Although this will be my 11th year teaching in this position at this school, this year has a different “feel” to me.  There are some major changes I am making in my classroom set-up, and in my own heart and mind.  Due to the inspiration I have received from my Twitter PLN, (folks like Angela Maiers, Terri Eichholtz, Joy Kirr, Brian Aspinall, William Chamberlin, Paul Solarz, and Kirsten Wilson, just to name a few), I have decided to let go of traditional tables and chairs in the computer lab and create spaces for student choice. The back of the room is now a designated Maker Production space where students will have 30 minutes of lab time to “play” with an ever growing variety of tools, both digital and physical.  They will have choices of where to complete their technology assignments, albeit a ball chair or sitting on the floor with their computer on a low coffee table.  Our theme for this year is Hollywood, so I added some theme-related elements to my classroom.

The biggest change has come about in my heart.  Our district was fortunate to have Angela Maiers bring our convocation this year with the You Matter Manifesto.  She reminded us that being noticed and feeling valuable is not a matter of ideology, but biology.  It is a need of every human being, for we were created for significance!  Although I believe every staff person in our district understands that, it is also part of the human condition to allow that realization to be overshadowed by the stresses brought about by “covering the material.” My prayer for myself and every other staff member is that we are able to keep that perspective in focus EVERY DAY, for EVERY STUDENT.