Fall is my favorite season! Yes, it's 100 degrees outside, but school supplies are in all the stores, I'm getting emails about all the week-before-school meetings and trainings, and Twitter is blowing up with great stuff happening at TMC. My brain is busy with thoughts about how to do lesson plans differently this year, what posters I want on my wall, whether this will be the year I make mathematical curtains for my windows!
I feel caught in a holding pattern. I know what classes I'll be teaching, but I don't know my schedule or my students. I can make general lesson plans, but without class lists I can't set up Edmodo groups, Plickers classes, Remind classes, gradecam classes, etc. They held summer school in my room, so I wasn't able to get in over the summer, and now we're on vacation. Monday. Monday. Monday!
The other reason I feel caught in a holding pattern is because I just don't know what to expect. I only know the numbers, and it's not pretty. I hesitate to post them here lest you (and I) get the wrong impression. My biggest issue is that I am not naive enough, nor arrogant enough, to believe that the reason the scores were so bad is because the teachers (some of whom are still there) were not as good as I am, not as smart as I am, or don't care as much as I do. That would be absurd.
I'm also keenly aware of the fact that every time a school makes the news for turning around a difficult situation, or bringing remarkable results in general, the teachers are praised for the 12 hour days they work, and their commitment to their students above everything else. I don't have 12 hour days ... or that level of commitment. I have a husband, three kids, three pets, a house, friends, hobbies ... (OK, I lied. I don't have hobbies. School fills whatever itch a hobby would otherwise scratch.) Am I allowed to say that? Am I allowed to be honest about not giving my job everything I have to give, because I still have to be present for my family?
But, I am deeply committed to this job. It's a real "money where your mouth is" opportunity to be part of something transformative. I LOVE the team that my principal has pulled together, and the investment my district is making in bringing fantastic ARTS people into the building. I love the collaboration I'm seeing between our school and the STEM magnet located in our building. I'm anxious to get the year underway, I'm anxious to have students in the concrete, not just classes and plans in the abstract! I'm excited to find out what the actual challenges are, not just what my wildest imaginations have to offer.
So, now I'll go back to shopping for math fabrics on the internet. And thinking about different ways to organize lesson plans. And trying to figure out how I"m going to find a babysitter to help with that life-work balance.Less than 2 weeks to go!
I feel caught in a holding pattern. I know what classes I'll be teaching, but I don't know my schedule or my students. I can make general lesson plans, but without class lists I can't set up Edmodo groups, Plickers classes, Remind classes, gradecam classes, etc. They held summer school in my room, so I wasn't able to get in over the summer, and now we're on vacation. Monday. Monday. Monday!
The other reason I feel caught in a holding pattern is because I just don't know what to expect. I only know the numbers, and it's not pretty. I hesitate to post them here lest you (and I) get the wrong impression. My biggest issue is that I am not naive enough, nor arrogant enough, to believe that the reason the scores were so bad is because the teachers (some of whom are still there) were not as good as I am, not as smart as I am, or don't care as much as I do. That would be absurd.
I'm also keenly aware of the fact that every time a school makes the news for turning around a difficult situation, or bringing remarkable results in general, the teachers are praised for the 12 hour days they work, and their commitment to their students above everything else. I don't have 12 hour days ... or that level of commitment. I have a husband, three kids, three pets, a house, friends, hobbies ... (OK, I lied. I don't have hobbies. School fills whatever itch a hobby would otherwise scratch.) Am I allowed to say that? Am I allowed to be honest about not giving my job everything I have to give, because I still have to be present for my family?
But, I am deeply committed to this job. It's a real "money where your mouth is" opportunity to be part of something transformative. I LOVE the team that my principal has pulled together, and the investment my district is making in bringing fantastic ARTS people into the building. I love the collaboration I'm seeing between our school and the STEM magnet located in our building. I'm anxious to get the year underway, I'm anxious to have students in the concrete, not just classes and plans in the abstract! I'm excited to find out what the actual challenges are, not just what my wildest imaginations have to offer.
So, now I'll go back to shopping for math fabrics on the internet. And thinking about different ways to organize lesson plans. And trying to figure out how I"m going to find a babysitter to help with that life-work balance.Less than 2 weeks to go!