Three Goals, because three is always the right number of things.

Three Goals, because three is always the right number of things.

 

1.         To become an active and known (by at least some) member of #MTBoS.

            I’ve been mostly lurking throughout this summer, and I am amazed at how many good teaching ideas arrive via Twitter every day.  I’ve been really intrigued as well by the “How welcoming are we?” debate over the past few weeks.  As a newbie with 35 years of teaching experience, it’s been interesting to see an online community experience what any successful community goes through.  Lots of thoughts about that, but maybe for another post.

I will re-energize my pick-a-number game.  I did it every week at my school last year; starting this week I’ll do it every week on the internet, based at #MTBoS.  Maybe it will succeed, and maybe it won’t.  If it does, it will be fun for all.  If it doesn’t, I’ll be that sad (but known!) guy with that game.  It’s win-win.

2.         To create and execute a 3-D design and printing curriculum for my Algebra II – Honors class.

            Last year was the first time I’d done any 3-D printing in class.  It was reasonably successful – the students enjoyed it, and it supported the curriculum in a nice way.  It required natural persistence and tenacity, often with frustration followed by excitement – the perfect path.

3.         To be more creative with assessment.

To me, it’s an axiom of teaching that students will put their efforts toward what is evaluated – how do I evaluate “be creative”, “struggle and fail and struggle some more”, “support your classmates”, and so on?  I’d like to rid myself of tests altogether, but that seems unrealistic.  

Short and sweet, at least for me.