Fall Break....Failing or Falling?!

And here we are...
All good intentions were made, plans were set, THIS was going to be THE year...
But then life happened.

It always does, doesn't it?

So, here it is - fall break, almost over, and I am blogging for the first time this year.  This school year.

The original plan was simple. I would only take on roles and committees that were important, I'd drop the extras that weren't really necessary for better teaching or future opportunities. I'd focus on what mattered.  I had my new grading procedures to focus on, knowing that conferring with 100+ students and giving solid feedback that was clear and visible, would take time. Lots of time. I'd reflect and plan. I'd spent a lot of time this summer planning and setting things up, and our ELA team was prepared to spend our planning day finalizing and focusing on making last year's teaching better.

Plan made.  Plan set.  Plan ready.

But then the year began.  Our pacing plan changed, and instead of starting with a unit we were comfortable with, we began with one we had planned to focus on during our first collaborative planning day...except we aren't having them this year. 

Back up - before I sound like I'm being exceedingly negative, we are getting the gift of time with Robin, our ELA county leader, who will help us to deconstruct our standards, making sure that we are taking out students in the right direction.  We've already had our first and it was awesome. So valuable.  The only problem is, we have no time to be together to implement the learning!  I am planning to see if we can change that..but that's all depending on my pleading meeting next week. I'm fully aware of how lucky I am to have a principal who will always listen to our needs.

So, it was back to weekend planning for the week ahead. Each and every weekend.  My husband said, "Wasn't it going to be better this year?" 🤷

Then I was given the gift of a student-teacher to mentor.  And gift it was.  With a strong work ethic and the ability to take the classroom on immediately, the support has been great. I"ve been able to do some conferencing and catch up work while he has taught, and he's made copies and supported all ventures in Room 1113.  The negative though?  I no longer have time for myself.  My normal ability to close the door, focus, and get everything done has been taken away.  The result has been long weekend days of work and less riding time on Sunny to clear my brain.  No regrets, I always want to support future teachers, but it is the reality. It is something else that has impacted the year. There are planning periods when I literally waste 10-15 minutes just visiting the office (and hitting the candy bowl) simply because I need some space.

And of course, I'm mentoring our new ELA teacher.  She's fantastic.  She's already an outstanding teacher, with only greater things ahead, but I need to be available and supportive for her - because it's time that I paid back Jordann for all she did for me in my first year.

Finally, my focus is on better feedback for my kids.  It's taking time.  Time because I haven't quite figured out the best ways or found the easiest strategy for successful commentary that they pay attention to. I'm very conscious that I need the feedback to be visible.  It's ironic that parents are happy with numbers that mean nothing, but I need to spend multiple hours providing them with verbal commentary to show that I am doing my job!  That's OK though because as I strive to get it right, I am also learning and being the best teacher I can be for these kids.  I'm going to get it right and by next year I will be rocking it.

This first quarter was about survival. The next quarter will be about thriving.  You just watch this space!