Personal Goals

My goal for teaching vocabulary was to spend 5 minutes per day allowing students to practice or study their vocabulary words for the week. On average, students have improved an average of 8 points per test. I consider this to mean that my goal was a success. I attribute the success to the bell ringer I gave at the beginning of each class which allowed them to practice their vocabulary. My bell ringer usually took 15 minutes which is 10 more minutes then my goal. Fifteen minutes may seem like a lot of time for some of you but my school is on block scheduling and each class is 80 minutes long. I will continue to allow the student the time at the beginning of each class to practice that weeks vocabulary words and review words from past weeks.
I would consider my reading goal a success as well. My goal was to read two short stories with my class and compare and contrast the various parts of the story. The second part of my goal was to discuss reading techniques with a colleague. I was able to complete both parts of this goal. The colleague I spoke with was able to give me many helpful techniques and resources to aide in my students continued reading success. I also read two short stories with my class and we completed a T-Chart and Venn diagram to show similarities and difference of the stories. The students seemed to grasp the idea of comparing and contrasting but it is something that we will need to continue to work on.

The goal I set for writing was easy and fun to be successful at. My goal was to observe my mentor teacher and one other English teacher while they were instructing students how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. I have always enjoyed watching other teachers teach and picking up strategies from them so it was helpful. I feel that I learned more then just how to teach student how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. I also picked up behavior management strategies and classroom organizational ideas.

My goal for grammar was to read the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves”. Even though I read this book I do not feel like I was successful at my goal for grammar. The book was supposed to help me brush up on my English skills but, I don’t think it was enough. I still feel very weak in the area of grammar and could use some more practice with it. Grammar is something I struggled with in high school, in college and now as a professional. It has never came easy to me and is something I will have to continue to work on.

My goal for technology was to learn how to use a Smartboard and integrate it into my English curriculum. This goal was very easy for me because I was granted my wish to receive a permanent Smartboard in my room with an airliner. I then was given the opportunity to go to several training sessions to learn how to implement the Smartboard technology into my classroom. The program has been amazing and I try to use the technology at least once a day. Using the Smartboard can be overwhelming at first but it gets easier with time. I find new ways to implement the Smartboard every time I turn it on.


As a special education teacher, assessments are an everyday event whether they are informal or formal. I am constantly checking my students understanding of a subject and taking anecdotal notes. My goal for assessments was to develop a checklist to monitor the progress my students make towards the mastery of a subject. I had help on this goal from my mentor teacher because she uses a checklist system as well. She was able to show me her checklist and helped me set up my own. The checklist has been useful monitoring the progress with my curriculum as well as their progress towards their IEP goals.