If an educator ever tells you that they are not nervous the night before the first day of school, please know that they are lying. I enter my 28th year in education and I still have a restless night before the first day. Part of that is excitement for the new year and part of that is worry that things will go well and that I will set the right tone for the kids on the first day. I know that hooking the kids early and demonstrating to them that this year will be different from what they've had in the past are the two most important things I can do on the first day of school.
On the first day, I only want to learn the kids' names. I don't care about the rules, expectations, curriculum, school events or any other agenda items. We'll get to those. All I care about is learning, as quickly as possible, who they are and what they're about. I want the kids to know that I am buying into them and I want them to be open to buying into the class. Building relationships with our students is the single most important thing that we do. All else hinges on those relationships.
We are now two weeks in to the new school year. The last ten school days have been a blur, a good blur. The kids are relaxed, happy and learning. They are learning that our expectations on team are to treat everyone with respect and compassion, do the best they can and be open to both success and failure. As we live those expectations this year, kids will make leaps and bounds toward becoming lifelong learners, our ultimate goal for them.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Learning Together
During the past month, Melissa and I went to RCET to conduct some professional development for teachers in the southwest Missouri area. We had attended the RCET conference in March and this PD opportunity grew out of that conference. One of the things we love most about attending conferences and giving PD is the shared learning that occurs during the sessions. We know that we bring some new things to the teachers who attend, but we also learn a great deal during those sessions as well.
During our time at RCET, we conducted three PD sessions: Integrating Innovative Technology into the Classroom, Harmonized Learning: A 20% Time Learning Environment, and PBL: Learning Through Doing! All of the sessions were well-attended and rather than a "sit-n-git" environment, we try to create a session around discussion and collaboration. Indeed, we have information to impart, but we hope that by engaging the teachers in a conversation about how they can implement things in their own classrooms, we can all learn from each other.
Then it was on to the Fox School District for Curriculum Campus. This day of professional development for the teachers of the Fox School District was a very well-attended event. During our time there, we conducted two sessions of Integrating Innovative Technology into the Classroom and one session of Harmonized Learning: A 20% Time Learning Environment. While teachers were curious about 20% Time and what it entails, they seemed more interested in the technology ideas that they could use in their classrooms. We realize that not everyone is ready to implement 20% Time but we had a good group of teachers who wanted to know more, even if implementation was not imminent.
Now we are in the planning stages of our long-term in-district PD program. We will be training some of our own Webster Groves School District teachers in creating and implementing a 20% Time program in their own classes during our fall semester. We are looking forward to the sharing, collaborating and learning.
During our time at RCET, we conducted three PD sessions: Integrating Innovative Technology into the Classroom, Harmonized Learning: A 20% Time Learning Environment, and PBL: Learning Through Doing! All of the sessions were well-attended and rather than a "sit-n-git" environment, we try to create a session around discussion and collaboration. Indeed, we have information to impart, but we hope that by engaging the teachers in a conversation about how they can implement things in their own classrooms, we can all learn from each other.
Then it was on to the Fox School District for Curriculum Campus. This day of professional development for the teachers of the Fox School District was a very well-attended event. During our time there, we conducted two sessions of Integrating Innovative Technology into the Classroom and one session of Harmonized Learning: A 20% Time Learning Environment. While teachers were curious about 20% Time and what it entails, they seemed more interested in the technology ideas that they could use in their classrooms. We realize that not everyone is ready to implement 20% Time but we had a good group of teachers who wanted to know more, even if implementation was not imminent.
Now we are in the planning stages of our long-term in-district PD program. We will be training some of our own Webster Groves School District teachers in creating and implementing a 20% Time program in their own classes during our fall semester. We are looking forward to the sharing, collaborating and learning.
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