Right Where I’m Supposed to Be!

Dear Readers,

I am extremely tired and I’m happy about it. Like to hear it, here it goes. For my first teaching job I was thrown in the classroom. I did not have one single day of training.

It was like, “Hey, here’s your keys. Go to Class #5. We’ll see you at the end of the year or when we need to yell at you for something that may or may not be your fault. Have a nice day!”

That was basically how my first 2 years of teaching went. The good thing about it was that I learned to be self-reliant and have my own back. The bad part was that I didn’t get much needed training and help with little things that I really needed help.

Well, fast forward to my current job where I am working so hard. I come home tired every night, but it’s a good tired. It’s that tired from a job well done. I was just talking to my daughter in the car on the way home and I told her that I’m happy where I am right now because I’ve conquered one of my biggest problems- timely input of grades. I’ve had that problem since my first year of teaching. Well, not anymore.

I feel like such a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Although I have to say that report card time has always been a sore spot for me, it still wasn’t that bad because I’m used to having a small group of students. So, even though it was bad, I know that it’s nowhere near as bad as it is for some.

I have to say that I feel very blessed. I had six job offers to entertain and just could not choose for fear of choosing the wrong one. Now, that I’m making more progress than I ever have, I have to say that I made the right choice. I’m right where I’m supposed to be!

Proud Me! Part (I Don’t Even Know!)

Dear Readers,

I am so proud of myself; I’ll tell you why. My school uses a Blended Learning type of learning. When I first started there I was very nervous. I knew I was in bad shape because I’m not as technologically savvy as I’d like to be. Well, all of that changed. As a 9th & 10th grade teacher, I have to use the Blended Learning model. That’s when I know, though it would be a steep learning curve, that I’d have to step up to the plate and do it. So I did!

          

Boy, did I! I had to write down the passwords to all of the accounts I’ve created since August. It amounted to 15. Count to them, 15. I was wondering why I couldn’t remember them. Once I sat down to write them all down, then I knew why I couldn’t remember them. Once I wrote them down, I taped them inside my locked file cabinet.

Now, back to the lecture at hand. I’m so proud of my self because I am very nearly paperless. These are the programs I use:

• Kahoot! quiz to give quizzes that automatically compiles the right and wrong answers for me,
• Edmodo to post my power points, make quizzes, and display instructions,
• Haiku,
• Pinnacle to take roll & track grades,
• Class Dojo for behavior management,
• our school website to upload digital agendas,
• our school website to download important documents & answer PD surveys,
• Google docs & Google drive (not sure if that’s the same thing),
• Online stopwatch for tracking time & a bunch of others I can’t remember right now.

It’s working out. I am happy with my progress and plan on doing even more. I’ll keep you updated. Bye for now!

What I’ve Been Doing!

Dear Readers,

I’ve been extremely overly busy. It’s not something I like, but it’s necessary since I am in a building phase. I chose my current job so I can grow and that is exactly what I’m doing. I’ve grown so much since August. I now know how to open & close an IEP, since I am the IEP Case Manager. It’s funny (not ha!ha! funny) that I did not have to do many things in the IEP since I was only a participant, not a case manager. Now that I’m an IEP Case Manager, I have to open & close the IEP and do everything in between. I also have to teach my students and push-in to their other classes to help them, meet with the other campus next door, and get evaluated every couple of weeks. Did I mention that my site is going through District Validation (DVR) this year? I’m not sure if this sounds like a lot to you, but it is. Don’t get me wrong. I am definitely not complaining. I’m actually happy to have the job and to do all that the job entails. I just need to get used to it. Once that happens, I’ll be one happy camper. Right now, I’m just a little overwhelmed, which is the reason I have not been writing. This week, however, I’ve had some down time & have been able to catch up and relax a little. Hopefully I’ll have a little more time to myself and have some time to write. I’ll keep you updated. Bye for now!

Pleasantly Surprised Me!

One of my students pleasantly surprised me. He had been playing around and not really taking his classwork and homework seriously. Well, color me surprised when I discovered that he was actually working when he said he was. He has been working on a program, Achieve 3000, that helps increase lexile levels. I found out when he was recognized at one of our monthly assemblies for having one of the highest growth in his lexile level to the tune of 95 points. Not only that. In my class, I let my students play Kahoot! At first he was at the bottom, now he’s one of the top scorers. I am very pleasantly surprised.