An Educator's New Years Resolution!

Have you ever felt that wonderful, exciting, fresh, new feeling when the new school year starts in September? 

As an educator I often find that my yearly big rejuvenation moment happens at this time of the year when I begin my new journey as both an educator and student. I like to think that for educators, the first day of school in September feels more like the New Year than January 1st! 

Following a classic New Year's tradition, I have decided to make five New Year's resolutions for the upcoming school year. I encourage you to think of some resolutions for the new school year. Or this may be a great time (half way through the year) to revisit the New Year's resolutions that you made in January and check in on your progress! 

Monica's 2015/2016 Resolutions

1. Participate in an aspect of #edchat every day. Blogging, twitter, OSSEMOOC, pinterest, or writing content for Sakai or student websites. 
2. Carry a bottle of water wherever I go! I am more likely to drink the right amount of water daily if I do not have to go get it when I am thirsty. 
3. Respond to all e-mails and calls within 24 hours. 
4. Take as many teaching opportunities as possible! 
5. Work on my thesis research every day. Make at least one positive contribution to the project. 

What are your resolutions for this coming year? Please feel free to share in the comments below! 

Tutoring with Taylor: Tyranny of Time

For the past year I have been working as a tutor for a private tutoring company in the Niagara Region.

My students range from grades 3 through to grade 12 (and up to fourth year University/College). Each student is tutored individually between 1-3 hours a week. Most of my students are ESL and have been in Canada for no more than 10 years (most from South Korea). 'Tutoring with Taylor' consists of a blend of English/ESL, literacy skills, conversational skill building, academic skill building, and a meta-cognitive approach to understanding and guiding their own academic paths. Currently I have 18 students a week each with a unique set of units designed for the summer. 

I have been looking forward to publishing a series of blog posts dedicated to my adventures with tutoring these students and this academic material. I have been enlightened and exposed to a new adventure of education and learning that has positively influenced my teaching philosophy.

One of my students has been writing a novel as part of our tutoring experience. We have been frequently discussing the concept of time and how there never seems to be enough of it. We began to pull that idea apart to discover what exactly the characters in his book (and us in reflection) are experiencing when they "do not have enough time". We are calling it our 'tyranny of time dilemma'. His character is struggling with not having enough time in each day to be as lazy as she wants, and as productive as she wants. I can certainly relate to that.

I am a big believer in effective and mindful time management. I have have worked time management skill building into my tutoring lessons with each student. I have found that the quality of homework has increased because students are actively planning time to complete homework AND to edit the work before submission.

I try as best I can to 'practice what I preach' and set time aside for writing (anything other than my thesis) and for being creative (taking photos or blogging). I am hoping to use blogging & photography as a component of my reflective teaching practice while continuing on this tutoring journey.

Here is a photo of a storm rolling across Brock University two days ago as I sat in the library and began to write this post on May 27, 2015. Posted on my twitter page.