A "New" Teacher Again?

Three days of ELA professional development completed.  Questions, decisions, discussions, dissenting voice, all a part of this year's implementation of a new curriculum within our district, who has chosen to utilize EngageNY, a curriculum aligned to Common Core, consisting of four modules with 1-3 units in each.

Some Positives:

• Every teacher will know what the other teachers within each grade level are teaching; accountability is arriving.
• A completed curriculum, with rubrics and other handouts ready.  A huge three-ring binder...healthy, thriving with resources at our disposal.
• Common assessments ready to administer, saving hours of discussion and decisions.
• PLC time should be much more productive with students truly benefiting from these readied assessments, with the results becoming the focus of RTI.

Concern:

• Only one...lack of teacher ownership.  That, though, will be remedied at the year progresses, as these units, too, become ours, as choices not ours become just that.

Yes, a daunting task lies before us.  No, we do not appreciate change (who does?), for units we worked diligently to create have now been placed on the growing stack of retired units; this curriculum is our fourth in what will be my eleventh year with this district.  Thus, once again, I feel like a new teacher, facing the unknown, preparing for the hours of reading and learning (lacking much background knowledge for some of these focuses) that will have to occur this year to be adequately prepared for each class as I will now be teaching two grade levels, instead of just one. Yes, definitely experiencing that new teacher feel.  In some ways that should be a compliment as this will begin my 25th year in education.  Right?

Additionally, our state has withdrawn from Common Core/PARCC, going with ACT Inspire instead; therefore, we have that learning curve ahead also.  More about as the year progresses...

Ever learning, though...that is a compliment my principal recently paid me when introducing me as a grant recipient for one of our local bank's education initiatives.   Ever learning.  Yes.  I would hope that for everyone.

Despite these factors, I am determined to have more fun this year.  At a minimum, I have four years to retirement, and I am very much looking forward to returning to that love, that excitement, that enjoyment.  Because of that, I have a returned focus, I just have to have a good time this year, maybe be less "hard?" Yes, I have that reputation.  In all fairness to my kids, no matter how ready they are for college, no matter how many of them return and thank me, this is just not fair to them...or me...to be the hardest teacher.  More about this as the year progresses...  

What challenges are you facing as the days quickly pass as the 2015-16 academic year races toward us?