Back to School!

So the first week of school is over! And I'm quite proud of how I started it. I was happy to see most of my students back and excited to meet the new ones. There are a lot of new things happening this year: I have a group of seniors - absolute beginners, teaching for IELTS again and trying to use Skype more in my lessons.

But I'm also apprehensive of what's going to come: initial excitement of the new year is usually substituted by overworked mind, all kinds of binging and laziness :) So my main goal this school year is to keep a balance of work and personal life and peace of mind in general. I would also like to continue my professional development that I started this summer. These past months I would read edu-blogs almost every day as well as esl books.

So I decided to sign a contract with myself, the sort of contract Lizzie Pinard made with herself on learning Italian. My contract will also be a learning one, but on "learning teaching". I will outline some activities I believe are useful for my professional development and try to follow them for at least one month. Then I will come back to it and revise it.
This is how it goes:

1. Post here once a week
2. Read at least one blog post every day
3. Watch at least one educational video every week.
4. Start reading Jeremy Harmer's How to Teach English and finish at least 3 chapters by the end of the month.
5. Have at least one day a week where I don't prepare for the classes.

OK, this looks simple enough, we'll see how it goes. Good luck to me!