Summer goals

School is officially out for the summer, which means as someone who has my summers "off" I can finally do all the projects I haven't had time to even think about in my room.  I've spent the day and a half since the last child got picked up to start their summer adventures looking over my pinterest boards, reading organization articles and prioritizing my to do list for this summer in the classroom.

1. Read more books in my classroom library.  This one will be a real hardship for me- reading as many books as I possibly can. When I finished my masters degree, my final project was developing a better library in the classroom, and with well over 500 books, I think I am on my way to succeeding.  My goal is to read at least 50 of these books that I haven't had time to yet, starting with award winners so that I can recommend books to students with more ease.

2.Clean out the closet in my classroom.  Teachers who are reading this are being overcome with envy.  I have a closet in the back corner of my classroom.  I can store textbooks, art supplies, class novels etc. here, but it still has remnants of the last five teachers who had the room in it.  This year that will change and a new era of not saving bizarre things like pinecones and handsoap will begin.

3. Write my proteach portfolio.  As a teacher in Washington State, my portfolio for my professional teacher's license is due in January.  I have been hoarding student work all year, and this summer I am going to organize it, then buckle down and take the time to write the entire portfolio.  This will give me the beginning of the school year to edit and have people help me proofread it.

4. Search out deals for my classroom.  I stole this idea from Scholastic.  Their blog had the idea of writing the supplies you always run short on and then stocking up during the beginning of the year crazy school supply sales.  For me printer paper is always the biggest issue, so I will start looking at ads about halfway through the summer.

5. Common Core- insert sinister theme music here.  I know there has been a lot of debate about common core, but regardless of the people who think it is Satan overtaking education and the people who think that it will single-handedly save American education, I think it is a new set of verbiage that I have to learn.  So I am attending my third conference for ELA teachers to help me do just that.

My hope is that come August I am prepared for my best year of teaching yet!  (And yes, complete these five goals will take most of my "off" time this summer.