Today was the first day of school, and we had a distinctly shorter day than we normally do because of a new effort. The school was for Freshmen only in the morning to attend 20 minute classes, and the second half of the day was for upperclassmen to attend 20 minute classes while the Frosh had some separate activities. My school has put an emphasis on the 9th grade transition in school, so this fits that effort.
Thus, my activities were curtailed quite a bit, so I split my opening day activity into two days. While I still used my question and answer activity from last year, we will have to do the answer session tomorrow. The seniors generated about 40 questions as a class, the juniors submitted about 60 questions per class, and the sophomores asked over 100 questions. Whew! I will have to spend quite a bit of time answering questions, but it will be worth it. I really like letting them tell me what they want to know instead of reading a syllabus to them.
This year I’m teaching a Sophomore Honors English class (using World Literature), two Mythology courses for seniors, and two College in the High School courses (using American Lit.) for juniors. No new preps means I will really be able to focus on being as creative and energetic in class as I can be. Refinement is my key word this year.
My goal this year: to have at least three distinct sections to every lesson in order to keep the classes lively.
The Doc Is In 
Hey, Doc. Welcome back to the working world. We’re into our third week. I’m teaching an honors 10, a regular 10, Creative Writing, A.P. Lit, and a college in the high school freshmen comp, which are all classes I’ve done before.
No new mandates for us, but we are on a new teacher evaluation model that includes a 20-page self evaluation booklet. The teaching rubric to evaluate us is a huge and truly impressive document. I didn’t think it was possible to break down everything a teacher does into evaluatable areas, but this instrument comes close.
I blogged at the beginning of school on my thoughts for the new year at http://jimvanpelt.livejournal.com/214810.html. Thank goodness I don’t have teaching stress dreams all the time. They would make teaching too . . . stressful.
Have a great year!
JVP,
Thanks for the update. I always enjoy hearing (reading) how things are going for you, especially the writings classes.
I will visit your site tonight and take a look at your beginning of the year thoughts. I did pop over a couple weeks ago, but I need to sit down and carefully read your always excellent posts. I love picking up tips and new ways of teaching. 🙂
Hi, Dr Pezz! I’m putting together a back-to-school edition of the EduCarnival & I was wondering if you’d be willing to submit this? 😀
Sure. Just tell me what you’d like me to do. Thanks for thinking of me. 🙂
Email me or click here 🙂
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