Not much has changed

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 since my last post. I was struggling to get into the swing of teaching this year and I'm still struggling. The last post was 6 days into the year, now it's 6 weeks into the year. I've been struggling the entire 6 weeks. I have not been able to find my groove. I struggle with every single lesson. I have to plan and plan and plan. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing and I'm over it. Completely and totally over it. And things need to change. 

I've already changed up my biology class. We switched from the iHub curriculum to the It's Not Rocket Science curriculum. These could not be two more opposite types of curriculum, but whatever. I need to be able to get excited about what we are doing. And if my getting excited means using a more standard type of curriculum, so be it. I will be switching my chemistry over to the modeling curriculum once I figure out how to wrap up this 'unit'. 

The thing is, I can incorporate many parts of the BTC and modeling into any curriculum. Providing of course, that I understand what I'm doing. So that's what I'm going to do. I realized that I need to have a deep understanding of what I'm doing (not content) and the ultimate goal. I never felt like I knew what each lesson was supposed to accomplish in the iHub curriculum. I can't count how many times I sat at my desk and said, what is the goal here? And honestly, I could never find a good answer. Also, the iHub is way too scripted for me. Say this, listen for this, wait for this.........UGH!!!! I always felt that the modeling curriculum was too vague, but now I see that it leaves us some room to do things our way. I like that better. What is the goal? What is the general pathway? I will figure out the details. With the iHub, all the overall goal gets lost in all the details. Typing this out, I see what the problem is. Having details can be good, but not if the goal of everything gets lost in them. Also, having to read through all that suggested conversation is hard. 

So this weekend will be spent switching chemistry over to modeling. Since I've covered some stuff we don't cover until later, I'm going to have to switch the units around a bit, but  I can do that. The truth is, I know the modeling stuff well enough to do that, I just need to sit down and work at it, and that's what I'll be doing on Sunday. 

I feel so much better about things now. I have some work to do, but at least I feel like I know what I'm doing now. 

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