I'm getting an unusual opportunity as a teacher. I get to make a relatively fresh start, in the middle of April, just two and a half months before the summer vacation. Since I've just come back from a longer-than-usual maternity leave, all the teachers who I help with their planning (social studies teachers, Grades 2 through 6), have had a break from the dragon breathing over their shoulders. So I can take all the concerns I had been developing at the beginning of the year, and attack them as if the year were just beginning. The teachers, meanwhile, are already in the swing of teaching, so the hiccups that go with the year's beginning are out of the way. I've asked them all to identify one thing they'd like to improve in their teaching. I intend to identify one thing I think they should work on, as well. Two goals should be plenty for now. The trick is picking an appropriate goal. Something that will fit into Vygotsky's zone of proximal development , something t...
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