End of Year Redux (Part 3)

First let me start wby saying that I am at my jury duty summons, hence the lack of time away from school stuff. Lots of really interesting information gathered from my end of year surveys. Most were things that I already knew or suspected. The next step is to think about next steps... Technology needs to be leveraged. It integrates wells with literacy and project based learning. What I need to do more of is doing more with particular tools. Instead of doing 1 photostory then another two months later, I need to follow it up more immediately. This will help as I expand the various tools available for kids later in the year. This might mean doing a few shorter projects- those not 2+ weeks in duration. It also might mean having less integration with content areas- more sproduct focused as opposed to duly product/content. More reading! I have two different ideas. The first is making reading the primary homework. Since our district is going to be adding a new online learning platform, I could have some short response work for them to post. In some ways this would mimick the flipped classroom- less lecture in class, more done in advance. This would provide good information about their understandng prior to arriving, helping narrow in on some of the students with misconceptions. It would not eliminate reading during my literacy time. But would allow for more novel study books, and/or more social studies content learning (and time for projects). The last thing I am thinking about connects to our use of journals. I need a better system for dividing it into parts. Currently I do front/back with social studies in front and reading literature in the back. Unfortunately the back just isn't what I want. I need more space for word work/roots, and a division between strategy work and novel study. While we apply the strategy with the novel study, I wonder if that makes the journal a bit disjointed. By that I mean you can't see the continuous train of thought around a book. I'll likely used the Reader's Workshop model for journals as a guide. Soon I'll post more about changes in my curriculum map, and how I want to change the way kids demonstrate understanding.