New year, new kids, thank goodness!
I just realized I hadn't yet posted since school started. The last three weeks have been insanity itself, but it's just now slowing down to the point where I'm catching my breath again. Kinda.
After Australia, I spent a week in Denver helping my mom recover from knee surgery #2. I arrived back home a whopping 2 days before school started...we had a Monday inservice day, then the kids arrived on Tuesday. Even though I was fairly ready before I left the country, I still felt like I was being rushed into the new school year headlong! It went well, though.
The kids this year are a WORLD away from last year's hellions. Last year made me start considering other career options. This year, so far, is doing a pretty good job of reminding me why I loved teaching in the first place. I actually am spending some time teaching this year, go figure! When you don't have to spend all your time disciplining and trying to motivate kids who just don't care, you can actually spend your time teaching kids who are interested and engaged (at least most of the time). I mean, I ask them to sit down and be quiet, and they do it! It's incredible! My homeroom had 2 study hall days in a row and they sat there quietly and read books or did homework! For 50 minutes! 2 days in a row!
I know it's a lot of exclamation points but I think you get the idea. We are starting a new curriculum this year, which is difficult because I'm not familiar with the lessons and have to spend much more time planning. However, I really feel that it's a much stronger, more coherent, more challenging curriculum, so I don't mind putting in the time to really understand what's going on. Plus, it has actual lesson plans. Like suggestions for introducing the lesson and background information on the activities and common pitfalls and how to wrap up the topics. Before, all we got was a mostly useless textbook and a pat on the back. This one has a teacher's guide that's actually readable, accessible, and organized. What, you say? Guidance for what to teach and how to teach it? Impossible! Yes, friends, it's true. I'm trying everything in the book for now--next year I'll decide what to keep and what to ditch based on what works this year.
D and I had a nice weekend wherein we stayed home and did nothing social-wise. We have been super busy with friends and went to WI last weekend, so I just wanted a weekend to ourselves. We finally caught up on Big Love episodes and watched some Arrested Development on DVD from Netflix. Good times.
After Australia, I spent a week in Denver helping my mom recover from knee surgery #2. I arrived back home a whopping 2 days before school started...we had a Monday inservice day, then the kids arrived on Tuesday. Even though I was fairly ready before I left the country, I still felt like I was being rushed into the new school year headlong! It went well, though.
The kids this year are a WORLD away from last year's hellions. Last year made me start considering other career options. This year, so far, is doing a pretty good job of reminding me why I loved teaching in the first place. I actually am spending some time teaching this year, go figure! When you don't have to spend all your time disciplining and trying to motivate kids who just don't care, you can actually spend your time teaching kids who are interested and engaged (at least most of the time). I mean, I ask them to sit down and be quiet, and they do it! It's incredible! My homeroom had 2 study hall days in a row and they sat there quietly and read books or did homework! For 50 minutes! 2 days in a row!
I know it's a lot of exclamation points but I think you get the idea. We are starting a new curriculum this year, which is difficult because I'm not familiar with the lessons and have to spend much more time planning. However, I really feel that it's a much stronger, more coherent, more challenging curriculum, so I don't mind putting in the time to really understand what's going on. Plus, it has actual lesson plans. Like suggestions for introducing the lesson and background information on the activities and common pitfalls and how to wrap up the topics. Before, all we got was a mostly useless textbook and a pat on the back. This one has a teacher's guide that's actually readable, accessible, and organized. What, you say? Guidance for what to teach and how to teach it? Impossible! Yes, friends, it's true. I'm trying everything in the book for now--next year I'll decide what to keep and what to ditch based on what works this year.
D and I had a nice weekend wherein we stayed home and did nothing social-wise. We have been super busy with friends and went to WI last weekend, so I just wanted a weekend to ourselves. We finally caught up on Big Love episodes and watched some Arrested Development on DVD from Netflix. Good times.
posted by Suzy at 4:27 PM
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