P is For… Current Word: Passion Your Word: Passion Passion is the driving force of why I do what I do and I think it’s important to keep focused on that force (whether it’s content, personal, professional) because I think it helps my students see that I’m authentic about being there. I really am excited and love my job and want to be there with them because it’s what makes me happy.

I is For… Current Word: Immersion Your Word: Integrate As I said way back on assignment 1, connection is a huge focus for me in my program and personal life. I want to integrate what we’re learning into more than just agriculture, but their daily lives. By integrating content, communication and leadership, and building in those connections, it gives everyone more of a reason to take ownership and be involved. A good pirate should feel like a part of the ship and I want my students to see that agriculture and what we learn is part of their lives.

r is For… Current Word: Rapport Your Word: Rapport Developing a strong relationship, built on respect, understanding and safety, is key to the success of any good crew—be it a classroom or a pirate ship. Having those relationships allows everyone to feel valued and valuable. If we’re all invested in one another, we can help each other find real success and learning.

a is For… Current Word: Ask and analyze Your Word: Adjust My idea of adjusting does take analyzing and asking into account, and then using what’s learned to make changes. I’ve gotten much better at going with the flow during year 2 and it’s easy to see how the students engage with that and enjoy our tangential learning opportunities. Sometimes those conversations are the most important thing we learn during a unit, because it’s how they relate class to their lives.

t is For… Current Word: transformation Your Word: Technology I’m always trying to integrate technology more successfully into the classroom, as we’re a 1 to 1 school. With the fast changing pace of the internet and social media, there are a lot of ways to help students find new relevance in their learning and new ways to share out their discoveries. (Learning Vine and trying to figure out how to make that part of my classroom is one of my summer goals!)

e is For… Current Word: enthusiasm Your Word: Engagement I think enthusiasm and engagement go pretty hand-in-hand. If you are enthusiastic about a subject, you’re more able to take it to the next step and dive right in. And if you’re engaged in something, it’s likely you’re enthusiastic about it—you’re enjoying the process of learning and growing.