Back to Lyceum

It's the time to return to the books and the talk. School has begun and my classes seem to be filled to the rim. My AP US History class, all 29 of them, seem to be unafraid of the material and the challenge and seem to be rebuffing the rumors of the class being 'impossible'. Well, that's an accomplishment in itself. You guys rock! The Multicultural Studies class is also huge, but again, a great microcosm of society. Debate is also filled with students who seem, so far, really excited about the resolution and their potential to become a critical thinker and speaker. All in all, it looks like a good semester. I've begun to introduce some of the tech-geek components of the class with positive results. I am going to keep the practice of using email to communicate with students and parents. The forum is going to be a place where ideas get tossed around, battered, propped up again and then kicked again for good measure. I'm going to tone down the idea of posting lessons on the forum and transfer more of that to the wiki page this year. Wetpaint seems to be a more friendly host than pbwiki, but I'll have to see throughout the semester how it holds up to usability and security. Podcasts and my video library give me so many more options in the classroom, but I have to balance my use of video in the class with time constrictions and other content.

This year is definitely a year of change. The presidential election is a necessary and powerful teaching opportunity. I am going to use the most controversial issues in my debate course, and build connections to both AP US History and Multicultural Studies. There's also a lot of change at the high school. We have a new superintendent, new MCAS challenges in science and history, new mandates for daily agendas and lesson plans, and lots of new staff. This is definitely a year to feel 'on my toes', but life without challenges is super boring. Today was a good day, but tomorrow is always better.