I’m wondering a little bit what exactly we will do together all day long

Things I am planning:

An academic curriculum, steeped in their goals for the future.

The students I will have are from 16-19 years old, have very limited academic skills, a diverse range of language ability (from Anglo to bilingual), and need to learn basic life skills.

Some may ask – why an academic curriculum? I call it academic, though life skills will certainly play a large role. I respect my students too much to not keep my expectations and goals for them rigorous.

Our first unit will be on the theme of Bridges. We’ll explore imagery, poetry, construction, social skills, personal goals…all kinds of things can be explored around bridges.

I also want to use photography. For those who don’t find words to come easily, we will still develop sequencing and story-telling skills through visual essays. VoiceThread should be helpful here.

We will also develop vocabulary – in both English and French. I will be incorporating a word wall into our classroom for sure!

What else…

Possible landscaping. There are these courtyards throughout the building that are filled with overgrown plants and some weeds. But we won’t just be weeding and cleaning up. I’d like to see them possibly design the areas into usable space. There is a greenhouse in the school, so we can do some work over the winter as well.

Morals and Ethics – learning how to take a considered opinion, how to gather data in order to do so – both internal (emotions) and external data.

Math to do with travel, cooking, planning.

But a lot of my planning needs to be done after I meet these students. The curriculum is up to me. So I will be basing it on their very specific needs, interests, abilities, and styles peppered with my own

So, while I have some great ideas brewing, I need to focus on being curious about my students first.