1. Personal time: I’m in a transitional moment right now, which is making reflecting a bit harder. But maybe that’s a part of the reflection process? I’m intentionally putting more time into developing myself, outside of my teacher role. Not thinking about how what I do outside of work can be brought into the classroom. Just thinking about the things I want to do and accomplish. The person who I want to be.

I think that sense of personhood can get lost in any job. In teaching it comes from the quantification of people (students, teachers, etc.) and their work (test scores, hours worked, certification classes, turnover, etc.). It’s something I have to confront at work, but not something I have to take home.

2. Negotiated syllabus: The one thing I am excited about at work is creating a negotiated syllabus for the second semester. For beginners/younger students, I think the advice of waiting after some course time has passed before introducing the idea is excellent. The kids have a better idea of what French is, and of the curricular expectations. They are also aware that there are restrictions on what we can negotiate on (i.e. grade weighting).