the time is drawing near
well, in my second post of the summer, i must tell you that it has been an AMAZING summer. i think that i have seen most of the people who read my blog this summer and most of you would attest to the fact that i have been relaxed and that i have a positive outlook on school. it was lovely traveling all over the country to spend important time with family and friends. now i miss everybody who lives so far away!
i am definitely getting excited about going back to school but also a bit nervous. my collaborative partner and friend (lia) and i are doing a lot of preparation together to be ready for the coming year. however, as hard as i try, i feel like i don't *quite* have a grasp on what is going to happen the first week of school. last year, and i might have posted about this, i meticulously planned the first day of school. afterwards, i realized that i had no idea what i was doing for the rest of the week. oops!! this year, i plan to have the entire FIRST WEEK meticulously planned. it's hard, though, because there is a lot to do, but it is all little things like learning procedures in the classroom. during the first two or three weeks of school, there are a lot of changes that go on in the class--students are transferred in and out of my class, and so i will have to say the same things over and over again every day for a week. i think that's okay, though--kids (and most people) have to hear something several times before it has the potential to really be implanted in their brains.
in an effort to avoid some of the problems that i had last year, i have written out a bazillion procedures for how the classroom will run. they run the gamut of topics, but some of them are going to the bathroom (passes), moving around the classroom, sharpening pencils, what to do when you're absent, what to do when you're tardy, coming into the classroom, doing the warm up, leaving the classroom, working in pairs, what to do if you don't have a pencil (they're going to have to give me a shoe this year), cell phone rules, dress code, food & drink, gum, etc etc. that's actually a pretty good list. i found that last year since i didn't plan how to deal with all of those things, that stuff ended up taking up a disproportionate about of my time during class and outside of class. the idea is that in a classroom with good systems, you get to do more teaching and the classroom will run itself more.
right now i need to get to work preparing for the second unit, which will be a narrative writing unit. i think that we tentatively agreed that the question we will ask to prompt the narrative will be "have you ever had to make a difficult decision? what was it about, and what decision did you end up making?"
i don't know exactly what it will be, but something along those lines.
i am definitely getting excited about going back to school but also a bit nervous. my collaborative partner and friend (lia) and i are doing a lot of preparation together to be ready for the coming year. however, as hard as i try, i feel like i don't *quite* have a grasp on what is going to happen the first week of school. last year, and i might have posted about this, i meticulously planned the first day of school. afterwards, i realized that i had no idea what i was doing for the rest of the week. oops!! this year, i plan to have the entire FIRST WEEK meticulously planned. it's hard, though, because there is a lot to do, but it is all little things like learning procedures in the classroom. during the first two or three weeks of school, there are a lot of changes that go on in the class--students are transferred in and out of my class, and so i will have to say the same things over and over again every day for a week. i think that's okay, though--kids (and most people) have to hear something several times before it has the potential to really be implanted in their brains.
in an effort to avoid some of the problems that i had last year, i have written out a bazillion procedures for how the classroom will run. they run the gamut of topics, but some of them are going to the bathroom (passes), moving around the classroom, sharpening pencils, what to do when you're absent, what to do when you're tardy, coming into the classroom, doing the warm up, leaving the classroom, working in pairs, what to do if you don't have a pencil (they're going to have to give me a shoe this year), cell phone rules, dress code, food & drink, gum, etc etc. that's actually a pretty good list. i found that last year since i didn't plan how to deal with all of those things, that stuff ended up taking up a disproportionate about of my time during class and outside of class. the idea is that in a classroom with good systems, you get to do more teaching and the classroom will run itself more.
right now i need to get to work preparing for the second unit, which will be a narrative writing unit. i think that we tentatively agreed that the question we will ask to prompt the narrative will be "have you ever had to make a difficult decision? what was it about, and what decision did you end up making?"
i don't know exactly what it will be, but something along those lines.
posted by Allyson B. at
9:11 AM
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