Mind Wandering

I love summer! It is a time for rejuvenation, relaxation, and reconnecting with my family. It is also a time for me to get away from the day to day work and let my mind wander. It is during these times when I do some of my best thinking. My recent mind wanderings have led me to wonder about some things which I observed this past year. As always, these wonderings are still just questions and that is what I love about this time of year. It's a time when thoughts can be generated with time to reflect and refine on these questions before the school year starts. So, here are a few of my thoughts--I can throw them out now and let them sit for a while. My mind will continue to chew on them for the next month or so, and then it will be time to do something else I love--start finding ways to turn the answers into a reality.

#1 What if every child had a mentor in our school who worked with them on a Personalized Educational Plan? We have a staff to student ratio of 7:1--is there a way we can harness this ratio to make this mentoring a reality?

#2 Should we change our schedule to allow for longer periods of time for our classes? Currently we have a 9 period day with each period running 40 minutes. With longer periods for learning (80-90 minutes) we may have the opportunity to go deeper with learning and have more time for higher-order thinking around concepts.

#3 How can we help every student to succeed in class? With online learning exploding and our move to a 1:1 learning environment coming to fruition in the near future, can we find a unique path for all students to succeed? Every student has a unique learning style and even with the best differentiated teaching, we have students who we don't reach. How can we harness the power of technology and our understanding of individual students to help all students succeed?

#4 This past year, we had a handful of students who did not really connect with an adult in our school. Despite our best efforts, a connection was never seriously made. What can we do about this? Are there other extracurricular activities we could offer to reach more students? Are there adults in the community who would be willing to mentor our students?

I'm glad I work in a school that is extremely successful in preparing students to be productive citizens in a changing world. Okoboji Middle School is a great school, but we can be better. Our staff is committed to helping all students succeed and our parent support is phenomenal! We will continue to improve and it will take all of us to do it. Let's see which of these questions we can answer in 2010-11. I'm ready for the challenge, but first things first--A little more time off to let my mind wander. I hope you find time to let your mind wander as well!