It's nearly 2am. I'm wide awake. I was in bed about an hour and a half ago, but I was just staring at the dark moonlight on the ceiling. What popped into my head? My curriculum, of course! This year I'm going to be teaching a course (2 sections, actually) that I haven't taught for 3 years! While it's really no big deal, I just suddenly started worrying about things like, Where do I start? Where do I end? What should I already expect them to know. Then I realized that I helped re-write the curriculum last year, so I got up out of bed to check my curriculum documents on my computer. I really don't need to be worried. However, knowing that I'll have a student teacher in my classroom all year makes me worry that I won't be a good enough example! I know my boss wouldn't have picked me if she didn't believe in my ability to teach and to be a good example, but just the thought of it makes me muy nerviosa!
I guess this is just a sign that I need to finally get on the ball with planning and whatnot. I can no longer put off work with frivolous reading, I guess. But reading for the sake of reading is so relaxing! Well, I suppose I'll just return the book I finished tonight to the library tomorrow and not borrow another. :-/
Another thing I'm worried about this coming year is setting classroom procedures/policies. I need to be better with classroom management, but I'm not sure how. Setting the policies is pretty easy, it's the follow through that's the hard part. For example, how many missed homeworks warrant a phone call to parents and/or a detention? How do I reward (without candy/toys/extra points) students who are following policies and procedures properly? How do I promote group work ("Student-centered! Student-centered!") but at the same time discourage useless chatter? I feel like I should know the answers to these things after 5 years on the job, but I don't. I'm usually just focused on what I'm teaching and what my students are (hopefully) learning.
School starts in just over a week. Stressed.
1 comment:
I'm there with you too--time is running out and I'll be in NYC all next week. Then we have school days the following week(meetings/conferences) before the students come. I'm not READY!! I'm not sleeping well at all.
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