Tuesday, April 1, 2014

April Currently

I'm linking up with Farley for this month's Currently.  I cannot believe it's April 1st and third quarter ends this Friday.  The school year is flying by so fast.


Listening:  I wake up most days at 5 AM.  I usually have a good hour of peace and quiet to myself (which is very hard to come by in my life).  This is when I read blogs, check twitter, respond to any emails from the night before, look over the lessons I'm teaching that day.  I love having that quiet time every morning to start my day.

Loving:  That Winter seems to have left the building finally.  The last two days it has smelled like Spring, fresh and new.  I think it was a big mistake that we did not go somewhere warm for Spring Break this year.  Lesson learned.

Thinking:  In WI we have something called Educator Effectiveness that involves hours upon hours of time writing goals, and uploading artifacts to proved you are an effective educator.  It came to be because WI got a waiver for NCLB and had to come up with a system of teacher evaluation.  We had to upload 12 different artifacts for Danielson Domains 1 and 4.  I also have been waiting for my informal observation to happen and it FINALLY did yesterday morning. I feel the biggest wait has been lifted off my shoulders and now I can just enjoy working with my students!

Wanting:  To have a strong finish to the school year for both me and my students.  I have seen tremendous growth from so many students and I want them to all continue to learn and finish strong.  They still have so much to learn and I want to continue to help each student achieve his/her potential. In my regular classes we are doing Geometry and Probability & Statistics.  In my Accel class we will be starting the 8th grade curriculum next week, mainly Expressions & Equations and more Geometry. We are teaching three more 8th grade chapters than we did last year!

Needing:  To get active again.  My husband and I started out strong working out over my long Winter break and kind of fell off the workout wagon the last two months.  I love working out before school, but now that my son who is a freshman starts school 10 min earlier everyday (to make up time for our four cold days  in Jan) there is not enough time.  I can however bring my workout gear and go right after school and need to get a routine down for that.

Hours and last day:  My official teacher day is 7:30-3:30, but I am usually at school between 7:00-7:15 and I rarely leave school before 5 PM.  My goal for the rest of the year is to leave school earlier more often.  We'll see how that goes!  Students come into out rooms starting at 7:40 and the end of the day bell rings at 3:15.  Our middle school has the longest student day in the district.  It's annoying having so little prep time before and after school, but I'm used to it.  The students' last day of school is June 11th and they have a half day. The afternoon is for teachers to finish grades and start packing up.  The last teacher day is June 12th for close out procedures.  We always have a cookout for lunch that day as one last hurrah.

5 comments:

  1. Fingers crossed that you're right about winter leaving the building! We got 7 inches of snow on Saturday here in Ohio, but I'm hoping that's OVER with!! :) Good luck with the end of your school year!

    Ashley
    Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd

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  2. I need to find some motivation too to start working out! But I really don't blame you with that crazy weather in the U.S. at the moment!

    Alex

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  3. As I was reading your post, I could tell you were from Wisconsin even before you said it. I am from the Kenosha area. :) Our mornings sound exactly the same. I love getting up early for "me" time. It is really throwing me off this week because I am on spring break, but my two kids aren't which means they are scurrying around the kitchen, arguing with each other. Maybe some day they will understand... :)

    Jennifer
    Mrs. Laffin's Laughings

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  4. I love the idea of a cookout for the teachers on your work day. That sounds like fun :)
    I need to get back into working out too... I did well up until 2 weeks ago when my began to hurt and now I'm just waiting for it to stop hurting! I've found that the best way to get back in is just to plan it and then do it. Good luck! You can do it! :)

    Happy Teaching,
    Cassie
    Adventures in Teaching (A First Grade Blog)
    My TpT Store
    Follow Me on Facebook!

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  5. Hi! I just stumbled across your blog and am VERY interested in learning more about your classroom. We started using Carnegie this year, and desperately need some guidance. Your classroom model seems to be exactly what we need. Is there any way I could contact you via email? Thank you!!

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