The Future

On block scheduling, our school had a portion of the day called seminar (until it was changed a few years ago to Intervention and Enrichment). This time of the day is for students who need interventions in classes - extra time to grasp the content objects - or to do make-ups.  The way that time has been structured for the last several years is that each teacher is in charge of approximately 10-15 students of one grade level.  The teachers then "carry" those students from year to year until they graduate and then a new group takes their place.

As we move to trimesters, and because of some changes at the state level, our I&E time will also be changing.  We will have the time twice a week (instead of 4 times a week) and it will be called Career and Academic Planning (CAP) time.  The focus of this time will be for students to look at their futures and plan what they need to be doing academically to reach their goals.  This is also the year that I get a new set of students.  While I will miss my group that just graduated, I am excited to start this new CAP time with a brand new set of freshman.  

One part of this new journey that I think will be so beneficial will be that students will be actively thinking about their futures, and that's where one of my new bulletin boards fits in.

As you can see, the bulletin board says "The future of the world is in our classroom" and "How will YOU affect the future?" What I'm planning to have my freshmen do is to look at their futures on the first day of high school. Where do they see themselves in the future? How do they see themselves making a difference? How are they working each day to achieve those goals? I will then have them each post their goals - maybe what they want to do in the next 4 years, or what job they might have, etc.

Are these goals set in stone - absolutely not - but I want them to start with a goal in mind, and I want them to understand that each day they are working toward that future.  Maybe they have a few tardies - is that something that a boss in their ultimate dream job would allow? If they don't want to make-up a science lab - what about your goal of becoming a nurse, can you "skip" a lab? 

We will continually revisit and revise their future plans as the students work through their four years and the CAP process...and this bulletin board will change with them. I hope it will serve as a reminder to them that they are the ones who will determine our future - and high school is an essential step to reaching the goals they have for themselves.