The Way I See It

I've completely restructured how my classes will operate, and it's terrifying. Rather than having the flow of classwork all determined by me, I'm taking a much more student-centered approach. Of course, a month ago I would have said the same about my old plan... but now that I've remodeled, I can see just how wrong I was. Two days of writing workshops where at any given moment, every student will be working on something different in genre, focus, everything. One day of reading workshop where every student is reading independently. And two days of class reading where we all read the same piece together. Granted, I provide structure - or else we would have mass chaos, now wouldn't we. But, it seems that the more control and responsibility I give to the students, the more I have to plan and organize for every single possibility.

My biggest concern - how do I provide grades - give numerical significance - to a type of teaching - the way my workshops are set up - that goes against the whole concept of grades? When it comes to the writing workshops, this is my Waterloo. How can you create a uniform structure to numerically assess students who are all doing their own things, have their own goals, etc? Thank God for Nancy Atwell. Can you believe that up until a few weeks ago, I'd left that gem in the original plasticwrap for like 3 years?

But... it's all slowly working out.

Hey, how do you like my classroom? Doesn't it kick a little tushie?! :) I love how the desks are arranged - really works well for me. I can walk among the students while I'm doing a mini lesson or conferencing. I'm such a dork - I even did the whole thing to scale! lol How pathetic am I?! In case you're curious, the bars with diamond studs are chalkboards or message boards, and the bars with ball studs are windows. I don't actually have any bookshelves though... or all of my desks. I do however have two monstrous contraptions, one of which needs to be burned immediately as it is unusable. I need to hunt me down a custodian and get this stuff all worked out.

Oh, btw - I finally got my Praxis results back (for teaching Middle School English) 195/200 - same as my Secondary English results - woo hoo! I hope BHS reemburses me for that thing, since they required me to take it in the first place.

On to Aaron. We're getting ready to drive to Oklahoma City for the 28-29th of this month... and I've bought the Amtrak tickets for us to head to Chicago for Aug. 3-4. The Chicago trip will be interesting... From Jeff to La Plata to Chicago to La Plata to Kirksville to GRADUATION! to Jeff to GRADUATION PARTY! All in a 4 day span! More interestingly... After I get settled from graduation, I have 3 days before my new teacher orientation for school - and then only 6 days until students arrive!!! :S I really REALLY hope that one of these jobs works out for Aaron, particularly the Chicago job, for Aaron. I want him to have a job that he enjoys. He deserves that. From what we can tell now, this one would be a good move for him.