And She's Ready to Go!

I've finally got everything organized, on the walls, and ready to go. I have 30 desks arranged into groups of 5, and two huge white boards I probably won't even utilize. My school has a 20% coverage rule, so that was tough as the teacher who has TONS of decor.

My "wall" of photos I took in Spain

Looking at the front of the room

Looking at the side of the room

Looking at the back white board

My Spain/book nook

I have decided as of TODAY that I will be starting skills-based grading this year, and created matrices for the first 2 six weeks of school. Grades have always bummed me out because they seem so unfair (they are), and skills based grading completely eliminates this. It is based on what the student is able to accomplish at the end of each unit, not what grades they can make on a test.

Anyway, very excited. Finally have my teacher fire back and I WISH the kids were going to be here Monday but I have a whole other week to wait!

New Year, New Job, New District

This year will begin my first true journey into public education.

I spent the past two years in a charter that has been around for about 4 years, and grew too quickly for its britches.  My very FIRST year of teaching I taught Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Spanish 3, and an elective 7th grade class.

Did I mention I was hired 10 days before school started?

And that it was a flipped model?

With a Learning Management System (LMS)?

It was a nightmare, and I had the worst anxiety/agoraphobia of my life. But I survived. For two whole years.

I have been at new-to-district training this week for my new job in Leander ISD (north of Austin, Texas) as the 8th grade Spanish 1 teacher at Henry Middle School. How easy is that!?

The district is so organized and forward thinking that I can't even believe my luck.  As much as I hate professional development, seeing the district encourage experimentation and student ownership of learning is pretty cool. The superintendent said he doesn't want to focus on our state scores, because with what we are doing, we don't have to.

Ramble ramble ramble! Looking forward to meeting the rest of my co-workers next week!