Not even on top of things…

I thought, “Sure, keep a blog. Talk about things that are going on.” Yeah, right.

I think I’ve had all of two minutes with my own thoughts since the school year began. It doesn’t take much to throw me off this year — new baby, semi-new teaching assignment, new responsibilities, etc. At least I feel a little prepared. At least this year I know what’s expected of me, I know what district tests are coming up, how to get a herd of 8th graders down to the gym for Picture Day, how to safely break up a fist fight in my classroom, etc.

This year’s students appear to be more well-behaved than last year’s group. I’m not sure if there are quite as many “actors” this year, though, which I know I will miss. Perhaps it’s just the first two weeks of school and everyone is still getting adjusted.

The one thing that has me excited for this year is the start of the school Podcast Club that I’m heading up. I think we’ve got a group of kids signed up that will make it a fun experience for the club members, listeners, and me.

Curriculum Night is tonight, so I should be spending this time getting my room and my presentation ready. Oh well… the blogging will have to wait for another day.

Don’t make me teach it!

There is one subject, though I think I know the material fairly well, I am absolutely terrified to teach: GRAMMAR.

It’s unreasonable. I know how to write grammatically correct sentences, I can identify mistakes and make suggestions, but I do… not… like… teaching it!

I typically teach it in the context of whatever we’re reading at the time, but I’m specifically thinking of those times when the grammar lessons are those stand-alone, let’s-talk-about-the-significance-of-commas lessons.

So I’m putting myself in the hands of the other teachers out there. What do you do to make grammar fun or interesting for your students to learn and for you to teach? I need some ideas because no matter how many “cool” illustrations they put in our grammar textbooks, I’m not excited.

Feeling prepared… sorta

Twenty-one days from the start of school and I think I’m feeling ready this time. I should explain that when I was hired last year, it was one week before the start of the school year. That might not sound like a bad thing, but I spent my entire summer (in-between submitting applications) believing I would be teaching at the high school level. I planned for 9th-10th grade novels and discussions and whatnot.

Then I was hired to teach 8th grade Language Arts and Social Studies. That threw a whole new wrench into the works. I had never taught Social Studies and being a first year teacher, I’d never done Language Arts on my own either. So this time around I feel a little bit better about my situation. I’m only doing Language Arts this year, which simplifies things despite the fact that I will sorely miss teaching the Twentieth Century history. I actually have my units semi-planned, as opposed to the week-at-a-time planning of last year.

I also spent my first year taking advantage of a good deal of the extra training they provide for our teachers, and I think that’s elevated me fairly quickly to a person others come to for help. I’m already the default tech-guy for our portion of the building when the normal tech person is gone. It’s been nice to have that extra degree of responsibility, even so early in my career, because I think it distracts me from just how terrified I might otherwise be.

Eventually I’ll get around to adding some lessons/units to this blog and (hopefully) get some constructive criticism on them from all you lovely fellow teachers out there.

The school year looms…

Once again the start of the school year is upon us. This year I’ve decided to try keeping a blog for myself, not just for the classroom work. I’ve visited so many other teachers’ blogs that have helped me when I’m out of ideas or just need a little boost in the encouragement/creativity department. That being said, there are a few things here and there that I’m sure I can offer to someone else, should they come wandering onto my page.

So as the year approaches, I may throw out some ideas on this blog. Comments, suggestions, etc. are ALWAYS welcome. After all, I am only in my second year of teaching, so I still need all the help I can get.