Pressure.

You can't beat a little pressure to make you think of new ways to make commitments or ways to make old commitments work more effectively.

Report Cards
In the elementary panel, the huge "gun to the head" for everyone happened to be the new Electronic Report Card. While there has been the odd glitch or two (!), the entire process has yielded some wonderful resorts.

First of all, there is the consistency in appearance of report cards delivering the information to parents. Secondly, the report card has required all to fully understand just what leveling means and how it is used to report student progress.

Finally, the fact that all schools will be reporting electronically is a major breakthrough. There is no doubt that the idiocyncracies that Filemaker Pro and the Report Card itself introduce have not been easily handled. But, handled they have been. The result is a further understanding of computers, technology, and yes even computer viruses.

Projects
When you commit to students that the class will participate in a project with links outside the classroom, there are all sorts of pressures and deadlines to meet. It's a side effect of the connected global society that deadlines and due dates no longer impact solely on your classroom, but on classrooms similarly involved in the project worldwide.

If you'd like some of this pressure, drop the report cards and take a look at the Journey North or the Earth Day Groceries projects described in this month's newsletter.

Professional Development
As if the pressures of the new curriculum and classroom isn't enough, hats off to those teachers who are further commiting themselves to the minicourses and workshops contained in the Professional Development Catalogue.

There can only be one reason as to why so many teachers are making the commitment to their own professional growth and I'm sure that our students and parents appreciate it as it translates into more effective use of the technology in the classroom.

And finally, there's the pressure of commiting to a monthly newsletter. If only this was a leap year, I'd have just one more day.... Oh well, next year is a leap year... or is it? I guess it depends upon your computer and the software that you use!