Getting my head on straight...

As the summer is half over and I am yet to start thinking about the new year, I devote this first post as a list of what I need to work on for the start of the school year. As in the past, reflection is an integral part of learning, understanding, and receiving input.

1. Work on new curriculum. Science has new books, we changed when students will be taking various courses, and we should be vertically aligning our curriculum. It is a familiar trap to incorporate a few new things, change the page numbers from the book into the old notes, etc. I have not operated that way in a long time. Sure content stays about the same but the delivery needs to continually change. Science, Algebra, and Literature are the first three courses to take an end of the course assessment that is required for graduation.
2. Use the PA Standards Aligned System to really look at the curriculum. It is exciting that they are using Understanding by Design in the curriculum tool, but without others truly understanding the curricular approach, the actual transformation can be lost.
3. Focus on all 4 types of assessment: Benchmark, Summative, Formative, and Diagnostic.
4. Work with our small group of teachers using the curricular tool to create a district template and curriculum map to serve as a road map to all other departments through the year.
5. Add more inquiry. Much of what I do is guided inquiry and need to step it up a bit.
6. Step up wiki use as well as other tools. My class is mostly paperless and we use a wiki for just about everything. I feel the need to really look at what I do and push it just a bit more.

The above does not give much information at this time. As I work through my list, I am sure to have much to talk about and questions to ask.