Farewell to Forward into History

Sometimes moving forward means leaving things behind.  In the past two years I have grown so much as a teacher and blogging has been a big part of that.  Writing has helped me to process my goals, my job and my life. I have every intention to continue. But, recently I have felt that I need a fresh start on a new blog, not so narrowly focused on teaching or technology or any one thing. I kept writing blog posts that I did not post because they were outside my current definition of what the blog should be.  

So I will reinvent my blog here. 

http://gowhereyougrow.wordpress.com/ 

It is me. It is what I am learning and where I will grow.  I hope that it will better represent me in my totality rather than any one component, be it father, husband, or teacher. Our growth is like the legs on a table.  If any one part grows too fast or independently of the others, the table becomes unstable.  

I hope you will follow me there.  

Building a Paperless Classroom

One of my main professional goals this year has been to develop the paperless classroom. In order to do this I established areas that I would need to address and eventually master.

      1. A System for distributing and sharing classroom materials materials.
2. A system for the grading and organization of projects created using online resources such as Google docs, Dipity, Prezi, Glogster and others. 

      3. A method for making formative and summative assessment paperless. 

Over the course of the next few days I will be posting what I have developed and embraced.  I hope that it can serve as a helpful guide to those who might be just beginning this process but also generate suggestions from those who are currently doing the same so that we can learn together. 

I am excited because I know that I can make this work.  

I am excited that it appears more likely than not that I will be part of a 1:1 tech initiative next year which will allow me to put these methods to full use in the classroom next year.  

I am excited because in the process I have discovered some incidental learning gains.

Most importantly, I am excited because I think it will make my classroom a more exciting and dynamic place for my students.  

Planning My Professional Road Trip

(Written December 2, n Washington D.C., while attending NCSS.) 

It has been a while since I’ve posted to this blog.  Life gets busy, grades are due and then suddenly a month has passed.  I have written a few posts in that time. I decided that one of them was just venting and that another of them was more of a mental work session; necessary but not the learning experience I like to post here.  I have been hard at work getting done the work at hand and haven’t been focused on looking forward.

As I write this I am in my hotel in Washington D.C. I spent the day with the #sschat crew talking about education and attending seminars given by teachers who are passionate their jobs and about their lives in general.

Since being here I have filled a list with topics to blog about, lesson ideas, ideas for future #sschats and even a few ideas for planning the annual family road trip (thank you Tom Riddle). Before I began writing this I sat down and I wrote down a list of 5 things I want to do to be a better teacher.  The next few months in my classes were running through my head.  I started editing a lesson plan for next week.  I made a list of what I need to buy for my Middle Ages lesson next week; Legos, pipe cleaners and a wooden yardstick. (thank you Dave Burgess).  

The importance of conferences like this, the part that makes them worth the expense, is the examination and evaluation that takes place as a result.   I have some lessons to create, a few lessons to purge, and many books to read.  I’m feeling energized and excited to get back in the classroom.  This is what I wish every PD experience could be like.

I’m looking ahead and I have my sights set on some new goals.