Our First Two Days

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!!