Day 36 - Back to School

Back to School

For you that are teachers, you know there is so much to do before classes begin.  For you that are not teachers, don’t assume teachers go back to school the same day that students do.  First of all, teachers almost everywhere are required to have some days of in-service.  This is a time of learning new procedures and being reminded of old procedures.  There are often training sessions to teach new ideas or inspire teachers for the struggles of the upcoming school year.  There are times of planning with teachers who teach the same subject to keep the content aligned within the grade or between grades.  There are also times to plan with teachers who will share students with you, but who teach different subjects.  The Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center begins next Tuesday, August 8 for teachers.

There is also time that teachers need to get their classrooms set up.  My classroom in Kaufman was covered with pictures and posters of things I would be teaching.  Right now my room here at the SCCLC is a blank series of white walls, but it has lots of windows.  I haven’t measured it yet, but it is a lot roomier than my classroom at Nash, except the one across the hall from Mrs. Jordan, which I had for three years.

I am sharing my room with the Spanish teacher.  I have the class the first three periods of the day and she has the last four.  Already she has shelves full of books.  In about five minutes I realized there was no bookshelf for me.  So I requested one.  There are lots of student desks and two teacher desks. When I walked in today, I really didn’t know what to do to the class.  I think I need to wait to meet the Spanish teacher so we can work together and make it both of our rooms.  At least I have a room.  I thought I was going to be a floater.

The one thing that most non-teachers just don’t get is lesson planning.  I am not and never have been a detailed lesson planner.  Even so, it takes time to plan what you will teach.  There are many things to consider, such as what the students will read (I am teaching literature), how will I teach the main concepts of the books, how the book can be applied to their lives, what kind of questions to ask, what activities need to accompany it, how do I keep the class busy and learning, and how do I evaluate their work.  Then you have to go to work either finding or creating material to use in class.  No teacher wants to walk into a classroom not knowing what is being taught a week later.

My students come back in just three weeks, on August 24.  They will be busy working that first day.  So I can promise you, the next three weeks will be busy.