What a trip... down memory lane reading blog posts from my first year of teaching. I've spent the past three years out of the classroom, and I am ready to go back. Over the past couple months, I've run into numerous former students from my early years, and they all brought smiles to my face, reminding me of good memories - one told me he still plays balderdash, a game I taught him, now that he is out of college.

I will be completely honest; I left the classroom because of a negative experience with a group of students that devastated me and bruised my ego so much that I lost any love of teaching I had left. I was burnt out! I was steadily burning out for a few years for a variety of reasons, but this incident threw me for a loop and over the edge. I needed a break.

I chose to become an academic coach at a different school, one where I did not know a single teacher and was expected to facilitate their professional development. Ha! What was I thinking? That's a topic for a different post entirely, but we'll just say, it's time to go back to the classroom. What do I hope for as a returned, re-energized classroom teacher?

• A stronger sense of classroom community - I actually think I was pretty good at this, but I think I grew so focused on academics, I forgot that class should be fun too. In my early years, I used to have students write random journal entries and share them out to the class. I stopped doing these because I thought they were a waste of time and didn't contribute to the learning goals. But, they allowed kids to speak aloud and relax! In my first year or two, I led classroom circles and let them talk about issues that were relevant to their lives. I wasn't afraid to encourage them to be vulnerable with each other. I had students write poems for each other - that had no academic value whatsoever! I want to bring back activities that allow students to relax and enjoy being in class together.
• Empathy around global issues - This world. F**k. I want my students to learn and live empathy. I want to read books about refugees and immigrants. I want them to learn about black history, women's history and read minority literature. I want them to discuss and debate, not about stupid topics like science dissection of animals but on topics that affect our world, our democracy and our daily lives. I want them to have pen pals with students who live on the other side of the world.
• A better grading system - I really want to reconsider what "grades" mean, how I grade, what I grade and why I grade. I want students to learn how to give meaningful feedback and how to reflect on their own learning. I want to only give assignments that are relevant and make sense, and I don't want to spend hours grading meaningless work.
• Being cutesy - Okay, I'm also looking forward to things like decorating a classroom from scratch, having puppet shows, and rewarding my students with stickers.