Reflections...

Wooooowwww. I made it to Christmas Break, yall!! Can’t believe that half the school year is just about over. And I can’t believe that I made it this far and still have some sanity left. Seriously, dude… Wow.

If you’d asked me whether I thought I’d make it this far into my first year of teaching back in August or so when things were bright and shiny and new (hehe), I’d have said… definitely! If you’d have asked me a few short weeks later when the seriously foreboding sense of being incredibly overwhelmed and unprepared in my new job finally set in… well, that might have been a completely different answer. And now that a sense of normalcy is finally starting to settle in and I’m beginning to feel more confident and competent in what I’m doing, things are definitely looking up. I’m thinking forward, planning forward, looking at my data and trying to come up with more creative and effective ways to reach my kids and help increase their growth and progress.

With just one more week of break left to go, I plan to sleep even more, plan even more, and pour over the data I’ve collected thus far to see where the holes in my instruction lie. I’ve got to figure out exactly how I’ll go about reviewing our rules and procedures (a-gain) since the kids will have been out of school and away from those kind of expectations for weeks now, and I’ll also have to figure out how I’ll begin to slowly weave our district’s move to Common Core Essential Standards into what I’m doing now with the Standard Course of Study, to help ease the transition into Common Core next year.

I’ve got two more formal observations to go this school year, and then those will be done as well (Oh, bless God!!!). The first two went really well, which was a huge blessing.  I’ll still have more observations to get through from my lateral entry program, but I’ll think more on those as they get closer.

At this point, I think one of the heaviest things I’ve yet to get through is finishing up our upcoming Seminar sessions for our certification program. Three hours a night, two nights a month with reading and assignments and work products to boot begins to really weigh on you after a long day’s work with the kiddos, that’s for sure. Thank goodness there’s only like 8 or 9 more sessions to go. Nothing like a good ‘old countdown to make that mountain seem a little more bearable. Just 9 more sessions to go, and then no more work products, no more synthesis statements, no more Seminar sessions, no more Americorps requirements… NO MORE TNTP.   May 20th, can't WAIT to see you!!!