Post date: Aug 28, 2010 2:22:40 PM
Hello Parents of DCS-25 (number of our new room). This is the first of a series of (usually) weekly newsletters that you will get from me throughout the year. Each time I hope to write about just a "Couple of Things" -- a summary of the week, a preview of upcoming events, general class issues, and maybe other random highlights. Then maybe I should call it the "Coupla-Three Things" Newsletter.
Item one on my list this time is about the responses that I've received to the questions I posted on the online form. As of tonight, twenty parents have responded, each with a level of detail and insight that has really helped me get to know quite a bit about your kids even before the first day of school. I noticed some very common threads that I would like to reflect back to you as if you were one voice. First, what you value in DCS is the strong community, the developmental teaching, and the personalized attention that your student receives. Your students are quite smart with diverse talents and needs, but who all respond best to an engaging curriculum and meaningful work. You also value a teacher who knows and cares about the students as unique individuals, has a good sense of humor, and can assert their authority when needed. Lastly, you hope to do important work in the classroom and with the students. You expect and appreciate a clearly defined set of tasks that use your time well, take advantage of your talents, and allow you varying degrees of autonomy and independence. You prefer to leave the grading to me. :) Thanks again for all the great input -- I will use it wisely.
Second thing: I've heard various things about the parent work day tradition and am very curious about how it will pan out tomorrow. My room has the "hardware" installed (power, furniture, computers, etc), but the "software" is weak. Aside from a few posters that I made yesterday, the walls are barren and the room feels cold and uninviting. I'm hoping that tomorrow's crew will be able to start the softening/personalization process by putting up bulletin boards, filling bookshelves (if you have some books to donate, please bring them), and creating the organizational details that will help the kids feel welcome, purposeful, and challenged from the start. There is a list of to-do items on the front page of my website (www.heumann.org/discovery will get you there) just under the class diagram. I'm looking forward to seeing some of you tomorrow and getting your ideas/help for fine-tuning the room as well as organizing my abundant supplies in a way that makes them accessible to me and the kids this year.
Last topic: I've never been in a school like quite DCS before and almost every indicator so far points to a great match between by philosophies and the opportunities available at your school. One of my challenges at the onset of the year will be to rethink some of the assumptions that have been pounded into me over the past 20 years of instruction in large public middle schools with an almost blinding focus on policy, conformity, and academic achievement. In some ways, I've had to rekindle some of the innocence of my first years of teaching and have reveled in the excitement that comes with that freeing perspective -- building a new (to me) and open curriculum is exciting. For better or worse, I've become accustomed to starting each year with a clear and detailed course outline, the objectives and pacing for each unit, and a bank of tried-and-true lessons, labs, assignments, and assessments. This year will be an exception to that rule. It will be a new adventure for me and with it comes an eagerness to explore new things, the hope for some wonderful travel companions, and also a bit of fear of the unknown. As long as we (you and the students and the staff and I) work to our strengths, communicate clearly, and support each other, the journey will be as rewarding as the destination.
Thanks for taking the time to read my Sunday night ramblings and feel free to reply (or not) with any comments, suggestions, or additions.
Chris Heumann