A List, Thursday-Style

Last night I had lots of things rolling around in my head and I think the time has come for me to get them out.  I have tons to do this weekend (tomorrow is the last day of the six weeks) and I need to be able to focus.  Shall I use numbers or bullets today?

• I have Monday off.  I didn’t know this until two days ago, and it THRILLS me.  I’m definitely ready for a break.
• I’m not too amused by the last-minute “What do I need to do to pass?” emails I’ve been getting from students.  I needed them to care about this three weeks ago, when they received their progress reports and could have actually done something about it.
• Yesterday I saw the Ron Mueck exhibit at the Modern in Fort Worth.  It was beyond fabulous.
• My grades are due on Tuesday, but I don’t want to spend the weekend working on them.  I’d like to have them done by tomorrow evening.
• We had to discuss lockdown procedures at yesterday’s marathon faculty meeting.  It made me a little sick to my stomach.  We’re going to have a drill – which is good, because we all need to know what to do – but I’m a little freaked out about the whole concept.
• A bright spot in the meeting?  Finding out that our school has the poorest kids in the district.  This is good news because we also happen to have the highest-performing students in the district.  It shows that we’re doing something right.  (Mind you, we already knew this.  It’s just nice to have confirmation on paper.)

What about you?  Any cool stuff going on in your classrooms/lives?

Happy Thoughts

The mood swing, mercifully, was on its way out shortly after I wrote my last post.  Now that I’ve had a couple of days, I’d like to mention some positive aspects of Saturday’s experience.

First of all – SURPRISE! – the training wasn’t a waste of time!  I learned a few things, and I’d like to highlight some of them here.

1) We learned about extension menus.  Basically, it’s a tic-tac-toe board (or bingo card) with different levels of questions about a particular topic.  Students can choose any row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.  I like that it stretches their brains but also gives them choices.

2) The average age of the people in that room was…well, let’s just say I was definitely the youngest person there.  Considering I’ve only been doing this job for 5 weeks and two days….  I’m going to be fine.

3) I talked to a veteran teacher and posed the same questions I asked in my post.  He reassured me that I probably wouldn’t feel like I had “Differentiation in the AP Classroom” under any semblance of control until I’d been doing it at least seven years (give or take).

By Saturday afternoon, I’d let myself off the hook a little.  (And I will also admit that my world got a whole lot sunnier after the delicious Subway sandwich I ate for lunch.)

Then on Sunday, a coworker left the funniest comment EVER in response to my post, and that pretty much sealed the deal:

I’m going to be a good teacher.  I might not be one of the world savers referenced in this article, but, like this gal, I’m not going to give up on my students either.  I’ll find a nice balance – just maybe not right now, this six weeks, or even this year.

And I’m okay with that. 🙂