (what have you noticed the children doing/saying, and how is this related to your project), and Classroom Climate (who needs attention, what can you do to improve behaviors, etc.).  Teachers don’t have the time or the energy to sit down and think about all of these things every single day, but if you can take a minute to write down your initial thoughts, then at the end of the week you can revisit all of your check sheets and see if there are patterns that are emerging (repeated behaviors, conversations about the project topic, a specific time of the day that is causing an issue, etc.) that you can address now. Print a stack of these to keep next to your desk! You can download the Teacher Reflection Check List here.