Not sure how to title this one...

March Break is underway and none too soon! The students were antsy, and I think the staff might have been a bit too (wink wink). A veteran teacher once told me that once the dandelions start growing, students stop thinking and working. I have seen evidence of truth in this statement, so I am going to try extra hard to slow that process. There aren't any dandelions yet, but I can already see some students falling off the tracks. Our Student Success Teacher has done a great job of setting up a safety net of sorts to help kids turn in work when they are really struggling in one or more courses. Our school's use of in-school suspensions has yielded far more positive results than the 3-day out-of-school holiday that many students actually strive for.

On a personal note, students in all of my classes have adapted well to working in cooperative teams. I returned to rows for a few days because independent projects were being done; I could actually see the relief in a few students' faces when they saw that teams were not in effect on those days. That fact is, there are some students who love working in groups, and there are some who don't. While I know that collaboration is an important skill to develop, I also know that independent work is something that many students struggle with. I will continue to change things up depending on the lesson. Besides, even when rows exist, Think Pair Share and appointment schedules work really well for quick small group discussion.

The last thing to note that I am happy about is the new course culminating activity we are piloting for our grade 10 academic history students this semester. It is based on the National History Day contest in the states, and it is highly differentiated. I will report on our challenges and triumphs with this task as the semester goes on. Until next time.