Tales from the science classroom

This week we were back from fall break. Fall break was relaxing and I really enjoyed it. This is the first in a long time. I usually spend the first part of break worrying over all the work I want to do and the second part beating myself up for not doing it. This break was different. I did have things I wanted to accomplish but I did not worry about them. I did accomplish a lot and the things I didn't get done, oh well. I did go into school 2 or 3 times, I don't really remember. And I got things done and school started and all was good. One of the things that has made a huge difference is that I am excited about teaching again. When I first started teaching I was super excited about it. I loved getting in front of the kids and having the kids do stuff. I was excited. That excitement was infectious and the kids picked up on it. Well, that excitement is back and I love it. I love being excited about what I'm doing. I love feeling like I'm really truly helping kids and

 A road trip up north to the town of Sedona. The town itself was not that great, way too touristy, but the scenery is amazing.  More of the scenery around Sedona. The desert sunset on our way home. It was a long day with a whole lot of driving, but it was fun. As nice as it is to get away, it is always good to come home. In my case, it was home to planning. I've got AP Biology and AP Chemistry sketched out until Christmas. Not bad. I am trying something new. Instead of making elaboate plans with all kinds of details, I'm just doing a bare bones plan. The way I work is very spontaneous anyway. I walk into my class and go, okay, what am I teaching today, then run with the topic. So I'm fleshing out the weeks one at a time instead of planning so far ahead I forget what I'm doing. It sounds like it will work well with the way I work, so I'm willing to give it a go. I have to go in today to do some grading. I have a whole pile of tests from 3 different classe

So the first thing I need to write about is how quickly break has come this year. Every year before it has seemed like it took forever to get here. This year I feel like we just started the year and now boom, it's break. This has never really happened before. Usually, by late September I'm struggling to hold on until break. Not this year. Time literally just flew by and it was nice. I hope that it keeps going until Christmas.  Part of the reason time is flying is that I'm really enjoying this year. For the 8 previous years, I've felt like an imposter. I have felt like I don't really know what I'm doing and that I was a fake. Turns out, I'm not a fake. I actually do know what I'm doing and I'm pretty damn good at it. For the first time in 9 years, I'm really putting an effort into my teaching. I'm trying to plan ahead. I'm trying to be the best teacher I can be and it's paying off. It's really paying off. I enjoy work and I enj

I am determined to master this organization thing if it kills me. The system I set up was not working as I had hoped. I was having issues with the file trays on the small table next to my front counter. I wasn't using them the way I envisioned. They proved to be more of a pain than a help. I would forget to put things in the right trays and they would still end up all over my desk. Plus, I had the handouts there and my originals somewhere else along with my answer key and I still couldn't keep track of everything. Also, I found me just throwing things in the top tray that I didn't want to deal with. Not cool. Then over the weekend, I was at Treasures for Teachers and found this beauty: This is awesome. I have 12 slots. 8 for my periods on both days and 4 for the classes where I keep my copies. Oh, I'm in heaven. I can throw things in there for the day and clear it out at the end of the day. It is amazing. My stuff, originals/keys etc. is kept right next to them so