Sunday, June 5, 2011

When A Door Closes

As the year winds to an end I am finding myself more sentimental than usual.  Finals are ready to be given. I have purchased this years copy of Oh The Places You'll Go.  (I buy a copy every year, read it on the last day, and then have the kids sign it like a yearbook.)  The peanuts are all excited about their summer plans (and I am too!).

And finally this last week I couldn't avoid the questions I have been getting for the past few weeks.  The kids have noticed me leaving as soon as possible (unusual for me) and the fact that I have been packing up a few more things than I normally take home for the summer (and I usually take home almost everything).  So I told the kids I had gotten a new job and wouldn't be returning in the fall.  I work with kids that have people come in and out of their lives with disturbing frequency so I was glad that I had the opportunity to explain why I was leaving and how I hoped we would all keep in touch (what did people do before Facebook?).  It wasn't as long-winded as Oprah's farewell, but it was closure.  I am going to miss working with this group of kids and I will probably cry like a baby at graduation, but I am also very excited about the things to come.

In the fall I will be moving to the 'burbs working in a mixed-grade classroom at a 6-8 charter school.  The schools focus is on entrepreneurialism and sustainable initiatives.  The curriculum is a mixture of project based learning and experiential learning.  It is also generative.  I am a little type A so while I'm sure this won't be a cake-walk, I am very excited to say the least.  We are going to do standard based grading, which I have experience with, but not on this grand scale.  We are working this summer to rewrite standards and learning targets into a multi-grade format.  The school is only in it's second year, and there is only one other teacher (who is also a new hire).  We have a million ideas and I think our biggest problem will be that there are only so many hours in a day.

So, while I have recently taken a brief sabbatical from the online world, it has not been for lack of thoughts.  I look forward to this new journey and can't wait to share it with all of you as well.

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