As the new semester begins...Part 2

In this post, I've taken the ideas from Part 1 and elaborated on them.  The original ideas are in bold, and the elaboration is below.

I need to make routines more regular - for example, make sure that every Friday really is Project Workshop Day instead of rescheduling or postponing it so often.

One way to do this would be to plan an outline as far ahead as possible, and then adjust daily and weekly.  This will help me to avoid situations like December / January where we had to "scrunch" a lot of content into a short time period.  Not surprisingly, the students didn't do as well - overall - on the second, more rushed DBQ than they did on the first, where we had more time.

The map of content that we made in our U.S. History meeting on Friday 1/29 can help with this.  I can make a similar map for the senior class.

I need to include more time for students to reflect and understand the connections between the different activities we do.  This should be part of a regular, predictable routine.  I also can't sacrifice this reflection time for "content" - reflection needs to be part of our "content."

This should have its own day in our weekly routine.  Perhaps on Friday, at the end of the workshop period, could also be a reflection - 10 or 15 minutes, every other week.  (This might help students to see the connections between our classroom activities and our outcomes - thinking like historians for the juniors, reading and writing for the seniors, and habits of mind for all of the classes.)  I need to make sure that I give students feedback on this as well.

I should also establish a predictable pattern for grading.  For example, grades are posted twice a week - say, Tuesday & Friday - so students know that they can check School Loop for an update.  I need to make sure that I communicate with students who are not turning in work regularly, and at the beginning of the semester.

I think this is a good plan.  Tuesday & Friday would be good days for this.

I need to plan time for parent communication, which I am still not doing regularly enough.

Setting aside specific days for this, as above with grading, would help with this, too.  Wednesday, perhaps, and Thursdays when we don't have an editors' meeting?  Or maybe certain conference periods?  

Also, I need to think about in-person/on-the-phone communication and automated or digital communication.  I can use both to communicate with parents.

Finally, I need to think about positive versus "corrective" communication.  I need to make sure I'm calling parents to talk about good things that kids do at least as often as I call to talk about problems or low grades.

I want to figure out a way to give students a chance to write more often about topics that they choose.

The project workshop might be a space for this.  Also, perhaps tying in the blog as a space for students to write would help.  I need to think about this more.


In addition, though I didn't discuss this in my first post, Monday should probably be a day for checking in regarding class procedures, class culture, and problems that may need to discussed.

I should sketch out a draft of "routines," both for my professional practice and for our classroom work, that I want to implement and maintain.