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?

the fifth year

"Update your blog" has been on my to do list since the last time I posted. There wasn't a whole lot that I had to say, so it never felt that important or urgent to do.

Let's talk about summer school. It was better than I expected. I had ten students: one for English 10, two for English 11 and the rest were for English 9. All the kids were awesome. Two of them were former students of mine. The English 9 kids were pretty awesome. I also got compliments from two of the parents/grandparents involved. If I was to do summer school again, I would prefer not to teach three sections in one classroom. It's not that it was difficult, it just felt like the kids were being cheated out of a full summer school education. I had to cut a few ideas and assignments I had because there was no way I could do them with three different levels in one class. It went more smoothly than I expected, though, and I made enough money in the month of July (summer school only went from July 1-29) to cover my summer class tuition and buy a new laptop. Teaching summer school also made one of my class projects--a pretend observation as an administrator--easier to complete. The major bummer of teaching summer school was that  I missed the opportunity to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. I got to see them around my birthday in June, at least, but it would've been nice to surprise him on his birthday.

My grad program is off to a good start. Two classes down and... a few more to go. I know for a fact I (barely) earned an A in my School & Community Relations class. It was so difficult to do! She kept taking one or two points off of papers that she didn't really explain in the first place (so frustrating), and then wouldn't really explain why she took off points. I only got full credit on one paper, and that's only because it was the second of its kind, so I knew exactly what she was looking for (plus, it was on an issue I really cared about). The other class I took this summer had a professor that was a little absent, so I can only assume I (and the group I worked with on 3 of the 4 assignments) got an A. I know that one of our projects he really loved, and I'm going to assume I did okay on the others? If not, I definitely got a B. Either way, I'm happy. I was really intimidated and not really into these two classes at the beginning, but ended up pretty happy with what I did.

I finally started working (seriously working. as in: actually writing stuff down instead of just thinking) on thinking about new things I want to do this new school year. Did you realize it's the fifth year I've taught? I mean, that's kind of crazy. I realized the other day that I don't feel nervous at all about this year. First, every year has brought less anxiety and nerves. Second, this is my third year at this school, so I'm pretty comfortable in the school. I have a good group of teacher buddies in the school, an awesome carpool buddy and I know most of the students. This is a good feeling. Third, I'M NOT TEACHING A NEW PREP THIS YEAR! YES!! This is probably the best feeling. Every year, I've had a new grade to learn. This will be the 5th time I've taught English 10 and the second time for English 9 and 11. I'm glad the English 11 textbook we offer isn't much different from the one I used before, that will make it much easier. I feel pretty good about my English 9 course, I think I did pretty great (better than I expected, that's for sure) the first time around, so the second (and third? since we'll have two semesters? haha) will be even better.

The only change I'm slightly worried about is changing to the 4x4 schedule. It shouldn't be too bad, though, because we already teach on a block schedule and I taught an every-day schedule for summer school (and that was a 4 hour class! so much more time!). The first semester will probably be rough, but it'll work. I've got three preps, a new co-teacher, and a new class of freshmen (who I've heard are pretty wild). The mantra I'll probably be repeating to myself throughout that first semester will probably be "take it day by day". I'm actually not too worried and not planning too much since I'm not quite sure how this all is gonna go down--just like everyone else in the school. (Plus, I'll actually have a planning period EVERY DAY! No more four-class-in-a-row days!) It should all work out by the second semester (well, hopefully earlier than that, but the second semester should be when everyone fully adjusts and knows what to expect).