1 down, 3 to go
The seemingly never-ending 1st quarter is over! 2nd quarter will undoubtedly fly by ~ all the holidays will help to break it up a bit. I'm thankful to have my afternoons back, now that cross country is over. I'm proud to say that we did have the fastest middle school cross country runner in the county on our team. (Come to think of it, we also had the slowest girl in the county, but we adore her all the same)
I found out that one of the grants I wrote earlier this year was funded! I was pretty excited about it; we'll be able to buy some updated video equipment & incorporate it into the classroom. The very next day, I received a rejection letter for the other grant I wrote . . . c'est la vie, I suppose. It looks like most of the funded ideas for that grant were from elementary school teachers building compost heaps with live worms & such. I guess my geocaching idea with GPS units for middle schoolers wasn't nearly as "cool." Anyhoo . . .
My kids' creativity never ceases to impress me, probably b/c I possess very little myself. They created booklets on ocean zones & habitats, and I was particularly amused by one student's project. She had written a page about marine sanctuaries, and then drew a picture of an underwater church to illustrate this. Beside it she wrote, "Praise Cod." Clever, eh?
Administration is bothering me this year. They put an incredible emphasis on end-of-course testing, which is typical of public schools, I presume. However, we (teachers) are increasingly pushed to collaborate with same-subject teachers to ensure that our lessons & testing are identical. I'm all for collaboration, and I feel like my coworkers do this very well. I don't quite see the point of clone-teaching, though . . . we all have very distinct styles & philosophies (& students!!!) I agree with having similar objectives throughout a grade level, but identical lessons - no way. I'm on an ESL team, so my instruction is often differentiated to meet different needs than a teacher on an EC team. Sometimes I think I'd like to teach at a smaller school; ours is the largest middle school in the district. Or a year-round school, perhaps. I think I'm discovering more of what "could be" at other schools, while trying to make the best of my present situation.
At any rate, it's Friday! And next week we're starting Cells . . . a much more exciting unit (in my opinion!) than Oceans. As for now, I'm off to enjoy the weekend.
I found out that one of the grants I wrote earlier this year was funded! I was pretty excited about it; we'll be able to buy some updated video equipment & incorporate it into the classroom. The very next day, I received a rejection letter for the other grant I wrote . . . c'est la vie, I suppose. It looks like most of the funded ideas for that grant were from elementary school teachers building compost heaps with live worms & such. I guess my geocaching idea with GPS units for middle schoolers wasn't nearly as "cool." Anyhoo . . .
My kids' creativity never ceases to impress me, probably b/c I possess very little myself. They created booklets on ocean zones & habitats, and I was particularly amused by one student's project. She had written a page about marine sanctuaries, and then drew a picture of an underwater church to illustrate this. Beside it she wrote, "Praise Cod." Clever, eh?
Administration is bothering me this year. They put an incredible emphasis on end-of-course testing, which is typical of public schools, I presume. However, we (teachers) are increasingly pushed to collaborate with same-subject teachers to ensure that our lessons & testing are identical. I'm all for collaboration, and I feel like my coworkers do this very well. I don't quite see the point of clone-teaching, though . . . we all have very distinct styles & philosophies (& students!!!) I agree with having similar objectives throughout a grade level, but identical lessons - no way. I'm on an ESL team, so my instruction is often differentiated to meet different needs than a teacher on an EC team. Sometimes I think I'd like to teach at a smaller school; ours is the largest middle school in the district. Or a year-round school, perhaps. I think I'm discovering more of what "could be" at other schools, while trying to make the best of my present situation.
At any rate, it's Friday! And next week we're starting Cells . . . a much more exciting unit (in my opinion!) than Oceans. As for now, I'm off to enjoy the weekend.
posted by Kat at
5:28 PM
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