Class Is In Session

Today was the first summer school session at the high school where I work. I'm co-teaching an academic enrichment course with a colleague.

The big deal about this course is that we were given tremendous freedom to develop a curriculum which allowed innovative content that is extremely student-centered. As a teacher you live for this type of opportunity, because you can create a model that can evolve teaching and content in the classroom.

We are guiding students through a self-reflective process that will hopefully enable them to understand themselves, so that they can develop habits that support them as a student and a creative person.

I'm focusing on teaching studying and research skills. You'd be surprise how so many curriculums don't take time to teach children effective ways of studying. The other portion of the course will focus on students developing their creative writing skills, which includes poetry. I'm excited.

Our students come from communities that are dealing with heavy issues, such as, crime, drugs and poverty. Today went well. These wonderful young people showed up today and actively participated in class. The program is totally voluntary and they are choosing to spend the next six weeks working on taking their career as a student to another level. Good on them!

So I am focused on giving them my best. They deserve it.