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Day 1 - Lets Get to Know you

  Day 1 is in the books. I am not as tired as I anticipated. My classes went well which is always nice. My 1st Block class started slowly as students trickled in due to traffic and/or busses running late. There are not enough busses for my school, so some busses are running multiple routes meaning students who rely on them to get to school were late. How late? Many missed a 1/3 to 1/2 of the class today. I started class by covering the required material s l o o o o w l y.  My psychology classes were asked to answer some questions about themselves and then, pair with a student they had never met to guess the answers to the same questions.  Have you ever tried to guess a stranger's favorite song? Their hidden talent? What would this person you've never met do if they won the lottery? It was a change of pace from a simple student survey. It got students talking. Step one to building a positive classroom culture is getting to know the people in the class.  Each class l...

This is Teaching

Students to school return tomorrow. Everyone seems to have an opinion about education these days. Teachers are either heroes ("I don't know how you do it") or we are lazy ("I wish I got the summer off"). Everyone has taken classes so they feel like they know what it is like to be a teacher. I have decided to bring you along for the ride this year. My plan is to write a blog every day until the final school bell rings on Year 19. I cannot include names or details because there are federal laws against that, but I will be honest. Join me. My room is ready. My first week of lesson plans are completed. I added everything to my learning platform last week and then, on Friday, realized that students would not have their devices until the first Friday of school. I made 60 copies of all those digital assignments to make it through the first week. Doesn't that sound simple? I made some copies. If you are a teacher, you know... I had to find a time that a copier wasn...