Update on Teaching

I finally got a hold of the teacher that I will be teaching with. We met in our (weird) classroom on Monday night. The classroom is kind of small but it has a great storage closet that we share with the neighboring teacher so that makes up for it. I think I am going to get a long with Debbie really well, although it was a little awkward since it was the first time we had met and there was SO much to discuss. She has a 2 month old baby boy and will be teaching in the afternoons while I teach in the mornings. Because of the school schedule there wasn't much say in what subjects I am going to teach. Get ready for it... Math, Spelling, and Writing! Quite possibly my three weakest subjects! The good news is she wanted to know if I would teach Art once a week and they have a kiln! I also have to teach a very scripted bullying program. But back to the main subjects. The math program they use is called Invisions and looks horribly confusing. There are a bazillion teaching manuals that are very wordy with few examples. Help! The writing tools they have are not as straight forward and easy to follow as Lucy Calkins was, but they also allow for a little more creativity. All I know is that I am really glad I am only teaching part time so I can have the rest of the day to plan/ prep/ and read all these manuals! Next week on the 24th-27th I start my beginning teacher mentor program and then inservice the following week. School starts on September 8 and I am already nervous! I was hoping to feel more confident and that the classroom was mine too, but right now I feel like a sub and that I am just visiting. The upside, my name is already on the mailbox! My goal for the rest of this week is to read over the material Debbie gave me and do some research so that I can go into this feeling a little more prepared!