Labor Day Weekend

This year our pre-school week had more meetings scheduled than usual, which left me with very little classroom prep time.  If I were a new teacher, I would have been in high stress mode the entire week, but luckily, I am an eighteen year veteran and realized that regardless of how crunched I was for time, I would somehow manage to be ready for Day One.  Thankfully I made the decision to go in a couple of times before I had to, and so my room was pretty well set up by the day I had to report back.  This allowed me to make copies of the first week activities in fifteen minute blocks of time, which was truly all the time I had.  I finally got the stacks of papers organized on Friday before I left for the day, but because we adopted new textbooks and a new scanner system to track them, I have 180 textbooks spread all over my room, which means I am going into the building on Sunday to shelve them.  It's either that or do it before class on Tuesday, and Sunday is definitely the lesser of two evils.

I hate that I spent very little time on the curriculum, but that just means I will stay late a lot the month of September.  I did find a website that I'm browsing through this weekend: the National Wriring Project.  And I still have the books I bought in July and August to study, so all is not lost.

How are your first few weeks looking?

PLC

Our back to work in-service was about Professional Learning Communities; thankfully, I already knew a little something about them, thanks to the VCET Academy this summer.  I think I've said before that my principal is really good about implementing practices that are good for everyone, whether or not he gets support from downtown.  He's also good at getting the faculty to buy in and have ownership of them as well, and today was no exception.  We worked in teams with people we normally don't work with to practice setting group norms, in preparation for our department meetings on Wednesday, using strategies we could/should use in our own classes.  And we read an excellent article on the topic as well, which will now be in my notebook for future reference:  "What is a Professional Learning Community?", by Richard DuFour.  The big take away for me was that instead of focusing on our teaching, we should focus on the learning that is/is not occurring.  And just as importantly, we should have intervention for students as opposed to remediation.  I'm interested in how this looks in practice, something I hope to learn more about on Wednesday.

And by the way, I am so glad I decided to begin this blog and only wish I had begun years ago!

Time to Begin

Of course, we never really stop thinking about our students and how we can improve our instruction, do we?  And yet, all the thinking and planning wouldn't mean a thing if it wasn't put into practice with our students.  This pre-school week is filled with meeting after meeting, but I'm hoping the structure of showing up will help me put some plans down on paper.  I've been reading all summer and I'm at the point where my mind is so filled with ideas and information that I'm in danger of becoming paralyzed with indecision.  But I've been at this point before, and I will trust that I will move forward, just like I always do.  After seventeen years, I've also learned that it takes students showing up before I really know where we're going.  Not that I don't have plans and goals, just that it doesn't really come together without them.

The two books I've been reading this weekend are Fires in the Bathroom by Kathleen Cushman, author of the book we used in July, and one of Kelly Gallagher's books, Teaching Adolescent Writers.  Both books have a wealth of information, and I will be referring back to them during this week and the following weeks, as I plan, try, fail, plan, try, fail, plan, try, and at some point, meet with some successes along the way.

Wish me luck!

Yes

"If a student knows you care. . .
If they know they can trust you. . .
If they know you are a real person. . .

Then you can teach them anything.

Relationships first, content second."

Jeff Charbonneau

Pedagogy

I found this quote from Paulo Freire's book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and I am planning to focus on it throughout my year:

"But the humanist revolutionary educator cannot wait for this possibility to materialize. From the outset, her efforts must coincide with those of the students to engage in critical thinking and the quest for mutual humanization. His efforts must be imbued with a profound trust in people and their creative power. To achieve this, they must be partners of the students in their relations with them."

A Little Bit Overwhelmed

I taught middle school science for fifteen years and I have only taught high school English for two, so I still feel a bit like a new teacher.  The past two years have been about adjusting to high school students and immersing myself in a new content area.  That's why I was so excited to participate in the VCET academy last month; it gave me a chance to think deeply about what I want to do in my classroom.  I came home after a week of reading, writing, talking, and thinking about what I believe and want to do, and realized that although I'm super energized, I'm also a bit overwhelmed.

I ordered a few books and started reading them and now I'm feeling even more out of my depth than before, especially with so little time remaining before school starts.  I know I could start my classes and pull out some favorite activities and lessons that worked last year, and in fact, I know I will use some of them; I can't throw out everything and start completely new, but at the same time, I don't want to cling to the familiar just because it would be easier.

For now, I'll get back to my reading and trust that the combination of my enthusiasm and experience will help guide me as I start sketching out my plans.

Mulling Things Over

After watching an Upworthy video the other day, it occurred to me that one of the ways I might be able to help my students become activists is by sponsoring a Gay-Straight Alliance club.  I checked out this site and found a number of resources, and I talked with a couple of teachers who told me that our school has had a GSA in the past, so I plan to speak to my administration about it this week.

I actually don't know anything about sponsoring a club, and I'm not as educated about gay issues as I probably should be, but I do believe in equal rights for ALL, so I am hoping that my good intentions and ability to locate resources will be enough to get started.  My objective is to provide a place to have conversations, and to assist interested students as needed.

Any suggestions are welcome!