Another School Year, Come and Gone

Today was the last day of the school year.  I (Meg) have a new perspective this year as it was my first year teaching 8th grade students as opposed to 6th grade.  Certainly, as my 8th graders reminded me multiple times, this day signifies an end.  My kids are finished with middle school--they're outta here!--and are moving onto greener pastures at the high school.  All the kids move another year ahead in their studies, and teacher pass along their kids to new teachers with the hope that they truly did make the difference they hoped they would make in these kids' lives.

But really, it is also a new beginning for us all.  I am looking at my summer calendar, and while in theory I am excited to start summer break, I really don't have many free days at all!  I am taking professional development course for the next two days on Web 2.0 tools to use in my classroom.  During this course, I will be thinking about the upcoming school year (still 3 months away!) and trying to figure out how I can take this new knowledge and improve my teaching methods so my students will be more engaged.  I will be brainstorming ways to integrate these tools into my learning activities so my students can better communicate what they learn and think critically about the information they consume.

Jamie and I are also teaching a graduate level course at Judson University this summer, LIT 505 Integrating Technology in Literacy Instruction, as a part of the university's Masters in Literacy program.  This is certainly a new beginning for us as we embark upon an exciting adventure in higher level education.  We will be striving to provide our graduate students with meaningful ways to integrate technology into literacy activities across all curricular areas at all different grade levels.  Our many exciting successes from our own classrooms will provide a starting point for these discussions as we explore blogging, wikis, podcasting, digital storytelling, and Web 2.0 resources.  As with any new beginning, this is extremely exciting but also a bit nerve-wracking.  Jamie and I aspire to provide our grad students with an environment where we spark enthusiasm and curiosity, so our students leave us at the end of the summer feeling anxious for the school year to start just so they can try out these exciting activities with their newest group of students.  But we also want to emphasize that we all learn from each other.  Education is a life-long process, and twenty heads are better than one.  For everything we teach our students, we will also learn just as much from them.  I think that is one of those key characteristics of a good educator.  We just love learning so much ourselves that we just need to spread this passion to our students.

So here's to the end of the school year!  Not just an end, but a new beginning.