Kids come back to our school a week from tomorrow. Today was the first day I spent in my room. On the good side, my water fountain and faucet are finally fixed, after 4+ years out-of-order. Also, I have new glass for my window/sliding door, removing scratched tagging from who-knows-when. On the minus side, we were supposed to get new front doors... mine is one of three classrooms yet to be finished. Also on the minus side, this is a pilot year for texts, and I don't have the pilot materials yet.
On the whole, should be a pretty normal opening. I'm wondering, though, how many preps I'm going to have. Could be two, could be three. Might even be four (Lord, I hope not!). I should be able to find that out tomorrow.
This year we'll be starting "looping" with our Honors History classes. I had 8th grade last year, so it's not going to impact me very much, but I'm looking forward to it. I think spending a little extra time with the same kids will have a positive impact on their learning. And we can't forget: 8th graders take the History/Social Science Standards test covering grade 6-8 standards here in CA. I feel a lot better being the one who's teaching them 2/3 of the content they'll be tested on if I'm the teacher of record when the take the darn test.
This is going to be an interesting year, I think. I'm going back to school for a second master's degree, this one in school administration. I'm not sure that I want to do the principal thing, but neither do I see myself spending my entire career in the classroom. The Admin credential will open up some possibilities. But, regardless of how I plan to use it, going back means two nights a week, 4-9pm, in addition to my normal work load and family stuff. When I got my first masters we only had one kid. Now it's two (the older one is starting Kindergarten this year), not to mention I'm a little older. Oh, well. That's why there's coffee, right?
Update: It's three preps: 1 section of 8th grade US History, 3 7th grade World History, and 2 7th grade Honors World History. And the door should be done before kids arrive next Thursday.
3 comments:
Welcome, Mad Teacher!
Thanks for the kind words; they are much appreciated!
I remember my first few years in the classroom. Frankly, I'm surprised I survived some of them. It does get easier, but there are always new challenges... students, parents, administration, community, legislation. It's the support of colleagues that will get you through them, and the wider your circle of support, the better off you are. That, I think, is the thing I love most about the blogosphere, the broad network of potential supporters.
Thanks for the read, and the add, and a great year to you, too!
Looping is an interesting idea -- on a couple of occasions, when I was 'promoted' with my students (once from 7 to 8, later from 8 to 9) it was really nice. We all knew what to expect, what the parameters of classroom life were. They knew how to make me laugh and how to get stomped flat. I knew their strengths and what they had been taught before. Those were relaxed years.
I'm looking forward to the looping experience. I'm actually the one who proposed it to our principal, so I feel responsible for it :) I really like knowing that I'll be sure of what was and was not covered in their 7th grade class when I have them in 8th grade. Any holes will be my own fault, any advances will be credited to me.
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