So Far...

So far this year:

1. I have been a part of conversations about norms, mission and vision for two teams.
2. I still am not sure where I am going.
3. I am pretty sure I know where I am.
4. I have watched/broken down/posted a lot of football film.
5. Attempted to use the wireless in the downstairs classrooms (they seem to not like me)
6. I have used the computers in the upstairs classrooms (they work great)
7. Graded, graded and graded.
8. I have had an introduction to Moodle and I am really excited about the possibilities.
9. I worked with students to develop a community service plan for Link Crew.
10. I have been collecting lab experiments on video to attempt to post (okay, it is just one, but it is a start, right?)
11. Then there is the life outside of AHS. (More on this later.)

The astronomy class seems to be the one place where things are working the way that they should. This involves little on my part (which might be why it is going so well) but I need to be in the class to give some direction. The students decided on the percentage for each category of work that they are going to complete this semester. I agree with the percentages that the class decided on and I am excited that the students had the say in this. There have been a couple of lessons that I have changed so that the students are composing all of the material. For example, from a vocab list, the students were allowed to pick two to three terms that work together and then, as a group, they developed some type of digital documents to tell the story of the terms. One example was force and acceleration and the students chose a football player to display this information. I will link to these document in my next post to share this work.

My biggest concern right now is time. I know that time will take care of itself but I still worry. There are lots of good (perhaps great) ideas in my head but I lack the time to let them loose. This feels like a big excuse but there is a lot going on right now and the "old" way seems to work. The students do nto fight when you are lecturing but are they learning? Maybe. But are they learning a "like" of the material? Am I letting them down by being easy on myself from time to time? Am I the only one with these questions?