Orientation Night... Suggestions anyone?

Lets talk orientation night!!

Being the leader (or control freak) I am I think our orientation night could use some improvements. Does anyone do something that is really cool, meaningful, worthy to inspire? Speak now or forever hold your peace. The 7th graders follow a short schedule after an introduction session.  Each class comes in for a whooping 15-20 minutes. I have perfect classroom on the brain so the wheels are spinning... Help. Things I'm thinking...

-Discover science centers/stations

-Observe (the room)  and predict yr

--Guess that picture on smart board 

--Biggest fear, solution read aloud

--Free write...  in 1000 words or   

     less tell me about yourself! 

Thanks in advance!! 

Leadership.

After class I felt charged with ideas and the reality that I had said I was going to do quite a few things that I had not gotten around to yet. So after I dropped off Nik I headed out to Barnum. Of course no one was there but the janitor agreed to get me in through the old home ec room. Of course they are waxing! He asked me how long I was going to be there and laughed when I answered till 4 or 5 most likely.” Kid, why do you work so hard… no one’s here… the kids don’t know… not even the new boss is working yet?”… I smiled and said well I have masters and a lot of new ideas. With that we left me to do my work.

 I made the cut outs for the new quote on the old black chalk board that says, “ALL THINKING BEGINS WITH WONDER!” I made the attendance smart board lists for all classes so as the students come in they can “swipe themselves --present” (thanks Nikki A—elementary teachers are so crafty) I made the various  grouping strategies that I had not finished in class on Sunday and a set of popsicle sticks for each for each hour to use for random calling. None of these things were URGENT and none of them I would have HAD to DO… but to be a better teacher and use some of the new strategies I want to I felt I needed to get them out of the way so they are ready to go. I worked on two other bulletin boards one for questioning/prompts and one for current events called “In the News”.  Again not urgent… just new ideas come to life. 

As I was leaving… so was the janitor. He asked… “did you get it all done… are you ready to go?” I smiled again and asked… do you think I will be able to get into my room on Wednesday? Later that night I was reading my assigned book for the book study… “Leading by Soul.” I have a June birthday so it was not my pick but it was meant to be. It’s good. It speaks to me.  Buried in the text was a quote that said, “Work is love made visible.”That’s what I should have told the janitor! Next time. J I work hard because I love my job. I work hard because I love the kids. I work hard because teaching is my gift. It satisfies my soul.

August!!

I can't believe it's August. My AR is "done" but I'm still questioning whether it will really work? During my feedback session someone bet that the biggest impact on my teaching will be the use of collaborative groups. Which is funny because I thought it would be my focus on questioning or inquiry style lessons. As I looked further and further into the research this summer I realized how much different areas of teaching are related... And also how little talk and research there is on content. Process not product.

 I didn't believe that I would be "excited" for school but now I am. I recently went to Barnum and all the OLD stuff was gone and the floors were waxed and fresh. I even had the balls to ask the janitors all four of them to help reorganizing the lab tables for better flow. I asked for help. thats huge. I gotta tell ya cyber-space... I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I was, and am proud of the work I have been doing. I can also say that I am looking forward to next week. Alex and I are taking Nikolai to Wisconsin Dells for the week. I need it!! One last week of carefree summer to get me through what's to come!!

Zhukov Out.