...to move into my new classroom
...for my official first day back
...for students to arrive
...for so much to begin!
I can hardly believe the 09-10 school year is almost here. I have spent quite a bit of time this summer preparing, yet it never seems quite enough. There is always so much more that I want to do. Yesterday when I was looking at my to-do list and thinking about how there was only a little bit of time left before the official start date, I prioritized my to-do list. I also reminded myself that everything does not happen at once. I thought about all my vision of what I want my classroom to look and feel like next year and what is realistic to implement right now versus what I would love to do now but can wait until a little bit into the school year. I would not have to wait until a whole new year, but I can put it on my to-do list with a goal to start at different points of the year to layer in different pieces.
I front-loaded my planning with curriculum - mapping out my yearly plan and getting all the details ready for the first weeks. Soon my focus will turn to moving in to my beautiful new classroom. I love everything about it. I can hardly go to the school without at least peeking in the windows or walking in to see the latest progress in my room. Last night I was locking the building up and it looks like it is almost to a point where I will be able to move in. It seems like everything is ready (they just finished up the carpets), except they still need to put in more ceiling tiles and finish up the electricity access from the ceiling that students will use for their laptop computers. Then of course my actual classroom furniture needs to arrive. Regardless, it is getting super close and I am so excited for the students to see the new room.
It never feels as if there's enough time to do everything the way we want it, does it? (Reminds me of a post I wrote in the Spring of 2008 called "There Isn't Time.")
ReplyDeleteI just read back through my Nov-Current Writer's Notebook (I need a better name...it's really my Collection of To-Do Lists Plus Conference and Meeting Notes and Random Observations Notebook) and started trying to get my head together for the new year (including mentoring a new teacher).
ReplyDeleteHere's a question that's not related to your post or this comment -- how on earth do you keep three blogs going? (just added you to our blog roll and had to figure out which one fit best...)
Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI went over to your blog and read the post you mentioned. I liked how you discussed what you could do during the time vs. really thinking about what would be most beneficial, which sometimes means cutting out something previously planned.
Mary Lee,
I started out with one blog but then realized that my reviews could be a blog of their own, and later on had a similar process with my education related posts. Often times there is still some cross-over. Even though three blogs is a lot to keep up on at times, sometimes it just means that my individual blogs aren't updated as often as if I would have left them as one blog. The time I spend on blogging is one of the reasons I haven't started on Twitter yet though. It seems like so many people love it but have also mentioned how time consuming it can get. I figured for now I better stick with blogging. Thanks for adding my site to your blog roll.