Another year!

Last year I did not write in my blog nearly enough. However, I have once again been inspired to write this year. This school year I have switched to a public charter school in DC. After completing my education policy degree in May, I think this will be a hands-on experiment for me as I am able to compare the public school I was in last year to the charter school this year. Fortunately, I am still in constant contact with friends in the public school system making this experiment easier as we look for what really works in education.
As of today, I have completed one week of teaching Kindergarten! But backing up, I think the professional development that was given to teachers before the school year is one huge difference between this charter school network and the public school. I spent one week in New Teacher Induction trainings where I was told expectations, set my own goals, and began brainstorming and gathering lesson ideas. During this time we were grouped by grade levels, so more experienced teachers were able to share their real experiences and give us ideas that have been seen to work in this school system. The next two weeks were spent in professional development within our specific school. During this, we also attended a convention for all of the schools in the network which was aimed at increasing our spirit and making a promise to work harder than ever this year. We also went to a challenge course for a day with our campus. This gave me a chance to get to know veteran staff members at my school and increased my comfort level with everyone. A student orientation rounded out the two weeks, allowing me to meet students and their parents before the first day of school, something I appreciated very much for kindergarten. After these two weeks I felt comfortable asking anyone for help or ideas as well as trusted that everyone would be giving 100% this school year. All of these trainings were not given in the public school system, where a week was devoted mostly to learning about the teacher evaluation system and classroom set-up.
We started school last Monday. 24 kindergarten students arrived excited to see their friends and meet their new teacher. The early childhood grades only went to school half a day this week, allowing us to focus on procedures and rules. My class is lovely with mostly boys to keep the energy high. They definitely are going to challenge me and hold me to high expectations of providing them with quality lessons as they seem in charge of their learning and want to learn more! Already, the principal and asst. principals have been doing observations as well as visitors from central office. The earthquake day (Tues) showed that my school and the system have procedures in place for unexpected events. The timely manner in which the students were released from school was impressive. The week finished out with a staff celebration at Sticky Rice, a relaxing event that everyone attended and seemed to enjoy!

I must say I'm excited for this year. I know it will be difficult however I've been told special education teachers are the best general education teachers, so I'm hoping some of the things I learned and used last year will be successful in my classroom this year. I'm looking forward to writing in here this year and I hope my friends hold me accountable so new stories can be shared!

So I totally failed at writing in this blog this summer. I survived DC Teaching Fellows Summer Institute. I made such wonderful memories with the other Elementary SPED fellows and we all helped each other keep pushing on and reminding each other why we were there, the students of course! I taught 4th grade at Francis Stevens in Foggy Bottom. The school is huge and provided us with a large classroom which by the end of the summer was covered in student work. My goal was to make summer school interesting for these students, many high achievers and still learn. With the help of my co-teacher, Robert I think we accomplished this. The summer definitely built up my confidence to be in my own classroom this fall.
This past week I finally got to begin at Leckie Elementary, my placement. I am the PK-3rd grade special education teacher. Right now my caseload is around 15 students but seems to be constantly growing. I know so much about my students already and absolutely can not wait to meet them tomorrow! My room is finally complete after endless hours of thought, hands on work, and trips to buy teacher supplies. I love setting up classrooms so while it was hard work it was enjoyable all at the same time.
Tonight I called all my students' parents and have been making final preparations for things that need to be covered in this first week. Fortunately for me I will be spending most of my week in my students' general education classrooms doing observations so I know how to better meet their needs this school year. I am so excited that I probably won't be able to sleep a wink tonight! I'm making a promise to myself that I will update this blog at least once a week because I don't want to forget this experience!

Hello!

Yesterday while driving home from the beach I decided I was going to start a blog. I'm not really sure if I what I will write will be interesting, funny, or even entertaining but for some reason I feel like this could be an adventure, especially wtih all that is about to happen in my life. Most people know I will be a corps member of DC Teaching Fellows this coming school year. Summer institute begins this week with practice teaching soon to follow! Hopefully this blog will help me describe challenges, organize my thoughts, and most importantly share funny stories from the classroom! I'm so excited to begin this journey, especially since I already miss my kiddies from Rosemount after being with them for an entire year. I'm sure I will also use this blog for more personal life stories as well as living in Arlington has proved to be wonderful in the first month and I only see it getting better.

Enjoy reading! :)