The Marathon that is Third Quarter

Let me tell you this, after getting used to having numerous weeks with at least one day off, this quarter has been a challenge. In addition to putting our curriculum together with four different 6th grade teachers doing four different things, we are working on preparing our students for the SBA standardized test that they will be taking in fourth quarter. This whole quarter I've sort of felt like I've been sprinting to catch up with a bullet train that won't slow down for me. It is helpful to have a novel to focus my attention on, and to center my lessons around, and my JHU classes are proving to be useful in giving me ideas, but the different teachers doing different things, therefore resulting in a lessened opportunity to collaborate, has been very stressful. It does however make things interesting for me and the part of myself where I really like to challenge myself. I know that by the end of this, I should be a lot stronger in creating curriculum and lessons because I have to figure it out for myself.

Something that I have been really excited about lately is that I am trying to make my class more student-driven. This quarter, especially for this book, we have been focusing on discussions and discussion skills. Watching my students develop their personalities and etiquette procedures for discussions based off of what works for each class, and watching them develop their abilities to create questions and hold discussions, has been inspiring. This whole year I have been trying to be the person who leads their discussions but I have found that often they take them in good places if I can provide the right guidance and supporting documents.

What I want to work on

• Tying in more real-world experience and articles
• More student interests present in the class

What I feel I'm strong in

• I definitely feel like the classroom culture has improved
• My kids know how to be respectful to each other and to me and why it is important
• I finally figured out positive rewards!!