Reflections on the First Quarter



Ladies and Gentlemen:
The first marking period is complete.  I have officially survived the first 25% of my first year as a teacher.  My students have as well, though some of them not with the grades they were maybe hoping for. 

There have been rocks and hard patches—hard weeks.  But I’ve also had good moments and memories that make it worth it. 

Here are some of those good moments:
-My 8th grade students made visual aids to go along with their autobiographical speeches.  Some of them turned out really well!  And now my room has some life to it. 




-I got a projector, and have been making GOOD use of it daily!



-When I passed out the last book orders, many of my 7th graders ordered the 2nd and 3rd books in The Hunger Games trilogy, since we won’t be reading them in class.  I’m so glad I’ve got them hooked on the series ! 

-Last Friday, my eighth graders scored their first 46/50 on their self-evaluation of how timely, orderly, focused, on-task, and accurate they were during an activity on run-on sentences.  They gave themselves a quiet round of applause, and I cheered for them.  Class periods like that give me hope that classroom management issues might turn themselves around before the end of the year…maybe. 

-I think I’ve more or less figured out how to get around the school’s lack of resources and design a research unit from which my students will grow.  I’m so excited to watch them grow and learn!

Grades are due tomorrow.  Mine are done today.  It’s Columbus Day, which means I have no school.  The rest of today, I plan to relax, prepare myself 100% for this week, and make lesson plans for the next few weeks.  I’m in good spirits. 

Happy Monday!

I think some of my students cried a bit on the inside when
I took this bulletin board down...

I think I mentioned Peter in a previous
post.  He's our classroom friend.

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