Well the semester ended on Friday. Half way through the year already?? Really?? Seems hard to believe. When this year began, I was dreading it in many ways - mainly due to all the emphasis on the switch to the Common Core. Reflecting a bit now that it's half way over, I see that this has been one of the BEST years of my teaching career so far. Yes the first few months had a LOT of growing pains associated with them. People at school were unhappy, morale was low. But after those first few months went by, I found myself really excited at the prospect of revamping a lot of what I do in my classroom. I've had two huge transformations this year that have affected my class the most - the first was the switch to interactive notebooks for my history curriculum. The second was the complete revamping of two units for class novels (and two more revamps to go!). Yes, no one likes to willingly go through change, because not changing it easy. It's HARD WORK to change your curriculum, especially if you're 10 years in to teaching like I am. But wow, am I proud of the work I've created so far this year. I actually find myself excited for the second half of the year that lies ahead of me!
Today was a teacher work day - no kids, just a full day of work time for us. I always underestimate the amount of work I have to do on these days. I got to school at 8 and found myself still grading at 1:30. I had hoped to grade for half the day and plan for the half the day, but alas that was not meant to be. Once I finally submitted my quarter and semester grades, I only had time to plan out some new history work for this week. And I swear I did NOT dilly dally on facebook or waste time online... just so much to wade through and entering grades takes longer than some might think.
Tomorrow starts the second semester. Good luck to all of you in the same boat!
Showing posts with label common core. Show all posts
Showing posts with label common core. Show all posts
Monday, January 27, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Half way there! Common Core on the horizon!
Well, the semester ends on Friday for us. This is always a very busy time of year. Lots of tests and things to collect! My kiddos are taking their first semester WOD final today. WOD is our 8th grade vocabulary program - it stands for "Word of the Day". It's a great program. The words are solid and the routine of having WOD as a warm up each day is a nice way to start class. If you're interested in checking the program out, check out my TPT links to the right!
Monday is a teacher work day for us. I treasure these days. Lots of time to get work done and NO pressure of any meetings or anything to accomplish from the office. I usually am able to get all my grading done and still have at least half the day for planning time. It seems like planning time with my colleagues is super valuable this year with the implementation of Common Core. We are supposed to be fully Common Core by the end of the year. Are you feeling that pressure too? I'm not sure where our school district stands in terms of being behind or ahead of the curve for Common Core. I know my friend in Oregon who teaches math has been on the Common Core train for a few years now. It would be nice to hear your stories about your transition to Common Core and how you feel you are progressing!
Monday is a teacher work day for us. I treasure these days. Lots of time to get work done and NO pressure of any meetings or anything to accomplish from the office. I usually am able to get all my grading done and still have at least half the day for planning time. It seems like planning time with my colleagues is super valuable this year with the implementation of Common Core. We are supposed to be fully Common Core by the end of the year. Are you feeling that pressure too? I'm not sure where our school district stands in terms of being behind or ahead of the curve for Common Core. I know my friend in Oregon who teaches math has been on the Common Core train for a few years now. It would be nice to hear your stories about your transition to Common Core and how you feel you are progressing!
Thursday, November 28, 2013
And so it begins...
I have embarked on a great adventure in blogging about my classroom. I suppose an introduction is in order. I teach 8th grade core in the San Francisco Bay Area. Core at our school is a two period block of English and US history. I've taught the same thing since I started, and this is my 11th year. I knew when I went to get my teaching credential that middle school was the level I wanted to teach at. I have always been one of those crazy people who ADORES middle school students. I'm always amused by the common conversation I have when people ask me what I do:
"So what do you do?"
"I'm a teacher."
"Oh, that's wonderful! What grade do you teach?"
"Eighth grade."
"Oh my god, you are a saint/I don't know how you can do it/kids at that age are crazy"
Like many schools, our school is VERY focused on implementing the Common Core this year. Everything seems to revolve around that. My department has been working together to revamp some of what we do with that in mind. What I've discovered, however, is that a lot of what we already did fits the Common Core model. At first, I was worried that the Common Core would mean throwing out everything I had been doing and having to start fresh like a first year teacher all over again. However, now that I know a lot more about Common Core, I see that is not the case. I'm excited to incorporate a lot of the higher order thinking skills in to my curriculum. I also decided that since I was doing a lot of curriculum development this year, I'd try my hand at teacherspayteachers.com and see if I couldn't share my curriculum with other educators.
Right now, I'm on break for a week for Thanksgiving. I'm always so grateful for the fact our district gives us this whole week off. It's nice rejuvenating time, and it's given me an opportunity to sit down and get this blog off the ground!
"So what do you do?"
"I'm a teacher."
"Oh, that's wonderful! What grade do you teach?"
"Eighth grade."
"Oh my god, you are a saint/I don't know how you can do it/kids at that age are crazy"
Like many schools, our school is VERY focused on implementing the Common Core this year. Everything seems to revolve around that. My department has been working together to revamp some of what we do with that in mind. What I've discovered, however, is that a lot of what we already did fits the Common Core model. At first, I was worried that the Common Core would mean throwing out everything I had been doing and having to start fresh like a first year teacher all over again. However, now that I know a lot more about Common Core, I see that is not the case. I'm excited to incorporate a lot of the higher order thinking skills in to my curriculum. I also decided that since I was doing a lot of curriculum development this year, I'd try my hand at teacherspayteachers.com and see if I couldn't share my curriculum with other educators.
Right now, I'm on break for a week for Thanksgiving. I'm always so grateful for the fact our district gives us this whole week off. It's nice rejuvenating time, and it's given me an opportunity to sit down and get this blog off the ground!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
