Updates on Teaching Next Year

 I have officially 13 days left of teaching before I go on my break! I am staying at Durant for at least one more year and am staying in 7th grade. I'm feeling very excited for this year to be over! There are some changes happening next year that I'm excited about.

Subject Change

There is a lot of movement in teachers this year and my principal asked me if I'd be willing to switch to teaching Social Studies instead of ELA. At first I was shocked and didn't feel like I could just switch. I have been working so much with the ELA curriculum and my materials so that next year would be a breeze, but switching would mean that I would start over with completely brand new curriculum. I told him I was willing but I honestly just needed time to think about it. After talking with the other teachers, they really got me excited for what this change could look like. I would no longer be teaching a tested subject, which means I can adjust the curriculum and lessons more than I could with ELA. I will be able to incorporate more of my creative ideas that I had for ELA but because the curriculum is so demanding, I had to forget about them. This change could also be fun because there are no required tests to give the students, meaning I could have their major grades be projects, presentations, and things I find more interesting. Also at the school I'm at, there are a lot of students who struggle with English, and English might not be there first language. Social studies can help me connect with these students who I had a really hard time connecting with in ELA. I chose ELA because I loved the idea of story telling and connecting it to their personal life and their personal development, which I now see might be a whole lot easier to achieve in Social studies. I told my principal I would teach Social Studies, and I am really excited about it, but I definitely do feel like I'm starting from square one a little bit. 

Room Change

This is a big one for me that I'm super excited for. My room right now is a science room with sinks and no wall space. I am moving to the room next door which is so much better and actually fits with my subject. I think this change will allow me to be able to create the vibe I want for my classroom. 

Schedule Change

This one is also a huge change that I was pushing for this year. This is the exact schedule I had last year in 8th grade and it was so nice. The schedule I have right now is that I have my prep in the morning, then I teach 3 82 minute classes. With the new schedule, I will be teaching 4 60 minute classes with my prep right before my lunch. This was so nice last year because if I am all caught up and have no prep to do, it's like I just have a really long lunch. 

Smaller Class Sizes

With the schedule change, this also means that our classes will be smaller. This year I have classes of 35-37 kids, next year it should go down to like 25 which is a game changer when it comes to behavior. 

New Teachers

This change is bitter sweet because I love all the teachers on my hall right now. But because of many reasons I've talked lots and lots about, most of them are leaving. Some of them are just moving around within the building, others are switching schools, etc. I am excited to welcome the new faces that will be coming on the hall. Hopefully they're just as good of a bunch as the teachers I've been with this year.  

Added Experience

It's funny what one year will do for your judgment. There are so many things that I'm changing from when I started last school year. I already have so many changes that I'm going to make that will make my life so much easier. 

Coaching

I miss coaching volleyball! I'm excited that my 2nd season will start so soon into the new school year! Coaching is one of my favorite parts of teaching so I'm very excited for this to come back. 

Lots of good things coming for next year. You already know that I'm really counting down these last 13 days. So excited for next year!

Also I took this picture last week at the mall, but for some reason it makes me think of the transition of this year to next year. Might be losing my mind a little bit but enjoy the pretty flowers.