I Can Do Better

I can't sleep. I was just laying there in bed tossing and turning and thinking about my effectiveness as a teacher. I keep wondering if I'm good enough at what I do. Am I impacting their lives? Am I teaching them something new everyday? Am I getting through to them, or am I just setting them up for failure? Am I doing enough?

I don't feel like I'm using enough innovative and fresh strategies in my classroom. I don't feel like I'm stimulating their minds enough. I feel like I have so much to work on before I can be considered a good teacher. I get so frustrated because I have all these doubts and concerns, but when I approached my district about attending the NCTE conference in Nashville, TN they said there wasn't enough money. Here I am wanting to better myself as an educator and my district is saying "no."

I never knew I would learn so much during just my first semester, but I have. A few changes I'm going to make after the winter holidays:

-New seating arrangements.
-Give more feedback in a timely manner.
-Plan, plan, plan!
-Plan some more. I want a whole map of the final semester written down.
-Start reading more journals for innovative ideas.
-Organize my space. (A cluttered work area is a cluttered mind)
-Give my room a fresh new look.

There are more things I'd like to do, but I just can't think of them right now. I've got 2 1/2 weeks of real teaching time left in this semester. Somehow I'm going to try to make the most of it.