A Fresh Start

I began this blog because there was chatter around school about me possible teaching a new class in the fall, but nothing was official yet. That new class was supposed to be called "21st Century Communications." Well, the chatter was right and starting in August I'll be piloting this semester-long, elective class for sophomores through seniors. Here's the catch - there's no curriculum. Thankfully, a somewhat-local high school already has this class in place and their leader is of the sharing disposition. I have a copy of their year-long, required class curriculum, ready and waiting my adaptations. Quite the project.

Today I sat down with this project for the first time, though ideas had been circulating in my brain for several months. I find myself faced with two problems, too much to teach and not enough to teach. It's very difficult to know how much time to award each topic, as it is my nature as an educator to try to do too much each day. I'm going to spend this next school year striving for a balance between good pace and not rushing, this applies to this new class as well. After several hours of planning and research today I have a list of topics, enough for a semester with a few empty weeks. I'm not too worried about these empty weeks, however, since I've likely planned not enough time for some topics earlier in the semester. Not to mention, it's refreshing to be able to add and adjust as I find necessary. There's likely a major topic I've forgotten but will be able to build in later.

Here's the list so far in chronological order:
Introduction
Cyber Ethics, Etiquette, Safety, and Bullying
Social and Professional Networking
Online Word Processing and Slides
Online Spreadsheets and Other Google Tools
Social Bookmarking
Blogs and Blogging
Wikis
Audio Projects
Photo Projects
Video Projects
Final Project - for Final Exam Grade

But don't hold me to that.