What This Secondary Teacher Learned in 2015

Happy New Year colleagues! I hope you have had a lovely, restful holiday and 2016 is treating you well so far! Today I am linking up with some fellow secondary teachers and we are reflecting on what we have learned in 2015.

1) 2015 was the year I discovered the wonder of Kahoot! This is a fantastic tool that allows you to create interactive online quizzes for your class. What makes it special, is that games are displayed on a main screen like a projector or whiteboard, while students answer the questions on their own devices (computers, smartphones etc). This is wonderful as it encourages students to look up to read the questions which help create unity in your classroom so everyone isn't just staring at their own screen all lesson.
It's really easy to use! Once you create a Kahoot quiz you get a unique code for it. Students simply go to the Kahoot website, type in your code and everyone can play online together! You then get to see the score at the end and gauge the success rate of your class. It makes a fantastic end of topic quiz or introductory quiz for a new unit! I have also asked students to create quizzes themselves on different topics that we can play as a class which really helps them take ownership (and saves you so much time as well!). Plus, the music is awesome!

Check out Kahoot!

2) This year in particular, I have been noticing students showing increased signs of stress and anxiety. I feel not only are they are far too young to be so stressed out, but what concerns me most is that they are not properly equipped to handle it. The increased percentage of teenagers self-harming themselves is utterly alarming. I got so distressed when I heard the figure in my school alone, that I went on a mission and made these "Stress Management Activities". I took a lot of time researching all about stress and the best management techniques, and created a resource to teach students all about it: what stress is, why we need it, how we respond to it in the modern world, causes and effects, what we can control and what we can't, and actions to help relieve it. 

I also created activities to give students the opportunity to role play and analyse different teen appropriate stressful scenarios, such as school life, family problems, friends, jobs, bullying, partners etc. I also included 3 different breathing exercises to help control the physical signs of stress that are very powerful in tense situations. It has been very useful for me as well!
I want students to have the tools to deal with the inevitable hard times in a healthy way. So far, it has been really well received by my students and I can only hope everyone who has downloaded this resource from my TpT store is noticing a positive change in their students as well. It is something I am very passionate about and will continue to fight for!

3) Finally, my personal teacher goal for 2016 is related to the above actually, and is about well-being and a keeping a positive mindset. I worked hard on my work/life balance in 2015, and so this year I am going to focus on keeping positive by doing a fun challenge I wrote about recently on how to keep your motivation as a teacher. I am hoping this will help me look out for and appreciate the golden moments as a teacher, as well as help keep me motivated during the harder times.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my 2015 reflections as a secondary teacher! I'd love to read your thoughts or your personal goals, in the comments below! ​I wish you a happy, successful and amazing 2016! 

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