18 and counting

• There are officially 18 more days of summer. Instead of lamenting, I am celebrating... for a variety of reasons:
  
  1) I have the latest possible reporting day... which means more summer for me!
  

2) I am finally getting into the groove of doing prep work for school stuff, which not only makes me feel accomplished admist the many hours I have spent so leisurely this summer, but it also makes me excited to start a new year fresh.

3) I have so many things to be thankful for as we start a new year: a j.o.b. [that I love], super-amazing colleagues, and supportive and loving family and friends.

4) I am [almost] ready to get back in the swing of a regularly scheduled lifestyle.

Some food for thought as I revamp my syllabi, re-think assignments and lesson plans, and develop more efficient and organized systems for myself:

1) Sharing a room with other teachers proves difficult to create your "own space". Not only is the room not technically "yours", it's also usually VERY full of your roommate's stuff, since, of course, the room is "theirs". It's hard to make your own areas and stake a claim, but I have one new roommate this year who will most likely be able to carve out a little area for me in her room. As for my other roommate [yes, I have two roommates]... I am pretty sure he doesn't care what I do, however his room is full of his own stuff. This is a daunting tast, but I am considering investing in some small carts to create a little "station" in each room where I'll have random supplies and a little filing area for handouts, packets, etc.

2) I would like to re-work the way that I go about checking homework notes and otherwise ensuring that my students complete homework without actually having to turn it in. Thanks to technology, it has become easier for students to take hw notes on their laptops, email said hw notes to friends, who then earn credit for work they did not complete on their own. Since there is no way for me to accurately spot check this to ensure that this practice is not occurring, my only option is to collect notes EVERY DAY and read EVERY ONE of them. This will not happen. I could also quiz my students on a semi-constant basis... but who wants to do that? I don't want to drill and kill, nor do I want to check 90+ quizzes every week. Suggestions for dealing with this issue are welcome :)

3) I would also like to be more technologically savvy within my classroom walls this year. I am lucky that my school is very tech-inclined, in that we have a wireless system, every student is required to have a laptop, and SmartBoards and LCD projectors are extremely accessible. However... I want my kids to be interacting with tech in more engaging and interesting ways than just watching me do crap on a SmartBoard. I did some podcasting this year, and it went over well, but I think some of the value of the projects was lost in the excitement to actually make the podcast. I think I will attempt to bring blogs and wikis in this year... not quite sure how yet. I guess that is what I will be working on for the next 18 days! :)

Picture Cred

Backward Design... how I love thee...

I forgot how much I love Backward Design.

I'm going back through my units from last year and making sure that I have concrete and clear objectives and goals for each unit of study. Then I'll go back over individual lessons and rework, redesign, and create anew. I hope that this better prepares me for the upcoming year.

I feel refreshed :)

It's already July!!

I cannot believe that July has already arrived. Happy birthday, America. You've given me everything I could have ever wanted in a country. As much as people get pissy and whiny and loud-mouthed about all the "terrible" things in this country, I think we all take forgranted sometimes the fact that we actually have the ability for others to hear our pissy moaning thanks to the wonders of free speech and advanced technology. I love America.


Some summer updates:

• 2009-2010 contracts were finally mailed to us on June 30th, the day our 2008-2009 contracts ended. It was nerve-wracking that the school took that long, but what can you do? In this economy, private schools are struggling too, just like the auto industry. I am looking forward to another year there to work on my practice and develop as an educator. I am also recognizing more and more each day that this is not my "forever" school. (The fact that opening my work email makes me nauseated in and of itself tells me that a new school is on the horizon for me in the next few years.) Don't get me wrong, I had a great experience this year: I have wonderful colleagues and love what I'm teaching. But the overall environment is not where I envision myself in the long-run. More on that another day, perhaps.
  

• I'm attending a few workshops in the coming weeks for social studies teachers, so that should be interesting and hopefully useful for my classes next year, if not just for the growth of my personal knowledge. Teachers should always be students.

• I have many many projects for myself this summer to be better organized personally and curricularly for next year. I have lots of things to think about in regards to how I manage my class, the types of assessments I require of my students, and how I would like a typical week to be structured. There are many things that you can't really anticipate in preparing for your first year, like how much homework is enough (depending on the expectations of your school) or how to adapt your teaching style to the culture of the school, or even how to allow students to use the bathroom during class. The bathroom thing sounds stupid, but I seriously had an issue with that this year... and I think my way of handling it was a little juvinile for 9th grade, and a little too lax for 10th grade. So, needless to say my summer to-do list is very long, and I have yet to start it. 4th of July weekend was my "deadline" for enjoying a work-free summer. So now it's time to start. I'm actually looking forward to it, though :)

Happy summer!