Well, I have finally settled back into Santa Fe pace, but it
took awhile after my two exciting days with you all. I want to begin by saying thank you for the
wonderful energy and thoughtfulness you brought to our time together. I had a terrific time and thoroughly enjoyed
getting to know every unique one of you. I hope you realize and celebrate what
a fine staff you are.
Over the next few days I will be posting a few materials
generated by our time together and also in response to questions and comments you
offered. If you have not yet visited and downloaded the online materials for
our UbD book, do make sure you access that.
A couple of you said you would like to see some completed units and
there are several from a variety of disciplines located there.
I know you will all be very busy with school starting, but
take a couple of minutes to read Culture:
The Hidden Curriculum. It is very
short and a fabulous reminder for the beginning of school of the importance of
attending to the culture in your building.
And don’t forget to attend to the culture of your own classroom. I
encourage you to do one class-building activity with your students every week
that will help them form strong bonds with one another. You can find a sample of these kinds of
activities here: team
building This time invested in
relationships pays dividends in achievement.
Also remember, that while you are creating only one unit this year, you can carry over your learning from that work to your
classroom every day. For example, do you
have a clear map of what you are teaching at the beginning of the year?
Are your outcomes clear? Or have you
assembled a collection of activities that you hope will meet student needs? Remember to organize your assessment
tools early in the planning so you can teach toward them. And try to develop two or three overarching
provocative questions with no quick answers that your students can tussle with
throughout the whole unit. A few other reminders we touched on last week: As
you are planning your teaching strategies, remember the 10/2 rule. Don’t give students more than ten minutes
worth of information without time to process.
They can’t listen to you and process at the same time. Remember also as
you assign complex text, give students the upfront preparation they need to be
successful. Finally remember the
importance of state changes. Students need periodic changes in the activity and
pace of the lesson to keep their minds engaged.
I wish each of you a spectacular opening week. Now go grow some dendrites!!
