Summer is here. Check out day has come and gone, but I haven’t checked out. I have been to school almost every day since school was out three weeks ago. Well except for the week I actually took a vacation. I don’t know how people walk away from campus for two months and not even think about their profession. I know I can’t.
First there is the debriefing. What went well last year and what do I need to focus on for the next year. Fortunately there was lots of good this year. My students got further and deeper into the curriculum than any of my students have before. I had very few discipline problems, and I found that my students were much more engaged than I have experienced in the past. These are the things I want to build on.
On the down side, I missed a lot of school. I was working on my administrative credential, which required I miss 20 days so that I could shadow an administrator on a different campus. It was a great experience, but it meant missing all of those days. On top of that I was pulled out of the classroom a number of times to work on different administrative tasks. Again, these were great learning experiences for me, but it came at a high cost. I really did not enjoy seeing kids on campus in the morning and have them ask me “Are you gonna be here today, or are you gonna be gone- again?” That question goes on my list of all time things that suck. While it sucked, it’s an easy fix!
Now I am thinking of things I can do to make my class even more engaging for kids. I arranged for some new software this year, which may or may not include Minecraft, and we now have a 3D printer in my room. I spent some time this last week setting up a photo studio in the empty room next door, which includes a green screen area. I still have piles of robot parts and remenants from ROV’s students built in the past that can be utilized by students. The biggest change I am considering is how to implement all of these things in a “Maker Space” kind of approach to the class. I have this vision of my high school students creating business plans for actual products they create. But I don’t know how to get there from here. That’s how I am spending my summer, trying to figure it all out.
wmarkhall 