I’ll admit it. I’ve been approaching this school year with some trepidation.
It’s not that I don’t want to get back in the classroom. It’s not that I’m not ready to try to make a difference in people’s lives every day. I’m just a little more tired than I normally am in August. Maybe I’m just getting older.
I had to shake some of that off today. I caught myself complaining a lot more than normal. I was extremely negative, and it just wasn’t working for me. I had to take a step back into the Stoics and remind myself that nothing worth doing in life is easy. The only way to find peace with the challenges that lead us to our goals is to embrace the challenge, because the end result is merely a feature or the work it takes to get there. If I can keep that in mind, this year will be a-okay. As Ryan Holiday is fond of saying, “The obstacle is the way.”
At Richmond Community schools, we’re fond of our words that start with R, so I’m picking Resolve as my #OneWord this school year. Some things are difficult. A lot of the time, that’s what makes them worth doing. Otherwise, everyone would do them. Finding the resolve to do those things anyway is where the game is.
So, with all of that out of the way, what’s different in R255 this year?
First off, I signed up with the Calm Schools initiative. You know Calm. You’ve seen its ads on Facebook. It’s a mindfulness app, and it has an entire package aimed at being used in schools with students. I feel even more sure of myself when it comes to integrating it into the classroom after our superintendent’s speech this morning about self-care. I’d be remiss if I’m not teaching our students the same thing.
I’m also going to be trying something that I’m calling “Mission Mondays.” If you haven’t heard of Sneaky Cards, you may want to check them out. Are they silly? Are they non-curricular? Yes and yes. But I think they could be awesome for building class culture. You never know until you try.
AP Statistics is getting a bit of an overhaul in terms of how I’m teaching it and what my emphases are on regarding what is truly valuable for students in the class. I think that might be worth its own blog post a little later. On the other hand, Algebra 1 is staying as homework-free as I can get it. During first semester last year, a lot of the work students did was exclusively digital. I over-corrected during second semester and assigned mostly paper assignments. Finding the correct blend is going to be the challenge on my plate this year. I’ll also be taking on a new challenge with the Algebra Enrichment block. My hope is to bring more stations to the course and really get into re-building the fundamentals with some of my students.
I’ll be digging a little more into how things are going and what innovations I’m trying to bring into the classroom this year in the future, but that’s where things stand right now. I have some grandiose ideas for gamification, but the plan this year is to introduce some of the things on a much smaller scale.
And that about wraps it up, for now! I’m sure there will be plenty to share as the school year goes on. If you’re reading this, thanks for checking out what’s essentially just one teacher’s personal blog.
And hey, good luck with the school year ahead. Let’s make 2018-19 count!
Educating the Hunter 