I am proud of some initiatives this year that came to fruition. In a general sense, the Elective areas created more opportunities for kids to "find their muse". The recording studio, a vegetable garden and more trades opportunities let students explore and go deeper into areas they may pursue as a career.
The Core classes are working on their instruction and assessment practices to better engage the students and looking for authentic ways to show learning.
Next year, the plan is to look at marrying the two ideas with a "Trails" umbrella of courses where kids can take Geography, Communications and Science/Math courses as they prepare for and then build a climbing trail in partnership with the local government.
This is progress.
The key message in this image is "enjoy the journey". Reading about the above plans, many educators will immediately pick holes. What about... differentiation, personalization, inquiry, wrap around, PBL, backwards design, flipped classroom, AFL, running records, benchmarks, multiple intelligences, portfolios, etc.
There are many philosophies and strategies in education. If you wait until you have covered all of them in your decisions nothing will happen.
We work with kids... the best laid plans will need to vary anyway as the kids tell us with their feet how the initiatives need to evolve. Jump in and enjoy the journey.
