Today I got to spend a couple of hours teaching, and now think that I'll survive the year. These Science, Socials, and Music classes are going to be AWESOME, even if I lose sleep with the prep! Next week is when the Distance Learning part of my job will kick in, and that will be great, too. More Science and Socials!
Now, I just need to find the right books to read to my fifth and sixth grade Science/Socials class. We're learning in Socials about being good Global Citizens, and what it means to be a "Global Citizen", so I'm thinking books about children living in different parts of the world. But, not boring books...excellent books, which I will enjoy, too! For this curriculum the books need to be mostly current, rather than historical. I sense a trip to Chapters in my future! Criteria: suitable for 10-12 year olds, acceptable by conservative Christian standards, not used in the Language Arts program, exciting rather than boring...
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
At a loss...
It's the first day of school!
I don't have a class of students. It feels so strange to be listening to the noise of introductions and learning, and to not be directly involved. It's actually very hard. I knew that this would be a huge challenge, and I know that I will enjoy the teaching that I will be doing, but not having my own class to introduce to routines, procedures, and the classroom just really stinks.
I don't have a class of students. It feels so strange to be listening to the noise of introductions and learning, and to not be directly involved. It's actually very hard. I knew that this would be a huge challenge, and I know that I will enjoy the teaching that I will be doing, but not having my own class to introduce to routines, procedures, and the classroom just really stinks.
Friday, September 2, 2011
That was easy!
Last week I read a post on one of the blogs that I follow (http://missbrave.blogspot.com/2011/08/staples-not-in-fact-all-that-easy.html), and was both amused and saddened by the author's experience at Staples.
I love Staples. It is one of those places that just makes me happy. However, I have also felt the "shame" of not donating to whatever school supply drive is going on. 99% of the time the "shame" comes despite the fact that I KNOW how much of my own money I spend on things for students! Then, yesterday, this happened.
I stopped in at my local store so that I could buy all sorts of things (though without a list as comprehensive as when I taught in a PH and had to take supplies for all of my students with me), and was irritated to hear a long spiel being given to every other customer. NOT that I think that the school supplies drive was a bad thing, or that they SHOULDN'T be asking for donations, but because I was dreading being asked.
I got to the register, emptied my cart, and pulled out my teacher identification so that I could get my 15% teacher appreciation discount (Yay for the last discount day!)...and she didn't even ask. No spiel, no guilt, no assumptions. Whether she refrained because she saw what I was buying, because of the identification, or because she was just sick of asking people, it doesn't matter!
Kudos to the cashier at register 1.
I love Staples. It is one of those places that just makes me happy. However, I have also felt the "shame" of not donating to whatever school supply drive is going on. 99% of the time the "shame" comes despite the fact that I KNOW how much of my own money I spend on things for students! Then, yesterday, this happened.
I stopped in at my local store so that I could buy all sorts of things (though without a list as comprehensive as when I taught in a PH and had to take supplies for all of my students with me), and was irritated to hear a long spiel being given to every other customer. NOT that I think that the school supplies drive was a bad thing, or that they SHOULDN'T be asking for donations, but because I was dreading being asked.
I got to the register, emptied my cart, and pulled out my teacher identification so that I could get my 15% teacher appreciation discount (Yay for the last discount day!)...and she didn't even ask. No spiel, no guilt, no assumptions. Whether she refrained because she saw what I was buying, because of the identification, or because she was just sick of asking people, it doesn't matter!
Kudos to the cashier at register 1.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
If I had a magic wand...
If I had a magic wand, I would...
...clear out all of the junk in my new classroom with a swish-and-flick.
...make people answer phone calls, or, at least, return them!
...finish sorting and unpacking all of the clothes in my apartment.
...make new students appear out of the woodwork.
...create a paperwork system which fills out and files itself.
...add four "sleep hours" to the day. Not work hours, sleep hours.
...have a self-filling and self-warming coffee cup.
What would you do with your magic wand?
...clear out all of the junk in my new classroom with a swish-and-flick.
...make people answer phone calls, or, at least, return them!
...finish sorting and unpacking all of the clothes in my apartment.
...make new students appear out of the woodwork.
...create a paperwork system which fills out and files itself.
...add four "sleep hours" to the day. Not work hours, sleep hours.
...have a self-filling and self-warming coffee cup.
What would you do with your magic wand?
Monday, August 29, 2011
From the Principal's Chair...
Life really does look different from the other side of the "big desk"...the paperwork, the troubleshooting, the being-the-one-who-has-to-be-responsible. I'm really enjoying it...but at the same time I am bemoaning the fact that, while Being Principal is only 1/3 of my job, it is eating up all of my time so far. This is the list of things I'd rather be getting accomplished because they have to be done before school and they are more fun than phone calls:
1. Clearing out my new classroom.
2. Setting up my new classroom.
3. Decorating my new classroom.
4. Creating hallway bulletin boards.
5. Getting my course outlines finished.
6. Contacting the families of my distance education students (Grades 3-5, fun stuff!).
7. Finishing setting up my new apartment.
8. Making the office look less ugly (as I described to my Mom...finding art/decor which works with, yet doesn't clash with, the ugly!).
As you can tell by numbers 1 and 5, the office work is getting really old.
That said, school starts in one week! Bring it on! Just...not yet.
1. Clearing out my new classroom.
2. Setting up my new classroom.
3. Decorating my new classroom.
4. Creating hallway bulletin boards.
5. Getting my course outlines finished.
6. Contacting the families of my distance education students (Grades 3-5, fun stuff!).
7. Finishing setting up my new apartment.
8. Making the office look less ugly (as I described to my Mom...finding art/decor which works with, yet doesn't clash with, the ugly!).
As you can tell by numbers 1 and 5, the office work is getting really old.
That said, school starts in one week! Bring it on! Just...not yet.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Could it be?
Could life really be beginning to settle into some semblance of normality?
Here I go: new community, new jobs, new apartment...according to the Holmes and Rahe stress test, I currently rank a 329...which is high. Very high. Not as high as some, but very high. And yet, it seems like things might be calming down.
Highs:
1. My new administrative job still includes classroom teaching. Bonus!
2. My new community is only an hour away from my family, not 12 hours and a ferry ride.
3. I now live in an area where there is shopping! Hockey! Staples! Starbucks!!! Chapters!!!
4. I will be working with people who I already know that I'll work well with.
5. The cost of a lot of stuff is lower, and I don't have to travel 4.5 hours to buy a pair of shoes.
Lows:
1. My job is all over the place (not physically all over the place, but still). I will be working about 1/3 of the time as a principal, 1/3 as a classroom teacher, and 1/3 as a distance learning instructor. Can anyone say balancing act?
2. Rent is a heck of a lot higher.
3. Because of my job, and the fact that it is a Christian school, I am now part of three major boards/committees...meaning that I have meetings almost every Tuesday night (threeTuesdays each month). I hate meetings.
But here's the good news, blog wise...being that I'll be in the office more, I should have more of a chance to keep this thing updated!
Here I go: new community, new jobs, new apartment...according to the Holmes and Rahe stress test, I currently rank a 329...which is high. Very high. Not as high as some, but very high. And yet, it seems like things might be calming down.
Highs:
1. My new administrative job still includes classroom teaching. Bonus!
2. My new community is only an hour away from my family, not 12 hours and a ferry ride.
3. I now live in an area where there is shopping! Hockey! Staples! Starbucks!!! Chapters!!!
4. I will be working with people who I already know that I'll work well with.
5. The cost of a lot of stuff is lower, and I don't have to travel 4.5 hours to buy a pair of shoes.
Lows:
1. My job is all over the place (not physically all over the place, but still). I will be working about 1/3 of the time as a principal, 1/3 as a classroom teacher, and 1/3 as a distance learning instructor. Can anyone say balancing act?
2. Rent is a heck of a lot higher.
3. Because of my job, and the fact that it is a Christian school, I am now part of three major boards/committees...meaning that I have meetings almost every Tuesday night (threeTuesdays each month). I hate meetings.
But here's the good news, blog wise...being that I'll be in the office more, I should have more of a chance to keep this thing updated!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
"Why I'm Not Going to French Today"
Today's laugh is a long one...brought to you courtesy of a small girl who didn't want to go to French. My response to her insistence on this point was "If you aren't going to French, you have to write a letter to the French teacher explaining your reason. It has to be six pages long, because you are six years old." It sounds harsh, I know, and the other students chose going to French over this "torture"...but this little one took me up on it. She did convince me, however, that six pages was long enough that I needed to write her words down for her. I was practically shaking as I tried to contain my giggles. The letter is, as follows, exactly as it was dictated to me.
"Dear Mrs. Wood,
I've learned enough for awhile and so I am going to skip French, but I'll do it next French day.
And, I will try my ardest and listen as good as I can.
But, some of my work might not be as good as you think, so I will try my hardest.
I will do what you say and I will try my hardest to do that. If you give me a treat if I'm very good I will not take it. I will give it to someone who's very very bad at their work because I'm a nice person.
Because they will be nice to me because I was nice to them, but they might not. If they are not nice to me still I will treat them even better so they might do it.
If they still aren't nice, I will still treat them nicely and maybe one day they will be nice to me. So, that is why I'm not going to French.
O."
I'm sending a copy home with her Mom. This deserves to be saved!
"Dear Mrs. Wood,
I've learned enough for awhile and so I am going to skip French, but I'll do it next French day.
And, I will try my ardest and listen as good as I can.
But, some of my work might not be as good as you think, so I will try my hardest.
I will do what you say and I will try my hardest to do that. If you give me a treat if I'm very good I will not take it. I will give it to someone who's very very bad at their work because I'm a nice person.
Because they will be nice to me because I was nice to them, but they might not. If they are not nice to me still I will treat them even better so they might do it.
If they still aren't nice, I will still treat them nicely and maybe one day they will be nice to me. So, that is why I'm not going to French.
O."
I'm sending a copy home with her Mom. This deserves to be saved!
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