1) Revising Lesson Plans
Earlier this week, I got the first look at my class schedule and rosters for the upcoming year. There is an even split between my middle school and high school load that includes a course that I haven't taught yet. Additionally, the middle school curriculum is set up so that the procedure is the same, but the content rotates every year. This allows students to take the class in both 7th and 8th grades and to have the majority of the class work different each time.
This year, one of the performance projects in the middle school Theatre class will be Puppetry. The students in my first year loved this so much that I put it on hold last year, so that I could learn more to expand the curriculum and secure a grant from the Holmdel Foundation for Educational Excellence. I also want to thank Ms. Edna Bland for her expertise and guidance.
2) Incorporating more Games & SEL
If you have not participated in the #games4ed Twitter Chat, you may want to make plans to join in on Thursdays / 8 pm EST. This group of educators share examples and questions about incorporating games and puzzles into subject at every grade level. I've used some of the ideas presented here to build lessons and assessments that are more fun for students and for me.
3) Cleaning Up Social Media
It's no secret that I love social media. It has been a great way to communicate and gather information, but it gets messy. I find it helpful to sort through the accounts, update profiles, delete or rearrange any posts that may be necessary, and set up a preliminary post schedule. As someone mentioned in the comments of a post earlier this week, there are so many places to be online that it is important to pick just a few and focus there. I find it best to communicate with parents on Facebook, students on Instagram, and the rest of the world on Twitter. It is a lot to manage (I do this for the theatre program and the high school), but once you get into a groove, it works. My best advice would be to keep a schedule and use a platform like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, or IFTTT to help. There are many others, too.
I also encourage you - whether in a school or organization - to balance your sales with interest stories. When I thought of how many times I block telemarketers, or unwanted ads, it just made sense.
4) Shopping
I am fortunate to have a small budget through school that covers basic classroom supplies. However, there are other things I will need to help me with management. Planners, dry erase markers, things like that. Oh, and clothes. It's amazing how quickly I can wear through my "teacher costumes"!
Also, you may want to set up an Amazon wish list for your classroom or department, if you don't already have one. There are times when someone may want to help, but you don't know exactly how. Purchasing an item from this list is a nice, simple way for community to get involved. And for any theatre teachers out there, connect with Dr. Jimmy Chrismon who runs the ThEDTalks Podcast. Not only are his interviews interesting, but he shares out teachers' wish lists each August.
5) Getting back into a routine... sort of
I've been teaching summer school and a few camp programs this summer. It helps keep me in practice and is a nice supplemental income when we're not receiving a regular paycheck (my wife is a teacher, too). It's still a summer schedule and I will beginning getting back into a groove of waking up early and going through the routines that get all of us out the door. I'm sure we would benefit from keeping a more regular routine during the summer, but we are a family of five and we're tired. It's been quite a year and using time to rest and recover has been well worth it.
PS - As I'm writing this, we are anticipating the announcement that New Jersey schools will be masked on the first day. It is an ever-changing situation... but isn't that how we would describe teaching anyway? What have you done to recover from the school year? What are you doing to prepare for September?
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