Two Weeks Down...

My 27th year is off to a grand beginning.  Shall I share?

• New Curriculum...in an old sort of way.  For the first time in several years, we have been the liberty to pick and choose and create units and lessons geared towards our students.  I have so enjoyed teaching/leading/discussing Beowulf...gearing up for a discussion about how trends and daily concerns transcend time.  
• Student Intern:  This semester Ms. Jordan will learn, grow, teach...maybe even make a mistake or two...as her decision to teach solidifies within her.  I am a bit mixed, as I always am, about handing over classes to her, for I do enjoy teaching, yet I know someone needs to pay back for those who made these very decisions for me...and, well, having a bit of time to plan and prepare more, that is always fun, as I do so enjoy making and creating lessons!  Welcome, Jordan!
• Methods Class:  Three years have passed since I last taught this class for Lyon College, which means English teacher graduates for our local schools!  A perk of this class is personal, as I am ever encouraged to research and learn and evaluate current literacy trends.  More learning in store for me!
• Awesome Classes:  Again, I am appreciating the dynamics of each of my classes.  This is always interesting to witness each year.  The mix of personalities, backgrounds, interests...all adding up to every class always being unique...while the same, for kids are kids.  Right?
• Clubs:  Student leaders have already been in to question and plan for this upcoming year.  I like that, for, one, this keeps me on my toes!  Two, watching these leaders further grow is just a perk.  They truly are our future;  they make me ever proud.  Also, I am again going to host a student book club and am excited about Scholastic's Teen Book Club options.  Very excited, as I have already begun filling out my own book order!

What are some highlights of your year thus far?  Good luck!

And We Are Off!

Beginning Day 9 this morning of Year 27! Good start already!

Just a couple of quick highlights:

• I am enjoying working with the curriculum our department is choosing for our students.  Eng 12...Beowulf.  Eng 10...Antigone.  Have I said...I love creating lessons?!  I do...in a thematic sort of way.
• Great combinations of students.  This is always interesting to watch as the dynamics of classes begin to distinguish themselves.  Interesting.

More later...really!

Year 27 Intentions: Happy New School Year!

Year 27 begins in less than 48 hours!  Never has a year started that I have not been ready.  Just part of that calling rising up within me, I suppose.

Below...Welcome to Cafe 16!  As I wrote on an earlier blog post, I added a bit more orange/coral to my room, which I really like.

CAFE = Collaborating, Analyzing, Facilitating, Elaborating

I posted these pics on a Facebook secondary English teacher group and was validated for my room design.  Our human natures are just weird, deceptive, and often in need of a pat on the human nature head.  I have received 170+ likes and some complimentary comments...and Open House was fun; loved seeing the newbie faces light up, with one student saying, "And this room will be like this all year?"  Yes.  All year!

Yet.

Those two negative comments.

Then, I read a quote on Facebook (which I cannot find at the moment!) about how many seconds are in a week (604,800),  yet a 30 second negative comment can dominate those other 604,770 seconds.

True.

Which leads me to my Intentions (more attainable than resolutions) for 2017-2018 as I prepare to begin my 27th first day of teaching...

Wait!  Shall we do a bit more math:  13 head start/elementary/high school + 4 college + 27 teacher = 44 first days of school for me!  I like that number!

2017-2018 Intentions:

1. Water off a duck's back.  While I am still learning, I am the veteran.  I have achieved that status.  I know my students.  I know what they appreciate.  I know what they need to know to be "College and Career Ready."  I am the best person in the room to help achieve that this year. Therefore, whatever comes along, whatever is said to me or about me, just let it roll off, for I am the professional in the room.  (That must be a bit what a recovering alcoholic must feel when she repeats the AAA motto:  I am a teacher.  I will always be a teacher.)  Yes!  (First step:  buy a ream of paper to print Day 1 handout for seniors...as we are out...already.  Reminder to self:  water off a duck's back!) NOTE:  A district goal is to go paperless.  Therefore, the "snow syndrome" kicked in...as in at the first hint of snow, the egg, bread, and milk shelves empty in the grocery store.  Goodness!  Water off a duck's back!  (Another side note:  One year, I gave every student a yellow duck, which they named and used as a character in various assignments that year.  Still have mine...except she is teal blue.  Just had a thought:  She shall be my mascot this year!)  
2. Laugh.  Can't life in a school building be stressful!?  Our new superintendent's motto is "Kids First."  Love it.  (Some job descriptions may need to be rewritten.  There.  Did I just say that?)  Seriously, though, as I told The Husband just this week, most of the people in my building are there because they truly want to work with kids.  Blessed, I am.  Therefore, the joy of the job needs to exude from me!  
3. Be crafty...as in make more cute bulletin boards and continue Room Design 101.  Seriously (again), I do enjoy making and creating...those bulletin boats are the only elementary characteristic I embody, so I should have fun with it!  (For those who thought crafty might mean sneaky...well...shhhh...:)
4. Read.  We have new curriculum (again...not sure what number this makes in my 13 years there)...well, not quite new as this is some of the curriculum I used to teach; therefore, I am very...yes, very!...excited to teach some of the texts which I truly think students need exposure.  Beowulf...King Arthur...Canterbury Tales..I know...fun!  These kids of mine are going to read more...just more!  AND they need to read for fun; therefore, I, again, will be buying books they want to read and committing to read books with them.  (Sleep...do I really need sleep?!)
5. Read.  This year, I want to activate...and keep activated...our BHS Reads...the faculty AND the student book club.  I love books clubs, so much so that I hardly have time to read because I have so many books to read!  Where to begin!  Therefore, I am nearly always reading multiple books, a skill I once said I could not do.  Yes, I can.  Just like multi-tasking.  
6. Teach.  When my students leave me in May, they will be better writers, readers, and thinkers.  No explanation needed for this one.

What are your intentions for 2017-2018?  Whether it is just to simply survive day to day (you will) or to accomplish the unaccomplishable (no, that is not officially a Webster word...but it should be)...you will!  

Good luck...and Happy New School Year!

Orange You Glad...?

This has been a busy week of readying my room for Open House, which is scheduled for next Tuesday.  Already! Wow.

I spent much of July traveling and attending meetings and returned from this journey rejuvenated and validated.  Then.  The reality of how far behind I was/am sank in, resulting in my beginning to plot and plan, deciding that orange/coral needed to be a part of my life this year.

Since a significant number of hours are spent in my classroom, I have always enjoyed making this space a place I can enjoy.  During my first years of teaching, I spent hours making bulletin boards, choosing a theme and transforming my room.  Then, several years ago, I was afforded a room makeover, choosing this time a cafe theme, one I have maintained until last year when I began adding some beachy items.  This year's additions are the colors of orange and coral.

To the right is my third set of these letters.  These were an easy switch and an easy place to add to my changing color scheme.  I purchased four 11 x 14 canvases and  painted them...then, dry-brushed some additional colors onto them.  The letters are some of my favorite scrapbooking papers, all of which are decoupaged onto the canvas.  My original layout was for the E and A to be switched...which, of course, resulted in READ being misspelled!   Actually had it placed on the table as RAED...also, had a horrible headache last evening; thus, the lesson is...proofread before decoupaging!  I am fairly certain that everyone will just think I meant for the layout be as is in the pic!  Only you now know the truth!

To give the pillows to the right a face-lift, I purchased a throw and sewed new pillow covers.  I saved some money...but...this material made quite the mess as it shed everywhere as I cut and sewed the sides together.  But...well worth the trouble, as you will see in a picture below.

I have several "comfy" chairs and benches on which I keep pillows, mainly, for the purpose of giving the students a surface for a makeshift desktop.  They seem to enjoy them very much!  I really like how these turned out!

I painted this "Everyone Has a Story" to go with an ongoing project that I want to begin with my students on the first day of school.  I used this theme/idea several years ago (still have that painting...but it is too large for the area I now wanted the canvas, so just had to paint another one!).  This idea came back this summer after I attended a session at the ILA conference on infographics.  On the first day, my students will receive two pieces of paper folded in book format and will be asked to create a table of contents for their lives and to write the dedication page.  Throughout the year, in their writers' notebooks, they will draft the chapters of their lives, as I will also, as I write/create the assignments along with my students.  We will then publish the "books"...that I will need to think through a bit more!

I look forward to their stories, to learning about them and their families, to teaching them the features of a narrative.  I have a book or two I might begin, one with English 10 and another with English 12.  Hummmm...more about that as this project continues to develop.  Sounds fun, doesn't it?

See the pillows again?  Love them!

I added these two lamps to my collection  (have I mentioned that in the entire time I have decorated my room this way, I have only received two negative comments, both people mentioned lighting.  During the day, we only use the lamps...kids love it!  So do parents, other teachers, visitors.  I will leave it to you to deduce who does not appreciate them as much as everyone else does!)  Because these lamps were short (which means they were in my budget!), I asked The Man to build these pedestals for them. Then, yes, I decided to add some of the orange to them!  I am very much in like with them!  (Need to purchase another power strip as the cords will not reach the outlet.)

See those yellow candles on the wall in the photo...yes, I am purchasing new ones to add just two more drops of color!

I am feeling much better about my room being ready for Open House...and when all is finished, I will post a "final product" photo!

"Orange" you glad you stopped by and glanced into my classroom?  I am glad you did, also!  Stop back anytime!