Toto, Where Are We?

Ok, so I've been at this new school for a month now. I'm just trying to make it from one day to the next, celebrating each week's end.

Only 8 months to go then hello summer!

Anyway, it's a different school alright. First of all, the class time is longer so I've had to make adjustments to my pacing. Also, that means no more days of just lecture-- it's too much for them and for me.

This also means that it takes less time to cover the material.

Speaking of lectures, it's kind of neat to say, "get ready for notes" and see 80% of the kids not only take notes, but get their papers set up for Cornell notes. Amazing.

However, this school, which is very good, doesn't have a special day class.

I think this year is the first time the STAR scores have been broken down into groups (ethnic and socio-economic) which really offended some of the teachers.

But, the staff is awesome. They are so supportive of me and all the other new teachers. I'm not expected to head the department (no one wants it) or any field trips this year. And, if I do one differentiated lesson, then I win. :-)

We also have a lot of TGIFs.

But the cincher.... as a staff, we are learning the Thriller dance to perform at lunch time on Halloween. Yup, at this school, everyone gets dressed up.

Overall, seems like good times.