2. Getting creative with your teaching priorities

<p><strong>Summary: </strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the last episode, I shared a process for planning your educational priorities, even when you’re not sure what your classroom will be like, so you can easily plan the specifics once the time comes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today I’ll be sharing my own process as a 5th grade teacher looking at an unknown back-to-school season amidst a pandemic. This can apply any year though, because so often we don’t know what school we’ll be at, or which grade level we’ll be teaching. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Focusing on your priorities and brainstorming some creative ways to incorporate them can ensure you keep your core teaching values at the center of every pedagogical decision you make.</span></p> <p><strong>Key Points:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’ve decided to focus on 3 priorities:</span></li> <li style="list-style: none; display: inline;"> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Student relationships - building trust with me and with each other</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Student confidence - providing tools to help students feel confident in sharing ideas with their peers or the world</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Learning for life - I want my students to think of learning as a lifelong journey, and understand their learning as it fits into the grand scheme of their lives and the world around them</span></li> </ul> </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Identify 3 drastically different classroom settings </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">What challenges are there in reaching your priorities or your vision for starting the year off strongly in each of these settings? </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Also, what advantages are the