The Education Reflection Podcast

Lesson 8: The New Year is Here!


Listen Later

Mr. and Mrs. Sarver reflect on several things that took place over the 2021 year and share their thoughts and feelings on upcoming things for 2022.

Warm-Up
The hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Sarver,  talk about the great time they have had with family during the Christmas break. They share how grateful they are that they were able to share this time and even got to have a quick, two day trip so they can recharge and get ready for the Spring semester.

Reflections of 2021
Mrs. Sarver:

  1.  Brings up anxiety and having to deal with it more this year then in previous years and how she has had to learn "going with the flow" and how important that has been for her.
  2. In line with anxiety, this year has led to her and several educators feeling overwhelmed and unappreciated. To the hosts, this is one of the largest causes of the teachers leaving.
  3. She brings up the importance of having a team around you. Having friends and coworkers that you can count on to be there for each other has built a support system.

Mr. Sarver:

  1.  COVID-19 has changed the landscape of education, whether for good or for worse. While there is no denying this, educators have to find ways to be more efficient so that the education of the students does not continue to suffer.
  2. He shares that he learned several valuable lessons in 2021 and his belief in education has suffered because of it. The idea of working harder and pushing through is not going to survive in education going forward.
  3. Along with his wife, he expresses how important team is to the overall culture of a school and having the wrong team destroys schools more than helps them succeed.

Resolutions of 2022
Mr. Sarver:

  1. He wants to add the human element into policies and processes that schools create. His goal is to make these processes more efficient so teachers can focus on educating students and have their personal time back.
  2. He wants to focus on building the Realistic Efficient Pedagogy brand into something that will be a true resource for educators to use. 
  3. He wants to look into several different professional developments that will help him in his current position and is thinking about going and getting his educational leadership doctoral degree.

Mrs. Sarver:

  1. The switch from writing to reading has been a struggle that she hopes to learn more about and build more effective lessons for her students in the subject.
  2. She also wishes to build the Realistic Efficient Pedagogy brand with more focus on getting feedback from readers and listeners and providing specific lessons to help real issues that educators are facing today.
  3. She wants to look into getting her master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction and build her professional career to learn more ways to serve students who are struggling to keep up.

Exit Ticket:
Inspirational Quote by Edith Lovejoy Pierce
                "We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are putting words on them ourselves.                      This book is called opportunity and the first chapter is New Year's Day."

The next lesson will have the hosts talking about the upcoming testing season and the STAAR test. Thank you all for listening and we will talk to you next lesson!

More information and tips about things that are affecting education today can be found at our Podcast or other articles on our blog. Please leave us a comment below or contact us using our Contact page.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Education Reflection PodcastBy Mr. and Mrs. Sarver