We go back tomorrow...

This is the song stuck in my head!

I might have a few sweet dance moves that go along with it. 

I feel bittersweet about this.  I am looking forward to a new school year! I am however, entirely sad that my summer is drawing to a close. Being the first summer I've had off in years, well, I never quite realized the glory of rest and relaxation. I will miss it!!!

We start the week with a welcome breakfast - the best thing about working with the staff at this school... is our communal meals. We tend to do them fairly frequently, they tend to always be awesome. Often we have a potluck breakfast, sometimes a potluck lunch (on half days). We often do lunches out on PD days (of which we have a plethora), and we probably have a get together at very minimum once monthly. I like it, community is good, and we have fun.

So tomorrow we are to receive our class list and teaching schedule, both of which I am sure will change multiple times before the end of September actually arrives. After a get to know you, I am promised that we will get the rest of the day as 'classroom organization'. I have actually packed a lunch and have full intentions of being super productive. We shall see.

We then have two school based professional development days, which hopefully go smoothly and are semi productive. Followed by two district based professional development, and I can truthfully admit that I am registered for two sessions I am actually excited about.

As a district we are beginning to encompass the strategies and methodologies that are given in the book "Lost at School" by Ross Green. What is called collaborative problem solving "Plan B", is really about working with the kid to help them learn skills that they are missing. I love that I am lucky enough to find employment with a district that is rolling this out wide - I did an entire course based of this strategy and book in University, and it is really the productive and helpful way of strategizing and assisting children who display lagging skill sets.

Then I have part one of a three part workshop on anxiety in the classroom. I had some incredibly anxious children in my room last year, and felt incredibly unprepared to support them as they required. I am hopefully that this PD will at least build my confidence in my abilities to support them.

I am also hopeful that I am set up and prepared for when next Tuesday rolls around! Wish me luck!

Made - it on Monday

I had these terrible 'used to be lime green' but had since faded to a 'puke type' color- pillows from IKEA which were years old. I was about to toss them this weekend, when I decided I could repurpose them into something much better. 

So alas, I took some fabric and stitched a bit to create two new pillows for my reading nook in the classroom. My classroom is tight on space, and last year I did not have any area to read (or even a bookshelf) - it is my hope that these will get used this year!

I love the apples on the green fabric, the teacher in me bought the fabric just for the apple pattern. I won't lie. I paired the green apple fabric with a contrasting red and yellow chickadee pattern, I love how they both turned out! 

I will post pictures of their home in the classroom when I get in there again. 

Not as quick as a solid pillowcase, but I was using leftovers from quilting fabrics which meant thinking about how I was going to piece them together. 

Goals for the year

I have goals for the new year, they aren't so much reflective of things I want to do within the classroom, as they are more the way's for me to be within the classroom. These are area's I want to improve on, and know I can improve on.

• Reflect daily, you bought yourself the Day One app to make reflection quick and easy, use it!
• Treat my students with grace and kindness. 
• Remember to use positive reinforcement. 
• Praise, praise, and praise.
• As much as these guys start to love sarcasm and joking, resist joining them in that temptation.
• Stand at my door daily to greet them, even when the morning can take 20 minutes to settle in (from the warning bell to the start of day is about 15 minutes) - A lot of my kids make it in before that warning bell (this means I can spend 20 minutes greeting kids)... Sometimes I get distracted and leave my post. I'm going to put a stool there and enjoy my coffee as they enter. Time for chat and relationship building. 

New Beginnings

      We start back to school in a weeks time, and after one year in the classroom - time which flew by in the blink of an eye. I am relieved to not be AS new, and AS entirely clueless about what being a teacher actually means, and requires of you. My university courses and practicum experiences never mentioned the insanity actually required to do this job! :)

      I am looking forward to going back to my classroom, meeting new students, and facing the new challenges that the year will bring. I love the idea of getting a fresh start, and the benefit of teaching is that a fresh start exists with every new class you receive. We have built in opportunity to change, and grow, and experiment, with the methodologies and practices that we utilize within the classroom, & the opportunities for growth excite me.

      In my reflections back on the year prior, I am dissatisfied with the amount of professional reflecting I did on the classroom, my experiences, and general pedagogy contemplation. I spent the summer entirely redoing my Language Arts year plan as I finished the year feeling so inadequate about myself in regards to writing instruction and small group management. As well as modifying and adjusting all of my plans for the other subjects I teach as well, and changing the functional layout of my classroom.

      I've maintained a personal blog before, as well as a classroom blog for my students and parents. However a blog focused entirely on the profession of teaching, mainly for my own reflective practices seems like a wise idea. I especially like the idea due to the seemingly sparse amount of middle school blogs I've been able to find on the internet.

     With the idea of reflective practices in mind, I am setting some goals for myself on here.

• Post at the very minimum - once weekly. I'd ideally like to post more frequently, but I am also aware of just how busy life gets when you are occupied with school & maintaining a life outside the classroom.

• Positivity, my posts should be realistic and reflective changes and areas of growth in a positive manner.

• Assessment, I need to reflect on my assessment practices more frequently as well.