When does school start?

After day one of instruction, I (almost) can't wait to get back into the classroom to work with my students. I have so many new ideas about assignments I'm going to give them and projects I want to try. I even got some ideas while out to dinner!

Here are my top three, in no particular order:

1) Use aurasmas to provide video coverage of spring sports that get shorted coverage in the yearbook because the deadline is in March and their seasons have barely begun. What a great way to not only give the yearbook students a meaningful project once the book is done, but it will give those students another layer of skills to add to their resumes. It also gives those athletes more coverage. Also great way to cover other non-sports events that happen late in the year: plays, spring concerts/dance shows, Prom, etc.

2) Make AP style a game and give them a prize!! And all high school kids need is a candy bar—or extra credit points!!!! AP style is important, and I teach it, but I think I try a new method every year because my kids are just too overwhelmed by it. But there are some rules that students just need to learn, for everyone's sanity. Making it a competition is one way to make the kids put a bit more energy into learning those rules.

3) OK, this one isn't a new idea, but rather a new method. I used to have kids work on leads (or is it ledes?) in isolation, but I really liked the group work. I've always been 50-50 with leads; sometimes they're easy, sometimes they're challenging. But for the majority of my students, leads are difficult, and having them flounder in isolation is simply defeating. Having them work together on leads would at least give them a bit of comfort in the beginning. Once they get an understanding of what they are supposed to do, then they can tackle leads on their own.

Kris Urban
Corona del Sol High School
Tempe, Ariz.