Tomorrow is our third day back at school for teachers. At the start of the school year, stress levels can sometimes be high because there's so much to get done before the kids arrive. It's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle, so I decided to write a post focusing on the positives. I would truly hate if others thought of me as being glass half empty. If it's just my husband, cool. Others, not cool.
There really is a lot to be excited about this school year!
1.) New Schedule - The 7th grade schedule has changed from teaching one class before planning to two. I think I am going to love this change. The kids usually get pretty rowdy after their enrichment courses, and then they still have 3 more core classes to go. This allows us to get in one more class period before they leave us for enrichment classes.
2.) Teaching a New Section - I will be teaching one 8th grade class this year first thing in the morning. I have never taught 8th graders, so I'm excited to see if I will mesh well with them. I student taught with 6th graders and then had one 6th grade class my first year teaching. So, after this year, I will have taught all three levels. I'm interested in seeing if teaching 8th grade is something I may be interested in in the future.
3.) Coaching Volleyball at the Middle School - I have coached volleyball for several years. My friend and I had our first team of developmental (11 and under) players our senior year in high school. After that, I've coached JV at Lugoff-Elgin High, a 16s club team, several seasons of 15s club, and this past year was the assistant Varsity and interim head Varsity when the head coach was on maternity leave. This year I will be the assistant coach at the middle school I teach at. I have never coached this level. I'm suppperrr excited to be able to work with girls on basic fundamentals because they are so, so important. It's frustrating at the high school level when there are players that still do some things incorrectly or haven't fully mastered basic skills. It's much harder to break them of those bad habits at that point. I will definitely miss the high school girls and the fast-paced game, but I can't wait for this new experience.
4.) Co-Teaching - This year I will be co-teaching two classes with a new teacher to the school. I LOVE doing lots of group work, stations, and activities that have kids up out of their seats and moving around the room. And I often pull small groups of students and work with them directly for some extra tutoring while other students are working independently. Having another teacher in the room is going to be so wonderful for this!!!
5.) New Way of Grading - As mentioned in a previous post, I will be transitioning to more Standards Based Grading. I still have some reservations and questions/thoughts that I need to figure out, but that's also another reason why I'm stoked about co-teaching. We will be able to bounce ideas off of one another and figure out what's going to work best for us and our students. I'm worried that it may be too much to implement this with all classes, so right now I'm thinking of just doing it with the classes that are being co-taught. Not 100% sure on this though.
OOOOHH and I got new carpet in my room! It's the small things, y'all!
See Tim, I can be a glass half full sometimes!
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