A fine time for improvements

Most of the teacher skills I want to work on during summer school involve the implementation of procedures. I let many of my procedures slip over the school year, and I want them to become so routine for my students next year that they don't even have to think about them after the first few weeks. Really this is a list for improvements I want to make in my classroom next year but might as well start at summer school.

1. Class dismissal - I will not dismiss your row until EVERYONE is seated and silent. If you get up before I dismiss your row, you really will be the last one to leave.

2. Lunch line - I fantasize about having a silent, single-file lunch line with no gaps. Ahh…it will happen.

3. Consequence documentation - I want to have a better system for tracking why a student gets a consequence. So much happens during the day that by the time I sit down to call a parent, I often can't remember why that child got behavior training or copy assignments three days in a row.

4. Posture - No sideways seating in my room. Your knees will be under your desk. Why does it have to be this way? For several reasons but primarily because I like looking out at a room of students sitting the proper way in their desks. If I like it, that's how it will be in my room.

5. No you may not go to the bathroom. Ever. End of story.

6. I will accept no disrespect.

7. I won't let students get away with doing the minimum amount of work possible. Push them. Don't overlook laziness.

I basically want to nail them for everything. I want to allow zero exceptions to my rules. I have a year's worth of frustrations and failings behind me. I'm coming back to Holly High with a vengeance. The teacher entering Holly High this summer is very different than the one that taught 11th/12th grade English last summer.

Instructional skills to work on:

1. Leave time for a closure.

2. The kids should be doing much more work than I am during class. I tend to expend too much energy and to talk way too much.

All this is great in theory, but I know I'm going to be really exhausted by the time summer school rolls around. I'll leave my school and start summer school the next day. It's difficult to make myself care about summer school. The only thing that motivates me is wanting to set a good example for the first years.