Spring break!

Ahh! Break is finally here! It is a much needed break, especially since my last two projects/papers for my two classes are due the Monday and Tuesday after it's done.

There are a lot of things going on in my classroom, but most of it cannot be published here. Maybe one day. Since this blog is not necessarily private and I feel it would not be professional of me to put it all out there, I'm going to take a while to think about exactly how to word what's going on that will not reflect anyone negatively. Let's just say I'm experiencing a really interesting experiment in my room that has had both positive and negative results. One negative is that I've ended up very frustrated and stressed at the end of the day. The positives definitely outweigh the negatives, though. This has helped me grow as a teacher, helped me prepare for my administrative internship coming up in the next year or two and I've really bonded more with my students (seriously, I will actually miss them during this break. Not saying I don't miss teaching over breaks, but usually, I look forward to the breaks as time where I don't have to stress about grades, grading, plans and struggling students... this year is different).

I'm only teaching one of my three classes right now--English 9. We've just finished Act 2 of Romeo & Juliet, one of my favorite units to teach. The kids are actually enjoying it! We were a bit worried due to the make-up of the classroom: 20 boys and 5 girls, half of which have SPED accommodations and have struggles of all kinds with reading and writing. They're picking up on Shakespeare better than we expected--not that we had low expectations, we just weren't sure which way this class would go with the play.  We're keeping it simple as my co-teacher and I are still getting to know each other & want to make sure the students understand everything.
Speaking of my co-teacher... I love her. We are pretty much a perfect teaching team. She is hilarious and positive and we share the same philosophy--major plus! They're keeping us together next year because we work so well together with our baby freshmen. This makes me feel so much better about being out for maternity leave in the fall. Knowing that she will be there has eased a lot of the stress/anxiety I had over what will happen when I'm at home instead of the classroom.
My schedule next year is looking like it'll be pretty much the same: English 9 & 10. There will be (hopefully) three English 9 classes I will be responsible for--2 in the spring, 1 in the fall (smart choice, schedule makers!). The rest of my open teaching spots will be English 10 aaaaaaaaaand CREATIVE WRITING! Finally! The only way that won't happen is if there weren't enough students that signed up for it. Based on how many students told me they were signing up for it, I don't think that will happen. I'm guessing that creative writing will be in the spring (why introduce a new class when the teacher will miss 8 weeks of it, you know?), which means I'll have 1 English 9, 2 English 10 in the fall and 2 English 9 and 1 Creative Writing in the spring. I'm cool with that. :)

My classes this semester are just about done. Like I said earlier, only two major papers due. I still have to start the final product and get typing, but I know what I'm doing for both of them. I'm only taking one class this summer--one of the ones I was supposed to take first, but was never offered anywhere/anytime that worked for me, my job and schedule.  This summer, I've also volunteered to teach summer school again. The extra money is nice, it's an easy schedule, and I really enjoyed it last year--why not?