This isn’t the first time I have had this conversation with myself. It’s not even the first time I have had this conversation with some of you! It seems, however, that I need to hear it again, re-calibrate my sense of balance, so I am hoping you will all chime in and help me on this one.

I am all about having kids learn with passion, I want to give even more focus to that this year. I am also trying to figure out how to better embed reading and writing into my other content areas, include more primary source documents, and maintain a student centered classroom…hmmm…already I am out of energy:). Just kidding, keep reading.

SO, I am also moving into a new building, in a new room in which I have no pre-conceived notions about what it should look like, where things should go, etc. here’s my idea…4th grade here is all about Missouri studies…rules and laws, settlements, landscape, cities, economics of regions, right up through westward expansion, civil war…and comparing the Missouri of then and now. I already set up my room as a little community with a constitution draft in the first week, a job and payment system, so I am thinking why not start the year as a new state, declare ourselves, let the kids decide everything…what do we need to establish order, jobs, rural and urban regions. (Rural is book corner, urban is computers). So it would be this constant reference to the history and evolution of Missouri as we go through the year, and by May we would be talking about what the future of Missouri might look like. Huge idea, very sketchy in my head, but cool I think. What do you think?

Next question…how does this allow for my students to learn with passion? Is it already too structured for them to be able to make it their own? What if they just aren’t passionate about Missouri history? It’s that balance between letting go and keeping enough control to teach what I need to teach…I can give them a chunk of time in the day to work on passion projects, I had already had that in my head, but is that enough?

OK..please help me hash this out all you brilliant minds! Rip it apart, I can take it, and thanks in advance for taking time to help me out!