#MTBoS12Days: What worked (and what didn't) in 2017?

This winter break @druinok is organizing a blog challenge.  I'll likely be finishing long after break, but I do love good prompts, so I'll stick with it.  You can find more info here if you'd like to join in the fun.

The next prompt that seemed like a good fit for me was: What worked (and what didn't) in 2017?

I'm fortunate to be starting a new job in the next few weeks.  I have the opportunity to start fresh with my goals for the year and I intend to take advantage of that unusual benefit.  Some of my goals going into this year was to improve the process of going over homework, to increase active student participation, in encourage a sense of community between students, and to improve my work-life balance.

I was able to improve the process of going over homework.   I'll need to modify this as my new school is 1-1, but not with iPads.  I'm not sure if the student laptops have cameras, but I'm considering having students create one Google Slides document per chapter to insert pictures of each homework assignment.  Then students would turn in a sharing link on Schoology so that I could see the homework each day.  This would also allow me to share images of certain problems with the entire class.  I've not yet worked out all the details, but I love the student ownership that comes with showing student solutions versus providing a copy of my work.

I was not as successful as I had hoped to be with improving student participation.  I'm hoping to try Alice Keeler's suggestions from Teaching Math with Google Apps: 50 G Suite Activities.   I'm hoping to use some of her ideas to get students working both collaboratively and independently so that I can work with small groups of students more often for remediation and enrichment.

I am also still working towards improving student interactions with one another.  My  goal is for students to be equally concerned with the success and well-being of their teammates as with their own.  I've recently purchased some more Kagan books for additional ideas about classbuilding and teambuilding.  My plan for the new semester is to try one of each of these structures every week.

My final goal involved eating lunch with colleagues rather than working through lunch.  I've failed pretty miserably at this.  When I start my new job, I'm planning to make a sincere effort on this.  I  definitely need  the opportunity to meet my new co-workers and build those new relationships.

Overall, it looks like I still have quite a bit to improve on this year to meet my goals.  Luckily, we are only half-way through the school year, so I still have lots of time :)  Good luck with your goals too!