The Keep, Heap, and Leap

The hike up to Portage Pass in Alaska earlier this summer.

This summer has been a great one. I have had some awesome opportunities to travel, get fit (both physically and mentally), and reflect on what goals I have for the upcoming school year. I purposely took some time away from planning at the start of the summer in order to clear my head and look at the last school year with a fresh perspective. I did this in order to know what I wanted to keep in my classroom, what I want to try from the heap of resources I have accumulated over time, and how I want my students and I to leap forward towards new ideas and opportunities. Rather than create a ridiculous list of a million and one things I could do for this next school year, I am going to focus on three ideas that I know will have the potential to move my classroom forward in tremendous ways. 

The Keep: Collaboration

STEAM collaborative for ArtPrize Entry.

I am so excited that one of the highlights for my students last year when they filled out their was also one of mine. Overwhelmingly students expressed both an enjoyment and desire to work with others in collaborative ways in the classroom. We did this through our STEAM collaboratives and it is something I am very excited to continue as we get going with this upcoming school year. One of my favorite things about the start of the school year is that the STEM teacher and I combine our classes to work on a PSA collaborative starting on the first full week of school. This year we plan on continuing with our four STEAM collaboratives and I am excited to fine-tune this process as we will be looping various projects in new ways.

The Heap: Robots

When I think of 'the heap," I think of a massive pile of various ideas that have accumulated over time; many of them are yet to be realized for one reason or another. These are things I have learned or have seen in other classrooms through professional development and social media, but haven't been quite ready or knowing how to implement in my classroom. These are things I have been inspired by when I see others put it into action, but where I haven't yet bridged the gap between admiration to implementation due to lack of confidence, total understanding, or most often, lack of time. 

Well, there is one thing from the heap of ideas that I am ready to try out and that is using Ozobots in my classroom. They are these really neat little bots students can program to better understand code through the variety of commands they give their bots. It is also a great way of incorporating art because you can program the bots to do different things depending on colors they encounter and other things along the way. I see this being a great way to get students engaged with design and problem solving and I am really excited to announce that you can help us get this project up and running by donating to our DonorsChoose page! 

The Leap: ArtPrize

I am beyond excited to announce that our STEAM collaborative, "Painting Under Paper Cuts," in the running to win our program $5000 through the Youth Collaborative Award in ArtPrize (VOTE 65259). This opportunity arose in late Spring and the STEM teacher and I worked together to get concepts and students together to make a work that was reflective of our student body and the nature of both of our classes. To put our name in the hat has been a big leap for this upcoming school year.

ArtPrize is in its ninth year; this is the first time my students or I have submitted work to it. It takes some courage to put your work out there, period; some might say it is a leap of faith. To add the element of having others to vote on it in the hopes that you will win both prestige and prize money for your classroom adds another element to the exhibition of the work. 

We almost didn't make it in to the competition, but thanks to Monroe Community Church, we were able to secure this fabulous venue and I look forward to working with parents and students to organize various ways we can promote the piece so people can vote for it. It is a leap I hope opens the door to even more opportunities for my students and myself to participate with these major events.

Get ready next school year, I am ready for you! 

Now that I have had a chance to really hone in on some ideas using the keep, heap, and leap mantra about how I can make this next year the best one yet, I am getting really excited to start putting plans into action. 

I can't wait to meet my students in a few weeks and share these ideas with them and ask them to make their own lists of what they want to keep, take from the heap, and make a leap with to make their school year the best one ever! 

Do you have your keep, heap, and leap list going? If not, feel free to borrow from mine. If you do, please don't keep it to yourself. Be brave and declare it. 

See you on the Internets,

Mrs. C