The first week is over.  Impressions have been made.  I can’t hang a banner saying “Mission Accomplished”, but there has been some progress. 

I am having trouble with the timing in my classes.  It seems like the clock rings early in two classes…periods 4 and 6.  It is driving me crazy.  I have always struggled with this as I become more comfortable as I go along and my shtick gets more polished.   The image based country review for my classes on Friday was good, but I kept adding details and as a result the Mylar-7 maps for those periods are still a mystery.

I’m going to end this entry with a rip-off of Mike Reiss’ 3 Up/3 Down for the first 8 days:

Up:

  1. Students.  The kids seem like a really nice bunch.  There will be some challenges, but nothing we cannot work with.
  2. Focus.  I have a really clear focus on this year.  My curriculum is set and I fell comfortable, for the first time, on the balance between what I want to teach and what I have to teach.
  3. Inspiration.  The hook is in the mouth.  I just need to be patient on setting the hook deep.

Down:

  1. The Bell.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
  2. Back to School night being on the same night as my oldest daughter’s B2S.  This is the first time I have not been able to attend for my own children.  Double Grrrrr.
  3. Humidity in my classroom.  The rotund one is too warm.