Pre-preplanning

School officially starts back for my district on August 6 this year. Before that happens, teachers gather. Today and tomorrow some teachers from my math department are gathering even earlier. We will take two days to fine tune our plans, to collaborate, to build a bit more strength into our teams. Next week begins the official preplanning. The agenda is set. About 6 hours of the five days has been designated for curriculum teamwork. We’ll take it now, early. Next week will be quite busy enough.

I am ending my summer a little bit early. Why? Because I want my students to have their best year ever, and I’m going to plan for it!

Our curriculum team makes this possible through pre-planning grants that are available through Title I funding. To find out if there are funds available at your school, check with your county’s Title I coordinator!

First post of 2016

This year: new ways to deliver PD; a different way of communicating with my students; improve my Spanish; a second semester in my ELL training (certification in my future!); but one thing at a time!

My #MTBoS mentees: hang on for the ride!

Great thoughts on PD: (credit goes to a brief tweet from @pamjwilson):

“stop [Tchrs] doing good things to give them time to do even better things”

From Sustaining Formative Assessment with Teacher Learning Communities

And…

Dan Meyer’s recent post on Swan’s idea that we ‘get worse’in the process of getting better.

Professional Development: Getting Worse Before We Get Better

Think about what happens when we make announcements to the whole class. Does ‘broadcasting’ really work? (Crediting another tweet: @justinaion):

#noTalkWC, Alice Keeler

I started with an expensive program, but ended up using a free app:

Duolingo

I love the way it has improved my accent! (Southerners speaking Spanish can be embarrassing!)

My ELL training is a grad class at UGA… Three semesters (I started this last fall, 2015) later, (and a certification test!) I will add a new certification to my license! #lovethedirectionmycareeristaking!

More than anything, this online PLC is about sharing and supporting great ideas, one teacher to another. I look forward to learning even more!

My newest inspirations are the three lovely people I get to mentor this year: Melanie, Doug(@freeejazzz) and Sandy, Welcome to the group! And thanks to everyone(!) for helping me become better. Happy New Year!