Hi Jasmine,

We had only 3 PD’s (all of which took place during the week) that introduce you to more activities such as using foil and creating sculptures or “buildings” with found objects/recyclables.  You also continue to work on how to integrate your curriculum with the different EASE activities.  You will have a TA but they won’t be visiting you as often as they did the first year.  This is the year for you to see what you can do on your own with EASE and your class.  The more you try, the more comfortable you will feel with the activities.  Things won’t go as planned…they never do.  But there will be moments of “a-ha!” and “wow!” if your focus is on the process and not the product.  Your students and staff will also need time to become familiar and comfortable with EASE.  Give it time.  I recommend you make EASE part of your daily routine. Perhaps at first, you block off 15-20 minutes a day for EASE.  This is for you to practice as well and decide which activities work best in small groups and which can be done as a whole group.  You may also discover that EASE is better at a certain part of the day.  Eventually you should try to integrate ease into each part of your day.  From breakfast until dismissal…how can you make the activity more engaging and exciting for your students?  One big lesson I took away this year was that while my students needed multiple repetitions to master a specific skill, the activity that we do to master that particular skill does not and should not be the same.  EASE provides you and your students a new way to work on the a familiar skill.  EASE can make something that was once familiar and even monotonous into something exciting and new.  This has been my personal experience.

This is your year of discovery.  The more you use EASE…the ease-ier it will be.  Have fun!

-Bryan