Adventures of a first year Earth Science teacher. BA in Geosciences. Working on my MS Secondary Education. Changing careers from government environmental agencies to teaching. Four semesters of Earth Science experience, plus daily substituting.
The views and opinions are my own. I am not a representative of anyone else.
It’s been non-stop busy since back-to-school inservice started this past Tuesday. Lists help clear my mind, so here goes:
The Good:
- Our Earth Science team works together like a dream.
- Principal gave everyone new t-shirts with the new school slogan: “Show your pride! Be Responsible, Be Respectful, Be Productive!” This is very similar to my standard classroom expectations, so I’m all for it.
- Push for a “cultural shift” to focus more on the teachers/students who are doing things well. In other words, focus on rewards rather than punishment.
- Kobe Steakhouse donated lunch one day. Brewster’s donated ice cream on another.
- New discipline plan WITH form to reduce paperwork.
- Competitive team building focused on problem solving games.
The Annoying:
- Lots of changes. New bell schedule, new lesson plan requirements, new literacy requirements. Nothing is really terrible, but a lot of it requires extra paperwork. The literacy initiatives in particular require me to take out everything I had planned on my own to follow their prescribed methods. Dislike.
- Coworkers that don’t want to get on board with the cultural shift we are trying to accomplish.
The Bad:
- One functional copy machine. 150 teachers trying to get first day copies made.
- Many revisions as we are trying to get paperwork done. For example, we got 5 revised first week schedules. One revised bell schedule (student agendas are now wrong). 3 changes to discipline rules. 4 changes to attendance policies and procedures.
The reminder to stay positive.
