When working with the Eisenhower Matrix, I noticed how I often confuse importance with urgency. In the classroom, I can move quickly from topic to topic because I want to \u201cfit everything in.\u201d I also tend to prioritize work I believe is important\u2014even when it isn\u2019t urgent. That can leave too little time for tasks that are both important and urgent.<\/p>\n
The surprising lesson was that good intentions aren\u2019t enough to protect the work that matters most. I can spend a lot of time accomplishing meaningful things and still lose sight of the professional goals that could have the greatest impact on my students. I don\u2019t want to keep trying to do it all at the expense of those goals.<\/p>\n
This year, I want to focus first on developing and implementing interdisciplinary, personalized student experiences. I want these experiences to draw on students\u2019 individual strengths, curriculum, and community knowledge. I believe this change can have a strong impact on student learning, while also creating more meaningful opportunities to integrate technology\u2014an area of growth in the middle school at RDS.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll know this work is making a difference when students are organically drawing connections between lessons, and independently apply learning from one subject to another. I hope they\u2019ll use those connections to solve problems, add context to their learning, and deepen their overall understanding. That kind of learning feels more connected to students\u2019 strengths and to the world around them.<\/p>\n
A first step is already taking shape: in conjunction with the middle school team at RDS and the Future Design School, we are planning a Grade 7 interdisciplinary student experience. This month, as the experience comes to life, I want to focus on monitoring students\u2019 progress during the project. I\u2019ll work with colleagues and check in with our partners at FDS so we can support the work as it develops.<\/p>\n
The Matrix reminded me that making room for important work may mean being more intentional about what gets my attention. My commitment is to put energy into learning experiences that connect ideas, honor students\u2019 strengths, and invite them to apply what they know in new ways. I want to make progress steadily rather than treat the curriculum like a checklist to be accomplished. The goal is not simply to do more\u2014it is to create learning that matters more for my students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When working with the Eisenhower Matrix, I noticed how I often confuse importance with urgency. In the classroom, I can move quickly from topic to topic because I want to \u201cfit everything in.\u201d I also tend to prioritize work I believe is important\u2014even when it isn\u2019t urgent. That can leave too little time for tasks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":533,"featured_media":105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/533"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions\/106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/kristenkoen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}