The first days of school are very, very busy days. It's a time where the perspective morphs and changes to accommodate the needs and interests of students, families, and staff.
I don't want to lose sight of what's ahead, so I'll chart the latest iteration of the course right here.
Math Teaching/Learning
We'll begin with a focus on getting to know one another, boosting positive math mindsets and behaviors, initial assessments, and collaborative teacher-teacher and teacher-student collaborative goal setting and program mapping.
Classroom Community
We'll set the stage for our classroom protocols and routines. We started with sign-in routines, the schedule, and a focus on the fact that prejudice of any kind is not acceptable. We also discussed the fact that mistakes are stepping stones to learning and questions are a sign that you're curious, interested, and learning. Next week we'll continue to co-construct the community and we'll review the kinds of jobs that keep the community running smoothly.
Family Outreach
We shared the website, wrote a few newsletters, added pages to the website to reflect current projects, posted sign-up sheets for parent conferences and drafted our curriculum night presentation. We also presented the idea that we want to team with families to teach students well.
Professional Learning
We're signed up to present at the MassCUE conference in October as a team, and I'm in the midst of planning ECET2-MA2016 with cross-state colleagues. I'm also slowly chopping away at my book list and the TeachPlus online policy course. And, I offered to run a systemwide course focused on math instruction if anyone is interested.
STEAM
The focus right now is team building and the Global Cardboard Challenge.
Grants and Support
Our team will write a few grant proposals to further our naturalist and culturally proficient study.
Field Studies
We're still working on our field study preparations--we have many great events planned in this regard.
