New room this year. Lots to unpack before the kiddos show up in two weeks. And just like the boxes on my classroom floor that need unpacking, I have containers of ideas in my head that need unpacking, too. And just as my room will begin to take final shape over the coming days, so will my approach this year in the 180 classroom. It’s a messy process, unpacking.

Here’s some of my mess.

Priorities, Priorities, Priorities

Lots of priorities. But three will take center stage this year. They, above all, will be my primary priorities for designing learning in my classroom this year. Conferencing. Reflecting. Sharing.

Conferencing. Not a new concept to the 180 classroom. In fact, as I have shared at other times, conferencing with kids about their work is where I truly–and maybe only–feel as if I am making a difference. So, it’s not the addition of conferencing that’s new. It’s the making it priority number one, that’s new. And to do that I had to confront a formidable obstacle in education: time. There’s never enough time. Never. But I am going to try anyway. And to do that I had to re-imagine what learning looks like in my room. To conference with kids I have to make time for kids. To conference with one kid, I have to create learning opportunities for the other kids.

Here’s a glimpse at my rough plan in the form of a weekly schedule (still have some details to work out). I will share more specifics in the coming days.

Mondays will be personal reading days. It’s an intentional, make-time-for-reading move. It’s also a great way to ease into the week. Open, “walk-in” conferencing available.

Tuesdays are QUESTions days. Each week we will set our course using three questions. One to do with our overarching question for the semester (this fall: “How does the human experience connect and divide us?”). One to do with reading. And one to do with writing. We will use the bulk of the day to front load the necessary elements that will guide our work for the next two days: Discovery days.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are Discovery days. It is here where the kids will do the work, seeking to answer the week’s questions. It is here where I will conference with kids. These will be scheduled conferences. There will be a rotating schedule week to week where I will get through half the kids in each class over the two days. In the past, I have had a more “open format” for such times, but it has not allowed me to meet consistently with every kid. This year meeting consistently with every kid is the priority.

What about the other kids? Well, to help them stay engaged in their own work, I am going to provide both structure and choice. I will write more about this in the coming days and certainly share what I learn over the course of the year, but for now I will share the basic idea .

The goal here is work. In my room work must take the form as one of the following activities.

The kids will create four 3X5 card placards with the above words. Each card will be folded in half. Whatever is facing forward is the work that that student is doing at the time. It gives me an opportunity to visually note who’s doing what. And as I transition from conference to conference, I can quickly engage some of the other kids in what they are doing. Each kid will reflect on their specific work for that day in their Journey Journal (more on that soon), and they will keep track of the type and patterns of work they are doing. As for behavior, the kids and I will determine community expectations for Discovery days.

Fridays are Checkpoint days. We will check in as a community sharing our work from the week. I want this to take on various forms, but some of my initial thinking is that we will simply discuss our work around the week’s questions. In addition, and of significance, we will also have scheduled sharing opportunities for kids to share their work with the rest of the community (more on this later, too).

That’s a bit of my mess this morning. Glad to be back.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.