Goals for Next Year

I am not ready to return to school in August--I am definitely ready for my summer vacation. However, at the end of a school year I am always eager to learn from my mistakes and improve my classes for the following school year.

Here are my goals for the 2011-2012 school year:
1. Classroom Management
-Students need a routine, but after 7 years of doing the same routine, I am spent. I would like to try a new routine for the beginning of class. I like saying prayer, but I am tired of the same old thing. A religion teacher at my school does a Question of the Day at the beginning of class, and then she has students submit their answer through DyKnow within a couple of minutes. I am thinking about doing something similar.
-In Spanish 3, I will still start with the prayer and conversation (una charla). I am going to make conversation at the beginning of class mandatory for a participation grade. I can do something similar with a question of the day, but everyone has to answer. It may help to give them the question of the day a day before so they can think about it. I remember in high school and college--before I was really proficient--I would think of how to say sayings or phrases in Spanish. This internal dialogue encourages proficiency, and my hope is that my students would use the time in between classes to think about what they will say.
-Also in Spanish 3, I am going to change how I issue participation grades, but I am not sure how to do it. I will have to reflect on this over the summer.
2. Technology
-Create new projects for Spanish 1 and Spanish 3 using technology. I am interested in using Glogster, VoiceThread and recording programs.
-Use my iPad and iPod touch in the classroom to record speaking activities. Hopefully this will give students an opportunity to do a speaking activity, but it would not require me to leave the classroom to do it.
3. Professional Development
Each year, teachers at my school are required to do something for professional development and it can change from year to year. For example, one year I do peer observation and the next formal assessment or portfolio development. Next year, I will do personal development, which is a way that our administration is encouraging balanced lives at our school. I still have some time to sign up for what I want to do, but I want to explore meditation. As August approaches, I will make this goal more specific.