It was the first  school day after a two-week mid-year break. (I would have loved my job so much more if I didn't have to wake up at 6 am to catch a school bus! I am not a morning person.)

Last night, just before bedtime, I was mentally scrolling up and down the blog entries that I had read with interest. As a result, my first lessons today were based on the ideas that YOU, Blogathon runners, suggested!

1.        I wrote in my comment to DaveDodgson’s post Back to school - some goals for the 2nd semester that I had to update my class blog, add links, pictures. So, on Sunday I wrote a welcome-back-to-school message to my students, changed the blog’s  theme, added a new header and  uploaded some images. In the welcoming message I also outlines my priorities for this term and mentioned what I think had been overlooked. As a follow-up to the discussion in class, I asked the students to think about it at home and reply to my post; to tell me what they think is important for them.

2.       The next activity was borrowed from the post Spicy Writing Class by solmas21. I liked the idea of students writing letters to the teacher about their expectations and goals. Only I promised to give those letters back to the students in September.

To sum up, my students have done a lot of thinking today, reflecting on the first term and trying to foresee the next five months. It might seem that no actual teaching or learning occurred but I believe that such lessons are crucial if we want to instill such skills as critical reflection, ability to set and prioritize personal learning goals in our learners. In my opinion, this is how we can help them develop good learning habits.  

Many thanks to all Blogathon runners for great ideas, suggestion and tips that have been shared here!