Planning the summer

 It's been a little over a week since school ended and I've got a few things done but not much. My goal for this summer is to have both classes planned out so that I don't really have to think much when school starts. Not that I won't be thinking much, but I won't have to devote much brain power to lessons. My goal for this year is to stick to the plan I develop this summer. Every year I've planned things over the summer and then forgot about them once school started. I then would try to come up with each lesson right before the class started. This led to a lot of issues. First, I would be stressed out about what I was going to be teaching in 10 minutes (god, I hate that).  Second, I would forget what I did from one class to the next. I would do something spur of the moment, but because I had nothing written down or laid out, I would forget the next class and have to ask the students. Third, I felt like things had no flow. It would feel very choppy and disconnected to me because I didn't plan in advance how to move from one topic to another. So this year is going to be different. Last year I planned out each unit so there was some consistency and flow to the lessons. This helped a number of ways. I didn't have to think what I was going to teach as I'm walking in the classroom door.  It actually opened up more time for grading since I wasn't constantly in panic mode over the lessons. And it made me enjoy teaching a whole lot more. Having a plan, knowing where I was going, made it easier for me to relax and actually enjoy my classes and my students. So my big goal for the coming year is to: 

Stick to the plan

That's it. Just stick to the plan. It's amazing how much easier that makes life. But, in order to do that I have to actually have a plan. I need it laid out in advance and I need it ready to go when school starts. So, what do I want to have ready for school? 

• I want the entire semester laid out for chemistry and biology. Since I am using the modeling curriculum for both, that should not be a problem. 
• I want the notebooks set up for both classes, at least the first few days. 
• I want the activities for the first couple of days ready to go. 
• I want the 'lectures' that I will need to give outlined 
• I want the Google Site all set up - still need to brainstorm that a little bit
• I want the Google Classrooms all set up and ready to go - need to make some decisions about this too
• Have my planner journal ready to go
• Complete my Google Level 2 certification

That's all I can think of right now. Now to determine what order to do these in. 

• Google Classroom can't be set up until I have my class lists, so that will actually wait until the first or second week of school. 
• Google Site can be laid out and set up before school starts and then tweaked once it actually starts. 
• Notebooks shouldn't be set up until I have the lessons all planned out
• Same with the 'lecture' notes - need to classes planned first
• Planner journal can be set up at any time and will only be filled in a week at a time
• Google Level 2 cert can be completed at any time

Okay, so the plan seems to be coming together and it looks something like this:

1. Unit plans for entire semester
2. "Lecture" notes for each unit
3. Notebook 
4. Google Site
5. First days activities

And fit them in as I feel:  Google Level 2 cert and planner journal. 

I like that. I'm now going to move this planning to my planner and lay out my summer and what I want to accomplish each week. A plan!!! I have to have a plan!!!!