From Our President

September 2010

September brings both a time for reflection and a need to gear up for another great year with my students.  This will be my second year in the 5th/6th grade “loop”, and I will have the same students I had last year, plus a few new smiling faces.  I will be in charge and the classroom leader.  So what will my job be like this year? 

Leadership, to me, means much more than being the manager of the details of our schedule and classroom structure.  My students are 21st century learners; they don’t need hours of direct instruction or packs of worksheets.    My lesson plan book has been replaced with Google Calendar, and my time at the copier has shrunk dramatically. 

This year I plan to utilize project-based learning with my students, and will collaborate with teachers in other grade levels and districts.  This will necessitate a change in my leadership role. As the classroom “leader”, I believe that I will need to step aside and not get in the way of learning.  That might sound strange, but I think my students will learn more if they are actually in charge of much of what we learn together this year.  My job as a teacher of 21st century learners will require that I be more of a “guide on the side”, with different duties than in the past. Some of my duties will include:

• To facilitate learning
• To foster leadership
  
• To encourage collaboration
  
• To find time and resources needed to solve problems
• To monitor progress/report progress
  
• To maximize potential
  
• To allow student passions to steer curriculum
  
• To coach students on how to communicate within their group
  
• To teach “digital citizenship”
  
• To plan workshops to enhance skills
  
• To create online assignments
  
• To plan project outlines and updates with other teachers
  
• To schedule time for groups of students to meet and share their learning
  
• To find experts and primary sources for my students to contact to gain information
  
• To arrange field trips to meet experts and visit sites of interest to enhance our learning
  
• To be flexible and adapt to change
  

Whew!  My To Do list is quite different than the one I had for my first year of teaching in 1996, but I am excited to tackle it, and to learn and grow with my students.  

I look forward to another amazing year (and am delighted that I don’t have to do recess duty in 6th grade?  Yes!)

I wish you a wonderful start to your school year and I look forward to seeing you at our Fall Conference on October 7 and 8 at the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  
 

Sarah Kasprowicz, WATG President