IT'S A THREE DAY WEEKEND! From getting used to my new students and adjusting to this whole "7th-hour plan" schedule, I am exhausted! So exhausted that I have abandoned my blog for these two weeks. I needed that time with my students and starting the year strong! Unfortunately, starting the year off that strong made me so very tired. All my energy I put into my classroom and creating an environment where we write, share, and just have some fun! I will have more updates on my 6th-grade students in another post, but I mostly wanted to brag, celebrate, and share some exciting news! But before I do. . . I need to give y'all some context. If there is one thing I have learned from teaching and being a student myself, I LOVE context. I want to know the entire situation and circumstance before moving forward. So c'mon. Join me in my contextual rant. It'll be fun, I promise! Barry School is an awesome place to work. It's a pleasure and a blessing to have been hired here for my first job. When I visit other schools or talk to other teachers, I realize how blessed I truly am. Barry allows teachers to have the freedom and control over our classroom. Yes, we have a curriculum (even that is fairly new!) but we still have freedom over how and when we cover standards for our grade level. We have our hiccups, don't get me wrong, but this school allows teachers to voice their opinion to solve problems. In this specific case, they gave teachers complete control to solve it. It is called Flex. It's hard to define. Why? It has no definition. Last year, it didn't even have a clear purpose other than it gave students who had no elective to be placed in an ELA or Math classroom to receive help . . . or have extra practice. I still have a hard time explaining it. Again, I was hired mid-year and a lot of stuff was confusing and Flex was one of them. I had two classes of Flex, and it was the poorly planned class that I had no idea how/what to do in those 43 minutes. It wasn't just me though struggling with this concept. Other ELA and Math teachers in the building were frustrated. We all spent valuable time planning for these classes that didn't even have a grade. It wasn't even Pass/Fail. Why were we planning and working so hard for a class that students nor we truly knew what to do with? Us, teachers, we rioted. Not in the literal sense, but we were fed up. Over the summer, the 8th grade ELA and Math teachers redefined it. They are amazing and, again, I'm so blessed these are my co-workers! Holy Moly! They inspire me so much! Every ELA and Math teacher will create an elective that they are passionate about centered around their subject. With one core teacher being the lab person. In the end, us Flex teachers came up with these Flexible Personalized Classrooms:
I was shocked at my result. A total of 35 kids wanted to join my Barry Newspaper! THIRTY-FIVE! THIRTY-FIVE! I met some of them yesterday, but next week will be the first whole week of this new pilot program. Since it will be a student newspaper, I am handing over the responsibilities and design to the students. They will be taking the photos, writing the articles, interviewing people, creating/designing the website, advertising and marketing our website, etc. I will be sure to share that website with you all, but oh my goodness! Have I mentioned how blessed I am?
Also, does anyone have any ideas on how to start up a student newspaper? Just. . . asking for a friend.
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Erica CookRookie, Newbie, New Teacher. Archives
September 2018
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