Whew! Made it through the second week of school! There is a bit of a learning curve. In a new building you aren't certain of the routines, procedures, what's going to pop up that needs to be done. It seems like there is something daily. My team is really trying to make sure all of us newbies are well informed. They are probably overwhelmed having such a new team.
Last night I was tuckered out, but felt wired. So I started doing laundry until I could get my mind to rest. I was able to get quite a bit of laundry done. I have an extensive "To-Do" list for school next week. However, my first goal is getting my house clean. I didn't accomplish a lot during the week other than a couple loads of dishes. So I have some picking up, vacuuming, and general cleaning to do. If I don't get distracted that shouldn't take too long.
My landlord hired a company from the big city to come and look at the ant situation. I haven't seen any since the beginning of the week. However, as I was doing laundry last night I noticed that I had ant carcasses all over the floor next to the dryer. I never noticed they were in there. I missed that lovely entrance. I don't know if the dryer heat killed them or what? I don't even know how they got in there...! I am glad I haven't seen any live bodies! A couple of times I last weekend I did see ants carrying the carcasses of their pals across the floor. That was creepy.
I had a "Growth Mindset" class on Tuesday night after work. It was an enjoyable class. Then the next day after school was our planning day. Only we were missing three of our colleagues. We had agreed we would stay on Wednesday until we got it done! That did NOT happen. So I made sure I stayed and helped however I could. I was VERY tired when I got home that night. So the last couple days of school this week I know I wasn't well rested. I will just have to make sure I have a good plan for the end of the week.
I am attempting a new Math Curriculum. The only reason I am attempting it, is because the District is most likely going to adopt it next year. I hate it. It is wrong for all kinds of reasons. One I believe students need a lot of concrete practice. This means they do math hands on with manipulatives before attempting equations. Some kids will get it without the hands on, but in my school experience the more they can see it, and touch it, the better their understanding is. There is VERY LITTLE hands on with this program. The second thing WRONG with it is the pictorial aspect. If kids can see it in a picture in a real world way it makes more sense. There is NONE of that with this program. It is mostly abstract. Which means it is just the numbers and symbols. This program expects students to understand at a very deep level mental math strategies but gives them very little visual or hands on activities to help them build that skill. Third it spirals in a very strange way. The curriculum is based on an researched high quality curriculum but they warped it. In really ugly ways they warped it and turned it into something it should not be. So WHAT am I going to do? I know the philosophy of the curriculum on which it was based. I was advised to teach it with that philosophy. Unfortunately for me that is going to take some time for me to read each lesson, figure out the "meat" of that lesson, and then adapt it to what I know is right. Why our district is choosing this. Well it's "free". Free is better than spending money. So "free" it is. Sigh. I have some work to do. I know it's the right thing to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment