Reflecting on 2013
After a very, very family-filled holiday break and ten days without using my laptop, it’s back to “thinking” about professional development for the next two work days. But I would be remiss in moving straight to the list of upcoming events, if I did not slow down and consider the data from last year.
Top 10 posts on my blog (by number of readers):
In rereading those entries, I found that eight of the ten were posted in late June – September with only #3 and #5 before that time frame. Interesting for me to note that all of the top 10 were about reading and writing and not necessarily about “resources” which was my original thought for this blog!
Book chats on twitter or in blogs during 2013:
- Units of Study in Writing (Lucy Calkins and friends – Teachers College Reading and Writing Project) #tcrwp
- Falling in Love with Close Reading: Lessons for Analyzing Texts – and Life! (Chris Lehman and Kate Roberts) #filwclosereading
- What Readers Really Do: Teaching the Process of Meaning Making (Vicki Vinton and Dorothy Barnhouse) #wrrdchat
- Notice and Note (Kylene Beers and Robert Probst) #NNN
- Teach Like a Pirate (Dave Burgess) #educoach
- Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Learning (John Hattie) #educoach
- Unmistakable Impact: A Partnership Approach for Dramatically Improving Instruction (Jim Knight) #educoach
My Twitter Video from 2013 (Have you tried this at #visify? https://www.vizify.com/twitter-video):
https://www.vizify.com/fran-mcveigh/twitter-video?s=twitter&u=504984&f=1414&t=share_follow_me_video
Goals for 2014?
Still pondering where my focus will be! As a teacher/learner I found that 2013 was a year of growth in deeper understanding of reading and writing and the reciprocal nature of both. Continuing to write and “practice” author’s craft while I listen more to the learners (students and teachers) will also remain on my radar! Stay tuned for more specific 2014 goals!
Welcome, 2014!
What are your goals?
What is your plan for the New Year – 2013?
My plan is “learning.”
For the Wednesday Twitter chat for #educoach, I was thinking about my learning goals for 2013. I began with a variety of words including some that had been included in previous posts. I stopped with “patience, listen carefully, and use questions to help others and myself reflect.”
After reading Arizona MS principal Jeff Delp’s December 31st blog about “today” (blog has been taken down), I decided to change my goal to “learning” – one word. I believe that I will be able to have “evidence” of my learning if I use patience and wait to hear what others are saying. Then when I listen carefully as I listen with my mouth closed, I will also be able to “learn.” And finally, as I use thoughtful questions to help others and myself reflect, I will have additional evidence of my own learning. (In order to help improve student learning, I am a firm believer that I must also be a learner. That means I will be modeling learning behavior as well!)
Last night, on the #educoach chat, participants were sharing their “Edu-lutions” for 2013.
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Still thinking about one word to describe 2013 or your goal for 2013? Here are two more ideas.
1) Check out Principal Mindy Higgin’s blog from August about promoting reading at
http://principalspensieve.blogspot.com/2012/08/kicking-off-year-promoting-reading.html?m=0
2) Check out @principalj (Jessica Johnson’s) December 31st blog with her own reading resolutions available at
http://principalj.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-reading-resolutions-for-2013.html
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01.05.2013
Are you interested in making a “one-word poster?”
What is your plan, resolution, or edu-lution for 2013?