Standards Based Education

My alarm interrupted what seems like a great dream, but who remembers those?
I showered and got ready in record time today. This is thanks to me for pre-planning another knockout wardrobe. Turquoise maxi-skirt, 3/4 sleeve turquoise and black striped collarless button up. Hammered silver coin necklace. My classic teacher pompadour, created in the faculty bathroom once my hair dried on the drive East.

I brought another armload of teacher loot in today. Each of my tote bags was medium-laden with books. Cookbooks mostly, surprised? The banker's box had my crucial files of info on writing lessons, using questions, breaking ice, and other educator staples. And I brought my nesting baskets - the one full of highlighters is my favorite. Duh.

The morning session was held at an early childhood school a few blocks away from the high. More on the drive over in my Worst of the Day section. We newbies filled up a pretty big room over there. The topic was really inspiring. This is educational philosophy with students placed first, and my favorite thing to do is differentiate instruction for exceptional students. We rapped about how to access outliers at both ends of the spectrum. I was overwhelmed, frenzied, and impressed. It will probably take me a few months to learn how to blog about this in the appropriate teacher language, so for now I will say that a few key things about the district really hit me with a smile. One, don't surprise your students with a test or quiz. Don't use assessment as a way to expose what your students don't know or are not prepared to demonstrate. Instead, make it possible for every student to be taught and tested in a way that suits their aptitude, learning style, and career/educational/life goals.

Lunch was delicious pizza and salad. I enjoyed chatting with the new German and Spanish teachers. At the tail end of lunch we went through the employee handbook like greased lightning. And there was also a thick manila envelope (save this for intra-district mailing on the pony express line! manila = gold in schools) full of all the materials and instructions for homeroom.

Westside teachers have a homeroom that meets every morning (except Wednesday) for 15 minutes. It's generally a mix of 4 kids from each grade, and you stick with your homeroom group until they graduate  - adding new freshmen along the way. It's a time to develop relationships, advise, and give announcements about the whole school as well as paperwork for service learning (required).

Oh the day isn't over yet. It's only 1pm folks.
My fellow new FCS teacher and I went to our office and worked through the first 20ish pages of the handbook. Our discussion and notetaking focused on a common goal of developing procedures, rules, and a united front for the foods classes. We made excellent progress and will continue to chat over the weekend as time permits.

Best of the Day: meeting the SPED teacher from Rockbrook elementary and discussing how to differentiate assessment

Worst of the Day: the traffic light for the one northbound lane of 90th street at the intersection of W Dodge was red ALL DAY. I sat through three light cycles behind a car before we even figured it out. Boo construction, but I hope somebody knew who to call to get it fixed.