It's been awhile since I updated this blog. I started this last year as a means of writing about my teaching experience and then it sort of just dropped off. I'd like to pick it up again because I think it's important to be reflective in the practice of teaching. So here I am starting off a new school year. I'm tackling another year of 7th graders and I'm super excited despite the struggles I will be facing in a district that has been all but decimated. It's hard to go in in the mornings and not see the familiar face of the secretary. I'm a little nervous about what will happen if I have a student in crisis and there is no counselor or nurse present in the building to help me. That is the joys of teaching in Philadelphia. I have 36 kids among both of my classrooms at the present time. That is a huge amount of children. I just feel terrible because I know that I cannot effectively meet all of their needs with that many kids at once. I'm afraid that I will also struggle with building meaningful relationships because of that too.
One of my big focuses this year is working on building a positive classroom environment. I really enjoy what goes on with morning meetings and responsive classroom practices so I've been trying to make the one of the driving forces in my classroom. The kids have responded fantastically so far and I'm hoping that they will be inspired to continue to stay positive. I once laughed when I was told to look at Harry Wong's "The First Days of School" but now I can see how true it is that you need to just practice and reinforce routines and procedures.
I'm looking forward to using service learning and the Need In Deed program in my classroom again. I'm hoping the students really want to become agents of change and select a community issue that they want to fix. We've had a great start....I'm hoping it continues into the school year!
