Amy’s Reflections

  What is the right way to do the capstone project? This is a question that we have been considering for a few years now since the state of Connecticut put this requirement in place beginning with the Class of 2023. A small group of my colleagues and I started this when we were fortunate enough to be part of a pilot program when we first began having every student in our class have a device. Now it is hard, if not impossible, to imagine a high school classroom without devices. It also happened to be my last year in the classroom.      Our team, that was made up of a group of core subject area teachers for the ninth grade and myself as the computer class teacher and technology instructional leader that co-taught with our Library Media Specialist (LMS). We piloted, as part of the pilot program, a student portfolio system where we provided students with the choice of developing their own Google site or using a template that we developed and shared with students using a...

 I realized I am in need of some reflection and professional growth as I am feeling a bit static amid all the craziness of this school year where we brought all students back full time after 18 months of inconsistency in our school.  As I often do, I turned to my education spirit animal, George Couros for some inspiration. I purchased his newest book “Because of a Teacher” not just for myself but also for all of our new teachers in our building and our admin team. While I wish I could have suggested a book group for us, I try to still be mindful of the craziness of your first year teaching. I recently reminded our new teachers in our bi-monthly meeting about the book and that it’s a great place to turn for inspiration after a challenging day and provides questions that allow us to think deeper about our why or compelling reason.  I joined a Facebook group that George created as a book study and to connect with other educators. This weeks prompt after reading the first few...