The 3 C's To A Great Year!

I can tell that this year, my twelfth, will be the best yet. Why? I have been writing, reflecting and engaging with others about educational practice, pedagogy and theory on a regular basis. Over the summer I learned about how social media has the potential to improve K-12 education from a recent graduate, talked meaningful professional development, and had the opportunity to collaborate in a meaningful way on this piece about the power of reflection in our profession. This summer the wheels certainly were turning and as I approach the beginning of this new school year, I know that with focus and clarity it will prove to be awesome! I'm trying out a "slogan" for the first time and decide to structure my initiative into the 3 "C's".

Communicate

Improving on my already robust script enabled Google Apps to email structure, I will be adding Remind as the primary tool to push out notifications and information as well as more individualized and personal communication as described here on their blog. We tested Remind out at the end of last year and all of the testers agreed that it is a fantastic service! I am thrilled to begin utilizing it on a broader scale! I'm hoping that our class Twitter account will be approved so that we can start using that medium to communicate understandings such as student summarizations.

Community

Now into my second decade of teaching, I understand that building connections within our local community helps create bridges of understanding and compassion. It is my goal to create a group of both students and parents who choose a worthy local charity or cause and support that cause either monetarily or otherwise.

Challenge

I am excited to challenge myself and my students by incorporating aspects of engineering design into my classes as part of my learning about the Next Generation Science Standards that I engaged in this summer. While we are not officially adopting the NGSS here in New York State yet I am integrating aspects of the framework to bolster my program now. Building upon successful activities we will be engaged in more "creating" than ever before.

Additionally, I am delighted to be able to use MinecraftEDU and SimCityEDU in our classroom environment. This is a divergence from last year when we spent time in an after school club structure. Both of these games will be tied to course content and allow students to be challenged while collaborating and building experiences so crucial to enjoyment of their school experience.

What is your plan?

Prior thought and planning into how the school year will look, feel and operate is crucial to it's success. What are the ingredients into your school year?