(no subject)
Workdays start tomorrow. So not looking forward to that, in fact I’m kind of dreading school starting up again. I’m just not sure why. I’ve had a fun summer but I didn’t get to spend much at home just relaxing and I didn’t have a camping trip where I could just get away from it all and relax and recharge. So that is probably part of it but it’s not the main reason. It’s probably more to due with switching grades. New grade = new teammates, new standard course of study, new room. I know I won’t have the same dynamic with my new teammates as with my old ones, but I think it’ll be a good relationship (at least with the one I know, I still don’t know who is teaching math with me). The new material is going to suck. If I had to pick my least favorite part of science and the only part that doesn’t come intuitive to me I’d pick chemistry…I’ve got to teach chemistry. If I were to pick the one aspect of biology that I like the least I’d say micro…I’ve got to teach micro. I also never enjoyed the science fair. My ideas were always the kind that went beyond any kind of funding/time constraints that a kid would have so I could just never get excited by the fair….yeah, we have a science fair in 8th grade. The only thing I can say that I think will be fun will be hydro and some of the rock stuff. And of course most of what I teach I don’t have a book for or there is a book, it’s just only has one or two relevant sections...of course it won’t be like I enough books that kids can take them home and study with them anyway. I’m told there are teaches editions of books I have for all the things I cover, so at least I can use that to base some lesson on. Otherwise, the lessons would come from my college texts (cause that’s all I have) and the kids struggle with middle school concepts and depth so college level would just = fail all around. I did spend some time working on lessons this summer so I’m not feeling stressed out by that so much, though I have go in and add some actions to my flipcharts as I go along, but it’s still going to be time consuming to do that. Oh, and I get tested this year so I have to deal with that pressure and the extra paper work. So I think that’s probably my biggest non starter for this year. At least I have year to prep these kids (vs just a semester in 7th), though it was nice to work with more students in a semester setup.
I also kept my same crappie tables and I just feel so limited room arrangement wise by tables. And these things were fit or the scrap heap my first year and I’m no my 4th. I don’t like how I have to configure the computers but I can deal with it. I taught ½ the 7th grade last year so I should know about ½ my students…but then I worry I’ll get the ones that just drove me crazy last year. I’ll find that out tomorrow I guess or at the latest by Wed for open house. That should be the last day I have major time at school since Thursday and Friday I have coaches meeting and CPR training to deal with. Oh, and I have to go measure and line the soccer filed, so I hope we have a new AD so I can get a key to the soccer filed (I need to measure and line the practice filed). Then, a week from tomorrow it’s the kids, it’s soccer practice, it’s working on new lesson plans to stay ahead, and grading papers and all kinds of fun stuff. Hopefully between now and then I’ll get more energized for it.