End of Year Reflections Pt 2 Random thoughts

I've started writing this blog post about 5 times since my last post.  Changing the title and content every time.  To make it easier I'll throw it all together. I will probably blog about each of these in more detail, but I want to get this down so I don't forget!

Google
I have really fallen in love with everything Google this year.  One of the biggest love moments was when my laptop broke and I had to have a replacement while it was out being serviced.  It was wonderful having everything I needed right there on my Drive!
Calendar:  I have started a calendar for both grades and now attach my lessons right to the calendar. Then I share it with my principal, special ed, title 1 and RTI teachers.  Now anyone coming to my room knows exactly what we are working on.
Google Forms and Autocrat:  My favorite creation this year was setting up a form to use for writing lesson plans!  I fill out the information and then using Autocrat merge it into a doc.  So easy!!!

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Teachscape/Domain 4- found a GREAT blog that shows how to organize all of your artifacts throughout the year with my favorite thing ^^^ Google Drive!  Here is a link: http://lifetimeofmusic00.blogspot.com/2015/05/teachscape-uploading-and-tagging.html

Professional Development Plan-This is something that I really love to do each year, but I feel like it gets created at the end of the year and kind of forgotten about.  This year, I plan to print mine out and keep it visible as a reminder of what I really want to accomplish.  I feel like it would be a good idea to have them revisited and discussed at observation meetings with administration throughout the year as well.

5th Grade
Speaking of goals for next year, here is an area I really need to work on.  When I switched grade levels from 7/8 to 5/6 I went from being an 8th grade homeroom teacher to a 5th.  I mistakenly thought that 5th graders were miniature middle-schoolers.  Um NOT true!  These kiddos are still very much elementary students even though they act like they think they are 21.  Over the summer I need to really rethink how I am going to adjust my style for these students.  Also how to help them make a better transition to middle school.