As I enter my 4th year as insructional coach, so much of what we have discussed makes so much sense to me. I finished my teaching career in 2001, and although I had practiced many of the things we've discussed, it had happened through trial-and-error with no cohesive philosophy to bind the practices together or convenient language to address such practice by. I also felt very isolated in my practice as there was no time or way to share what I was doing with others to see if I was all alone in my thinking, or that others were seeing some of the same things I was seeing, or that I was very wrong about my conclusions. Yes, I was discovering that overriding themes should be driving learning, and that these themes should be in front of the students at all times every hour that I taught. I believed that students should explore ideas related to these themes at their own pace and with their own focus, and that it would be a very uneven journey for each of them. I found that when the final exam was structured so that each student could reflect on their own path to understanding, the quality of work was far superior to those that I had crafted even late into my career which were based on what I had decided was imporant for them to regurgitate. My experience in our 21st Century group, along with the training I continue to receive as instuctional coach, brings a more fluid coherence to the ideas I struggled with as a teacher, and I hope I can embed those philosophies into the coaching I do with our new staff.

reaction to 18 again

I think there is no turning back time when it comes to technology. I agree with Alan November who states that teachers should and will become more and more the facilitator of learning and allow the students to be the teachers. We will seve as the guide for exploring the big issues. I think that Ian Hamilton was right on the money when he addressed Instructional Council in May, when asked his advice about improving AHS, he said that he wished that more teachers would be more focused on PROCESS learning and less on KNOWLEDGE based learning.

dicovering the world of blogging

Since the world of blogging is completely new to me, I have been overwhelmed at the amount of information that is available to anyone on the internet. I am awed by the vast array of topics that are out there.