Reading Progress in 2016

Reflecting back on 2016 with reading, I am pleased of the progress that was made this year. I looked back to Goodreads at the 2016 goal of 60 books, finishing with 114 books. Many books this year included series and stand-alone books for middle-grade fiction.

At the beginning of the summer, I found myself in a reading slump. I was tired of reading elementary and middle-school aged books. I discovered an Elizabethan mystery series, YA and adult fiction books the second half of the year.

Looking at goals at the beginning of 2016, I did not accomplish many:

1. Finish Anne of Green Gables Series: I finished books 4-6, but attempted books 7/8. I do not care for these as much as they do not heavily feature Anne, but her children.
2. Finish A Series of Unfortunate Events series. I listened to these books on audiobook from March to September on my drives to and from work.
3. Read The Peculiar Series again by Ransom Riggs. None.
4. Read a classic book a month (will start with The BFG and finish Anne of Windy Poplars). Started strong, but finished weak.
5. Blog about my reading progress each month. Did not do this

Highlights of the year included:

• Audiobooks to listen to and from my commutes to work
• Graphic novels. For the longest time, I thought I hated graphic novels, but I have come to enjoy a well-written book and appreciate the genre more this year
• Leigh Bardugo’s books. Need I say more?

Top 10 Books of 2016 Read

1. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
2. Ghosts by Raina Telgemeir
3. These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
4. Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire
5. Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
6. Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan
7. Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
8. Heartless by Marissa Meyer
9. Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst
10. Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

(Top three included These Shallow Graves, Every Heart A Doorway and Six of Crows)

My goals for 2017 include:

• Read 70 books
• Re-read Harry Potter series
• Finish 2 series currently reading
• Read all of Roald Dahl’s books
• Read and finish 2 new series

 

CNYLDP Reflection

Last week, I had my formal observation. The process is a bit less stressful this year, as there is only one formal observation to prepare for. It’s beneficial it’s completed in the first few months of school so I can implement feedback sooner in the school year.

During the conference with my administrator, I shared my learning style: I like to follow rules and know exactly what is expected of me for a situation. When this information was shared, I believe the feedback was more relevant and meaningful because it was tailored to meet my needs at the time. After some good conversation, the feedback was received. The post-conference occurred this morning and I have many ideas swimming in my head right now. I will reflect on her feedback for a few days and move forward from there.

Additionally, I met with my communication teammate this week. We reflected on the past few months, and besides easy-to-fix mistakes, we are pleased with the communication committee and plan to move forward. We discussed some simple changes. Also, with feedback from presentations at class in November, we discussed how to encourage teachers to have more ownership and participation in the communication process. We came up with some ideas:

• Encouraging teachers to create videos and send to us for distribution to the appropriate networks (teachers already submit photos to the building shared photo on the server)
• Have a dedicated share-out time at curriculum meetings where each grade-level rep will highlight events, curriculum or projects

We plan to implement these items at our next meeting in mid-December. I am currently on working pulling first quarter data from 2016-17 for the Facebook page. My goal is to have that done by December.