2011-07-27 19:08![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
junipersky
juniperskySo school starts up again in 11 days.
I keep meaning to take pictures of my classroom, but keep forgetting to do so.
I've got basically everything up and organized around the classroom, though the back "bulletin board" (Basically a piece of cloth with pretty things around it) is still giving me troubles because it's not STRAIGHT. Well, none of them are, but this one in particular is not straight. I'm still trying to decide what I should put up on the Arizona and Math boards. I am proud of one board. It's called the Wonderful Work Wall. Every student has a 81/2" x 11" space to display their work. Water color on white fabric = kickass. .
I'm going to keep praying that my smartboard is installed before school starts up again because I do NOT want to have to use the portable one. A) It's annoying. B) It's annoying. C) It takes up a FRICKEN large amount of space. I really don't want to be teaching routines when having to move the projector from place to place and reorient every time someone bangs it on accident or even steps too hard on the floor. I'm also praying for my document manager to come!! I can't really ask anyone because Kim is on vacation still and has gone completely unplugged. Not a bad idea when you're the technology director for an entire district that loves to break it's technology frequently.
A few seriously important positions have not been filled as of today. 1) Our technology specialist for Meadows (the middle school) and Simis. This is crucial because all of the laptops have been upgraded to Windows 7. Therefore all of our laptops are no longer connected to any printer. **Idea, maybe I can print to the copier from one of the student computers, I don't think they were upgraded or really messed with** Teachers need to print. I try to keep everything digital that I can soas to avoid the clutter I tend to gather. I also have no desire to print at home, ink's expensive!!
2) Our building manager. I can't help but feel happy for Joe though, I guess he's engaged and moved up North to be nearer to her. It couldn't have happened to a greater guy, but I don't know how we'll get along with out him! He was superb, usually putting in 10-20 more hours each week on top of his regular 40. (No pay of course, this is a school!) Unfortunately.... our cafeteria and a majority of the school's storage space was just demolished because they're building us a NEW area. Joe is the only one who knows where everything was put. Maria (our lead janitor) is great, but she only knows so much. Example- the whole school uses a 'blue folder' as our homework folder. Quite a few boxes were delivered earlier in the summer and Wendy asked Joe to hide them so that the teachers wouldn't get into them before it was time to pass them out equally to all of the teachers. However, it's time for the folders to go out... and Wendy has no clue where they're at.
Now I'm working on my curriculum. A while ago I had it all set up so that I basically had all of my "spelling" lists for the year set up. I just needed to add in 5-6 vocabulary words from the last three units of LA. I made a mistake though... I forgot to include 1 week of review before the final Unit Test. (I'm trying to follow the curriculum more exactly this year). So I had to go back and begin fixing things, which meant I had to go switch around the words from Social Studies I'm using. It ended up being a nightmare so badly taht I just deleated everything I'd done from week 6 onward and decided that on week 13 (the second 'review') I was going to stop. I need to see how the year goes before I set up more.
I can't help but feel that somehow Social Studies is going to fall to the wayside again. It wouldn't be so bad if I could've gotten the Magnetism and Electricity unit LAST rather then second. It's the most important unit because the AIMS has a whole lot on M&E. Not so much on Human Body, and Water and Landscapes is easier to work into social studies concepts because they fall in at the wrong time. HB I can fit in anywhere (kinda), W&L fits PERFECTLY with the concepts of how the state is formed, regions in the state, and how those affected paleo-indians, and settlement of Arizona. M&E fits in with the post Civil War Era. Now I'm really struggling to see how I can mesh them more. :/ Our SS curriculum really is fun, but it's hard because we don't have a state test on SS but we do on Science. Gotta give priority to the tested subject. BAH HUMBUG.
I'm going to try to take on less stuff this year, but I already know I'm going to fail. 1. Regular classroom stuff. 2. Response to Intervention Commtee. 3. Tutoring. These three things were already on my Agenda. Today Chris came to give me a heads up to say that he and Joyce (principal) were thinking that instead of regular paper binders for Data Day, that a person on each grade level team would be taught how to access everything online and then facilitate Dada day in the grade levels. They both agreed that it sounds like something I would be interested in. (His words- "This sounds like a Jamie Jay project.") And what do I say? I say yes of course. Stupid me.... NO MORE committees though! I'll only go to BST when I have a student to bring. I won't volunteer to do extra, unasked for tasks for the VPs.
Who am I kidding? I haven't learned how to say No. I still want them to like me. x.x
I'm already feeling a little anxious for the year. Most of that is tied to teaching procedures. I've never seen them taught, and I did a terrible job last year. This year, I'm going to do better! I came across a good solid 'how-to-teach-procedures' chapter and read it several times. Now, just to impliment it and make sure everything goes as planned. From what I've read (and been told know that I think about it- Wayne said it a million times when I was a student teacher during our conferences) that if procedures are taught correctly and consistently though the first 2-3 months of school they won't be forgotten afterwards. It'll cut my classroom management by 75%, because the kids will "manage" themselves. A lot of it is model-do-model-do. So even if I 'm sick and tired of modeling, I need to make sure to keep doing it till at LEAST the start of November.
Okay. I think I've done enough obsessing over the fact that I'm scared but super excited (notice that both make you shake and lose sleep) about this next year.
I keep meaning to take pictures of my classroom, but keep forgetting to do so.
I've got basically everything up and organized around the classroom, though the back "bulletin board" (Basically a piece of cloth with pretty things around it) is still giving me troubles because it's not STRAIGHT. Well, none of them are, but this one in particular is not straight. I'm still trying to decide what I should put up on the Arizona and Math boards. I am proud of one board. It's called the Wonderful Work Wall. Every student has a 81/2" x 11" space to display their work. Water color on white fabric = kickass. .
I'm going to keep praying that my smartboard is installed before school starts up again because I do NOT want to have to use the portable one. A) It's annoying. B) It's annoying. C) It takes up a FRICKEN large amount of space. I really don't want to be teaching routines when having to move the projector from place to place and reorient every time someone bangs it on accident or even steps too hard on the floor. I'm also praying for my document manager to come!! I can't really ask anyone because Kim is on vacation still and has gone completely unplugged. Not a bad idea when you're the technology director for an entire district that loves to break it's technology frequently.
A few seriously important positions have not been filled as of today. 1) Our technology specialist for Meadows (the middle school) and Simis. This is crucial because all of the laptops have been upgraded to Windows 7. Therefore all of our laptops are no longer connected to any printer. **Idea, maybe I can print to the copier from one of the student computers, I don't think they were upgraded or really messed with** Teachers need to print. I try to keep everything digital that I can soas to avoid the clutter I tend to gather. I also have no desire to print at home, ink's expensive!!
2) Our building manager. I can't help but feel happy for Joe though, I guess he's engaged and moved up North to be nearer to her. It couldn't have happened to a greater guy, but I don't know how we'll get along with out him! He was superb, usually putting in 10-20 more hours each week on top of his regular 40. (No pay of course, this is a school!) Unfortunately.... our cafeteria and a majority of the school's storage space was just demolished because they're building us a NEW area. Joe is the only one who knows where everything was put. Maria (our lead janitor) is great, but she only knows so much. Example- the whole school uses a 'blue folder' as our homework folder. Quite a few boxes were delivered earlier in the summer and Wendy asked Joe to hide them so that the teachers wouldn't get into them before it was time to pass them out equally to all of the teachers. However, it's time for the folders to go out... and Wendy has no clue where they're at.
Now I'm working on my curriculum. A while ago I had it all set up so that I basically had all of my "spelling" lists for the year set up. I just needed to add in 5-6 vocabulary words from the last three units of LA. I made a mistake though... I forgot to include 1 week of review before the final Unit Test. (I'm trying to follow the curriculum more exactly this year). So I had to go back and begin fixing things, which meant I had to go switch around the words from Social Studies I'm using. It ended up being a nightmare so badly taht I just deleated everything I'd done from week 6 onward and decided that on week 13 (the second 'review') I was going to stop. I need to see how the year goes before I set up more.
I can't help but feel that somehow Social Studies is going to fall to the wayside again. It wouldn't be so bad if I could've gotten the Magnetism and Electricity unit LAST rather then second. It's the most important unit because the AIMS has a whole lot on M&E. Not so much on Human Body, and Water and Landscapes is easier to work into social studies concepts because they fall in at the wrong time. HB I can fit in anywhere (kinda), W&L fits PERFECTLY with the concepts of how the state is formed, regions in the state, and how those affected paleo-indians, and settlement of Arizona. M&E fits in with the post Civil War Era. Now I'm really struggling to see how I can mesh them more. :/ Our SS curriculum really is fun, but it's hard because we don't have a state test on SS but we do on Science. Gotta give priority to the tested subject. BAH HUMBUG.
I'm going to try to take on less stuff this year, but I already know I'm going to fail. 1. Regular classroom stuff. 2. Response to Intervention Commtee. 3. Tutoring. These three things were already on my Agenda. Today Chris came to give me a heads up to say that he and Joyce (principal) were thinking that instead of regular paper binders for Data Day, that a person on each grade level team would be taught how to access everything online and then facilitate Dada day in the grade levels. They both agreed that it sounds like something I would be interested in. (His words- "This sounds like a Jamie Jay project.") And what do I say? I say yes of course. Stupid me.... NO MORE committees though! I'll only go to BST when I have a student to bring. I won't volunteer to do extra, unasked for tasks for the VPs.
Who am I kidding? I haven't learned how to say No. I still want them to like me. x.x
I'm already feeling a little anxious for the year. Most of that is tied to teaching procedures. I've never seen them taught, and I did a terrible job last year. This year, I'm going to do better! I came across a good solid 'how-to-teach-procedures' chapter and read it several times. Now, just to impliment it and make sure everything goes as planned. From what I've read (and been told know that I think about it- Wayne said it a million times when I was a student teacher during our conferences) that if procedures are taught correctly and consistently though the first 2-3 months of school they won't be forgotten afterwards. It'll cut my classroom management by 75%, because the kids will "manage" themselves. A lot of it is model-do-model-do. So even if I 'm sick and tired of modeling, I need to make sure to keep doing it till at LEAST the start of November.
Okay. I think I've done enough obsessing over the fact that I'm scared but super excited (notice that both make you shake and lose sleep) about this next year.
