After one of the most pleasant breaks I can recall, and then a deliciously frantic couple of weeks mastering a new online delivery system alongside all the content I needed to gather together, tomorrow morning I finally get to meet a new cohort of 60-70 applied learning Year 11 students... and welcome back a similar number of Year 12 students from last year.
The eve of a new school term always intrigues me. Non-instuction periods can often feel great in terms of having the time to really think your way through and around your course offerings, but it never really feels quite right. Over the years I've come to realise that, without the learners in the building and in contact with you from day to day, it's never quite possible to capture the pulse of what is likely to work well and why.
I mean, we can do our very best to be professional and prepared. Like this (the introduction to one of my courses, followed up with a quiz to see how much of it has been absorbed and then a needs analysis activity):
However, in my final checklist of what I needed to have ready and waiting for the first day back at school tomorrow (today, actually, as I write this post), I ended up visualising the seat of a pair of pants.
"Those'll need some wings," I thought to myself.
Then, finally, I felt prepared.
Ready.
Excited about all the things I don't know about the term ahead... Yet.
;-)
