Salvete,
I don't know what it means, but it usually signifies the end of an old year and the beginning of a new year. The old year is definitely over, with all its farting, office referrals, graded papers, and seminars. I am so thankful to have been a part of the school in its first year of establishing itself, and becoming whatever it is that it is going to be. I will miss those kids more than I can say. I already do. I miss them greeting me every day, "Hey Miss, Hey Miss, Hey Miss!" I miss them sharing their hearts and minds with me. I miss their off topic questions and other general elements of obnoxion. I miss telling them things they had never heard about before, even though they think they already know it all.
Next year, there will be a whole new batch of children, in a whole new city...my home town! I got to walk around the school today, and boy! Did it ever bring back memories! They've completely redone the bandhall, adding a whole new wing to the school. Due to the bad storms yesterday, several leaks had been exposed when I walked through. It reminded me of last year, when the new building was always leaking, and we were always checking every nook and cranny after a big storm.
I have a lot to do to get ready for next year. Once my love and I come back from our Tour of the South, I imagine I will really put my nose to the grindstone. We're leaving Monday for almost a month. I'm more excited than I can say. I remember how beautiful Gulf Shores, AL is, and I hope it lives up to the glory of those memories so that my love can enjoy it just as much as I used to when we would go vacationing there as a family.
A No-Longer-New Teacher's List to Get Ready for Next Year:
1. Update procedures PowerPoint: I now know where I need to cut the fat. Dr. Harry Wong is all well and good, but I need to trim down some of the procedures I had in place at the beginning of last year. After your first year, you really figure out what procedures you are willing to commit to, and which ones just take more time than you have.
2. Find out the Sophomore curriculum and see what I can come up with in advance: Since I don't currently have access to the curriculum I will be teaching next year, there isn't much I can do with this yet. I do need to reread To Kill A Mockingbird, because I am fairly sure that will be in the curriculum. I wish I could remember what my department chair's name is. Maybe I have it in an e-mail somewhere.
3. Come up with a new system for handing back papers: My old system does not work, or was not executed in a manner that would lead to success. My current method was to give each child a folder, then file their papers in their folder. In theory, they would occasionally check those folders (which did not happen), and see how they were doing in the class (about which, as it turns out, they do not care until the last week of the grading period, at which time it is too late to help them).
4. Come up with a new system for handing in papers: My old system worked, but led to a messy desk and a stressed teacher. To turn in papers, they had to hand them to me. This limited their ability to pull someone else's paper out of the slot and copy it, but it also made me more apt to lose their papers (which led to some very angry children). I think I will have a bin with hanging folders. Each class will have an "In" folder, and each will have an "Out" folder. This way, they have a place to turn in, and a place to pick up. I can even designte a person to pass back papers, or they can be on a rotation or something.
5. Think about warm-ups (bell-ringers, or whatever): As I will be on the 1.5 hour period schedule, it would not hurt us to do warm-ups. Last year, I kept their journals in bins so they could pick them up when they came in to the room. My system of reading them and grading them broke down completely by the beginning of the third six-weeks, so this needs to be revamped.
I'll stop the list there. Really, all it comes down to is this: What are you willing to stick to and work on the WHOLE YEAR? Things suggested by Dr. Wong, like having the kids hold up two fingers when they need to go to the bathroom would work really well with elementary schoolers, but it isn't practical with high school. Anyway, that's all for now.
Valete,
Magistra
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