The Next 5 Years
Restating Goals
6 month goal
My six month goal focuses on student engagement through activities that center on collaboration among students. Mining internet resources and my colleagues’ creativity, as well as my own, will offer various opportunities to enhance student engagement. Almost two months ago, I wrote about two Kagan strategies that I’ve continued to implement. These, and similar activities like Tower of Hanoi, which I implemented last week, are critical in fostering student engagement.
5 year goal
Using technology to enhance student engagement is part of my five year goal. This means that I will flip my classroom to some extent. I envision students who need remediation or return after an absence to be among those who will benefit most from this. Building a library of activities, with technology as a component, that increase student engagement will allow me to coach more than lecture, assist more than lead.
Looking through internet resources and bouncing ideas off of colleagues will mean that my classroom will gradually change from one that is partly student centered to one that is mostly student centered. Part of this change has to come from within. Instead of focusing on creating a worksheet to allow students to uncover an idea, I need to ask myself, Is there a way to incorporate movement into the activity? To have students act out the material? To have a round table debate? To have students create their own meaning of the material through poetry or drawings or storytelling?
Regarding diversity in my Personal Learning Network, I plan to involve guardians more often with assignments like Concept Checks. My hope is that these ideas will grow buy-in – from both the students and guardians. Working closely with my assistant principal, who pushed me to incorporate more writing and connections to science and other disciplines, will enhance my network. Connecting more often and deeply with my math coach and two other colleagues that I’ve worked closely with this year will enhance my instruction and assessment, too.
Abandoning the worksheet as the primary tool in the classroom will take courage. While worksheets work well to an extent – they distill information and can minimize lecturing – their student engagement ceiling is somewhat low. How excited can students get about a worksheet? Substituting movement and writing and drawing and debate for worksheets will enhance engagement in the classroom and provide a more rewarding experience for the kids and me.
Curating Resources
Angela Duckworth’s Grit
Jo Boaler’s Mathematical Mindsets
Kagan Strategies
Reread Heath brother’s ‘Made to Stick’ article and take notes
Reread sections of Dave Burgess’ Teach Like a Pirate and pledge to try two to three ideas per month
Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
David Allen’s Getting Things Done
Working with a science teacher at school (Mr. DiLorenzo or Mr. Gawne)
Working with assistant principal at school (Ms. Harper Reynolds)
Utilizing Twitter
Adding Dan Meyer to my PLN; using his Three Act Math resources and possibly adding to his list of ideas
Exploring Classroom 2.0 and finding people to add to my PLN
DonorsChoose.org is the primary resource that I want to dedicate my time and energy toward (I’ll look for other resources if I’m unsuccessful with this one)
Family and friends
OneGoal
William Blair
Gofundme.com ?
6 month goal
My six month goal focuses on student engagement through activities that center on collaboration among students. Mining internet resources and my colleagues’ creativity, as well as my own, will offer various opportunities to enhance student engagement. Almost two months ago, I wrote about two Kagan strategies that I’ve continued to implement. These, and similar activities like Tower of Hanoi, which I implemented last week, are critical in fostering student engagement.
5 year goal
Using technology to enhance student engagement is part of my five year goal. This means that I will flip my classroom to some extent. I envision students who need remediation or return after an absence to be among those who will benefit most from this. Building a library of activities, with technology as a component, that increase student engagement will allow me to coach more than lecture, assist more than lead.
Looking through internet resources and bouncing ideas off of colleagues will mean that my classroom will gradually change from one that is partly student centered to one that is mostly student centered. Part of this change has to come from within. Instead of focusing on creating a worksheet to allow students to uncover an idea, I need to ask myself, Is there a way to incorporate movement into the activity? To have students act out the material? To have a round table debate? To have students create their own meaning of the material through poetry or drawings or storytelling?
Regarding diversity in my Personal Learning Network, I plan to involve guardians more often with assignments like Concept Checks. My hope is that these ideas will grow buy-in – from both the students and guardians. Working closely with my assistant principal, who pushed me to incorporate more writing and connections to science and other disciplines, will enhance my network. Connecting more often and deeply with my math coach and two other colleagues that I’ve worked closely with this year will enhance my instruction and assessment, too.
Abandoning the worksheet as the primary tool in the classroom will take courage. While worksheets work well to an extent – they distill information and can minimize lecturing – their student engagement ceiling is somewhat low. How excited can students get about a worksheet? Substituting movement and writing and drawing and debate for worksheets will enhance engagement in the classroom and provide a more rewarding experience for the kids and me.
Curating Resources
Angela Duckworth’s Grit
Jo Boaler’s Mathematical Mindsets
Kagan Strategies
Reread Heath brother’s ‘Made to Stick’ article and take notes
Reread sections of Dave Burgess’ Teach Like a Pirate and pledge to try two to three ideas per month
Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
David Allen’s Getting Things Done
Working with a science teacher at school (Mr. DiLorenzo or Mr. Gawne)
Working with assistant principal at school (Ms. Harper Reynolds)
Utilizing Twitter
Adding Dan Meyer to my PLN; using his Three Act Math resources and possibly adding to his list of ideas
Exploring Classroom 2.0 and finding people to add to my PLN
DonorsChoose.org is the primary resource that I want to dedicate my time and energy toward (I’ll look for other resources if I’m unsuccessful with this one)
Family and friends
OneGoal
William Blair
Gofundme.com ?
