Looking Back to Plan Forward

This time of year, I am constantly looking down streams and rivers as I drive over bridges or alongside riverbanks, dreaming about potential kayaking adventures and assessing potential dangers. How many fallen trees are blocking the creek north of me? How high is the Milwaukee River? What new obstacles might have been added to my regular kayaking routes since I last went down them in 2025? I try to answer all of these questions with data collected from quick mental snapshots. Between chaotic Midwest May temperatures and packed spring schedules, I've not yet had the chance to travel those waterways as far as I would like.

As we go into the summer, my kayaking plans will shift from speculative to active, while the  teaching season completes the opposite shift. We have all of these snapshots and data collected from throughout the year. From standardized testing to school projects to student discussions, we are inundated by data. The summer is a moment for us to reflect on the year as a whole and consider what worked and what didn't work. With this information, we can explore different strategies, read new books, and collaborate with colleagues. This season of reflection allows us to plan out new routes and pathways that will best challenge our gifted and high achieving learners.

Teaching at its heart is a reflective practice. Each hour, each day, and each week, we reflect on what has worked best for our students and the staff with whom we work. It's often said that teachers make over a thousand decisions a day. While that statistic is often thrown out there, it usually isn't mentioned that these decisions are based on data we collect and analyze just as quickly. The weight of the daily data collection and piled-up decisions can make it challenging to have the perspective needed to see the year as a whole. We truly run the risk of not seeing the forest for the trees.

With the summer days, we are given the opportunity of space and perspective to think over the full year and to plan for the next school year. We can think through the past triumphs and future challenges to find the best pathways to challenge and engage our students. Some of the most productive reflections can even happen while floating downstream or hiking through a forest of trees on a beautiful summer day.

Are you looking for more resources to organize a reflective summer? Check out this article for more concrete steps.  How can you adapt these steps to the unique requirements of your position to best challenge and engage our gifted and high-level learners?

I'm wishing you a wonderful reflective summer so you may begin the fall both rested and full of plans for new routes to challenge our students.

- Kris Lockhart, WATG Board Member