New School Year

So with the beginning of the new school year, I've started to reflect on how to improve my teaching and my lessons. This year the subjects I am teaching are Chinese 1-2, Chinese 3-4 and Pre-Calculus.

I have all 3 classes set up to where students are graded on Participation, Progress and Performance.

Participation:
- Being on time
- Having materials
- Contributing to class in a meaningful way

Progress:
- Learning the material
- Practicing the material
- Assessing progress via Quizzes

Performance:
- Chapter or Unit Tests
- In Chinese, this entails: word recognition, the ability to communicate, and listening comprehension.
- In Pre-Calculus, this entails: the ability to apply learned formulas and concepts to problems which may include just one or multiple mathematics objectives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aside from the typical lessons though, I've been wanting to somehow incorporate self reflection, self discovery, and open up the minds of my students. To somehow get them thinking beyond the I, me, my and mine...

This has brought me to incorporating discussions of personal values, shared values, ethics, and many philosophical questions.

So her begins my journey...