...at least the weekends are wonderful!
The students are starting to get a little holiday-crazy! It started the week of Thanksgiving break, and will probably continue for the next 10 days of school. Keeping everyone on the same page during a lesson has proven to be difficult due to whatever is in the air around vacation time. I have to remember to keep my lessons short and to the point without losing the importance of what I'm teaching, but I'm struggling! Short, meaningful lessons are difficult for a new teacher, but I'm learning more and more along the way.
Last Tuesday was my "walk-through" observation where my principal (building administrator) observed the first 45 minutes of school and made sure I had all the important things in my classroom (i.e. emergency procedures, curriculum displayed, classroom expectations visible, accessible materials, etc.). Tomorrow will be my first formal observation. Since we do a health/nutrition lesson on Mondays, I'll be teaching that. It will be the same lesson that I taught last Monday because I don't think my students completely understood it's importance. This time, I'm approaching it differently and providing an activity sheet that I created in order to guide their ideas better. I'm not nervous about tomorrow. It makes it easier that we don't have to write up an ITIP and that our principal is very comforting.
On Tuesday, I will be sitting on the panel for first year teachers at GVSU's student teacher professional development day. I'm more anxious for this because, although I loved this portion of PD last year when I was a student teacher, I'm nervous to be on the other side of it - looking at hundreds of new teachers and talking about my experiences. On the other hand, I am excited to spend an hour or so talking about something that I'm so passionate about. Wish me luck for Tuesday!
This week is also my last week of school this semester for my ACE class. I have already registered for my next ACE class which will be through CMU. I'm happy to be furthering my education, but nervous to see what next year holds in terms of a job. I pray that I will be able to keep my current position.
I have also purchased my wedding dress as of Saturday, December 3, 2011! Another step towards the big day! How stressful, but exciting at the same time.
That is the extent of the excitement in my life. I'll try to post something sooner than later!
