Curriculum Mapping

We're another meeting in to the planning of the course, which will be called LEAP (Learning Experiences for Academic Progress). I'm actually starting to get really excited about teaching this course, and thought I'd jot down some of my ideas here.

First, I'd like to make "Taking the LEAP" our theme for the year. Many of these students may be afraid to try new things because they fear failure or have been ridiculed before or they just don't think it'll make a difference. I want to help them be brave and try things that will help them experience joy and success. Along with that, we will be (hopefully) taking an overnight field trip to the district's wilderness camp to engage in problem solving and trust exercises as well as some nature therapy and private reflection. I'd like to have the students spend some time on their own writing a letter to themselves about their dreams and goals and how they'll get there.

The first few days will be spent setting up a democratic classroom environment in which the students help me set up the rules and expectations, as well as the consequences. We will also choose a medium for reflection (blog, vlog, etc.) and practice using it. I want to make sure that my students get quite a bit of exposure to technology in order to help narrow the digital divide.

Our first unit will examine how the brain learns and works and the idea of a growth mindset. Students will take the Strengths Explorer to find some things that they are good at, and we will brainstorm ways to develop their strengths and use them to succeed in school and in life. They will then make digital stories about their lives, their strengths, and the goals they have for the future.

The second unit is about adolescence and why it can be so hard. We'll talk about brain development, decision making, drugs, and stress and explore some great, healthy ways to reduce stress, including yoga, art, and time in nature (this is when I'm hoping to take them to the camp). Students will sign up for a day to present a way that they like to reduce stress in a healthy way and we'll all try it.

I've got an outline for the rest of the class, but that's about where I am right now. I just need to integrate the LEAP theme into each unit and start fleshing out the lessons. We also got access to Leigh VandenAkker's curriculum, Techniques for Tough Times, which I would like to scavenge, as well as the Why Try? curriculum that our school counselors have so that I can know when I might invite them in to work with my class. I also plan to take my students and any interested parents on a field trip to my university, hopefully with a former student and current Student Success coordinator with a backstory similar to that of these students as our tour guide to help them realize that college is possible.