Welcome a new semester

The summer days are now but a memory and school is now in session in Oakland, California. For first year teachers, this time of year can be daunting, draining,stressful, challenging, dubious, but most of all unforgettable. That is what it was for me last year. This year however, I feel more at ease. It can be challenging to teach what you don’t yet know or even measure what you have taught. The new school year opens up possiblilities to put to practice new strategies, to test new procedures, and overall to improve as an educator. This year I am committed to providing a rigorous, engaging curriculum to all my students.

There is a wealth of lesson plans that are already made, and handouts quizzes and tests to pass out, but the realiity is that you won’t fully understand how to use them if you don’t know the thinking behind creating each of these tools. Of course some of them take little thinking or are just redy made graphic organizers to sort your student’s ideas or to guide them to discover a certain aspect of writing.

I will be sure to blog about my experiences as a teacher this year and definitely hope to receive some feedback in the process.