sifting through the curriculum

The new academic year presents teachers with a good opportunity for reflection on the curriculum. As Art Educators we have a bit more flexibility here then educators in most other content areas.
Personally, I'll be changing my grading policy. I'm going to try basing my own system on point values only - not weighing grades. I'm not sure it will make a difference on my end of the grade dance, but it may make a great deal of difference to the parents and students. Hopefully it will clarify the students' stance in class prior to progress reports. Even with Powerschool online grading where parents and students have 24/7 access to grades, the weighted grades confused a great deal of our students and parents.
I'm also incorporating guided blogging, where the students and I reflect together on the topics and current events in our content area. I'm excited in learning about the research: students who blog interactively with their teacher improve their writing skills at a much faster rate!
The head of our English Department requested that we teachers all bring in and have on display our own college papers, marked up by our professors. It brings a human perspective, shows where we have made errors, and where we have succeeded. We have many areas to support literacy at our small little school.
Lots of planning and paperwork to do prior to day one, but it's well underway!