Let's see...
*Every day, I get to school at 7:00, leave school after 5, and work on lesson plans all evening. Yeah, the Mr. thinks I'm really fun.
*New technology in the classroom is kicking my booty! Apple TV's and iPads mean a lot of changes from my mini mac of last year. I've been remembering when we moved into the new building with all the new technology. It took me almost a month of experimenting until I found the most efficient way to use it. AND...I'm back there again.
*A new class in Stagecraft requires safety tests, use of equipment that I am not familiar with, and a whole lot of figuring out how I can keep 16 kids busy on different projects in different areas and still supervise all of them. Quite a task. Right now, I have my doubts if I'm up to it.
*New standards are requiring a whole different level of lesson planning. I know the first year is always the most difficult because I am creating everything as I go. Even things I have taught before require an overhaul.
*AND...auditions are looming and play rehearsals and costumes, make up, props, and set design to figure out and make possible. I have good help, but it still seems a bit overwhelming with everything else.
Now, why didn't I take early retirement??? Yeah, I've been wondering that.
1 comment:
Our school begins in two weeks although we teachers have meetings for 2 days next week. I think we are literally the last school district in Ohio to begin school!
Through the "Race to the Top" funding We have been working on the new standards for several years. I didn't do some of the initial work because the state hadn't decided what test set up they were going with; those who hate not having everything done ahead of time had to redo everything yet another time. The first official test year is 2014/1015. I will retire at the end of that year at 16 years and age 61. With the state retirement changes, I will lose money per month if I don't retire then OR stay for another 4 years. With the fibromyalgia and 6 grandkids, I'm opting out. There will be a bunch of us in several neighboring school districts retiring then because of STRS changes. It will be a huge change for Ohio schools.
We also will have ipads but we will be using our Smart boards and the same computers. I still have a lot to turn.
Good luck!
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