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It's been over a year since I last posted on this blog.  Going back and reading some of my reflections from my first few weeks of teaching was interesting - a lot has changed since then, and a lot is still the same.  I feel like I want to say "OMG DUH" to my first-year-teacher self in response to some of the seemingly ground-breaking revelations I was having.  But this blog is supposed to be about self-reflection, so I guess that's kind of the point - to see how I've changed over time, and hopefully, to see how I've gotten better.

There are some fun things to read about in those old posts though.  I recently went to the graduation party for the difficult student, "Frank", I blogged about in my third week of my first year.  He ended up being one of the kids I connected with the most during my first two years.  It's funny how things work out sometimes.

Anyway, I've decided to revive this blog in an effort to be an even better "21st Century Teacher."  It can be kind of easy for me to get down about things I'm not happy about in my job or in education, but I've learned a lot recently about what kind of teacher I want to be moving forward, thanks to my adventures at MACUL, edcamps, on Twitter, and in my general interactions with other teachers.  I tend to be more positive and happy in my job when I can share with people what I'm doing with my students and when people are willing to share with me all the awesome things they're doing.  So beside the fact that I find writing to be rather therapeutic and that it helps me organize my thoughts into somewhat coherent sentences, hopefully this blog will encourage me to share what's great about teaching and encourage others to share with me.

So....here's what I'm super excited about for this school year:

• My weebly site is working out wonderfully so far this year.  I think it looks pretty great, and all of my students have used it successfully so far.  Check it out at naglelcn.weebly.com!
• I used a Kahoot on the first day of class, and it was awesome.  My English students even requested that we play the Kahoot I made for my German class because they were having so much fun.
• My goal this year is to use technology to enhance learning and make class fun and the best it can be for my students - and that goal seems to be going pretty well already.
• I will be presenting with my awesome colleague Elaine Mantinan (@ElaineMantinan) at the Michigan World Language Conference in October.
• I have a lot of new students this year, and they are all wonderful.  Every. Single. One.

What are you excited about this year???

Follow me on Twitter @NagleCaroline!