Winter Break has been nice

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I have actually used the time to rest and relax. It has been awesome. But there are some things I want to prep for the new semester, so yesterday I started working on school work. Well, I should say I worked for a bit then got back to resting :)  Yesterday I prepped my next chemistry unit and today I prepped my next AP Biology unit. I am happy with that. I just need to prep my next AP Chemistry unit and I will be ready to start the new year.

I'm trying something a little bit different this unit (again, smh....).  I have laid out a timeline of the order I want to do things in. I'm going to print everything out and get it all copied before school starts. Then I will have the whole unit ready to go and I don't have to stop because I didn't copy something. Also, I'm sticking to what I planned. I am not going to change anything. There are a couple of things I will need to supplement, like quizzes I need to write, but the big assignments are all set and ready to go. I will just follow the plan. I have the timeline set up so that I can write the dates in as I go. This will give me a much better idea next year how to pace the course. I'm excited about this because it accomplishes a couple of things. First, it helps keep me organized because everything will be ready to go at the beginning. Second, it will help keep me on track and not be trying to figure out what I'm doing next right before class starts. Third, I have a problem of not filling up the full 90 minutes. This will help that because I will have the next activity/assignment ready to go. Finally, it will give me a true timeline of how long certain activities/units take which will give me a more realistic curriculum map next year. And, as a bonus, I will not be springing labs on myself. I will know when a lab is coming up and can get the supplies in advance. Yay me!!!!  So the key here is to stay on plan no matter what. Just keep moving forward. I'm going to keep the timeline in the front of my curriculum book and look at it every single day. I will also note what I hope to accomplish in my planner and adjust as necessary. Very excited about this. Think I might finally have teaching under control. I'll let you know how it goes when school returns.

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