JOHN - I arrived at school and headed to the cafeteria. There, we had a half-day seminar over a great many things. It was neat how the room was set up. If you can imagine this, it was decorated to look like something out of an Indiana Jones movies. There was a tent set up, Egyptian-themed artifacts, the snakes from Mrs. Schiebel's classroom, and so on. The administrator's were dressed in khaki's as if there were about to go on an archaeological dig. And that was the theme throughout the week. It was something fun and it definitely sparked my interest.
Some of the items that were brought up for discussion included where Rawlinson placed in regards to its standardized tests. Each subject area and grade was discussed. I was impressed to see where Rawlinson placed in regards to the school district and the rest of the state. They seem to be performing at a high level. Many times, RMS placed first in some categories, especially math. This made me excited b/c I was going to be working with those same students. Then I realized I was going to be teaching them too and I got to thinking "I DON'T want to be the guy that brings their scores down"! Ha!!
After that, we participated in some fun little activities after we split up into our departments. Each department was given a word and had to link and compare to archeology and education. The math department's word was "discovery". So, using only straws and sticky notes and toothpicks, we created a little pyramid and placed our pharoah inside it. I came up with the name for our pharaoh which was "King Ra....Linson". Get it? Ra was the Egyptian sun god. Rawlinson is the name of our school. Nevermind!! Anyway, when it came time for our department to present, guess who was chosen to talk? Yup!! I was!! I was little nervous but I always seem to work well under pressure. I said something like we need to discover our students true potential. I also said that each child is a mystery, much like a pyramid. And once you discover them, you will unlock their true potential and find a treasure inside each one of them (I proceeded to lift the pyramid and show the King Ra). Yeah, I was a little cheesy but I don't care and I said what I felt. Sometimes, as a teacher, you just have to ad lib and speak from the heart. And that's what I did.
The rest of the afternoon, I spent with the math department. Mrs. Schiebel went up to our classroom and did some more work in there. All the teachers were given a homework assignment and had to have our first week's lesson plans in by the end of the week. Mrs. Schiebel worked on that while I did some other stuff around the room.
After school, I headed home and finally started working on the room!! I think Jayma and I also took a dip in the pool around 9 or so. So nice to jump in the pool, at night, and it be warm!
ROOM UPDATE: Most everything has been put away and/or moved to the kitchen table!
Some of the items that were brought up for discussion included where Rawlinson placed in regards to its standardized tests. Each subject area and grade was discussed. I was impressed to see where Rawlinson placed in regards to the school district and the rest of the state. They seem to be performing at a high level. Many times, RMS placed first in some categories, especially math. This made me excited b/c I was going to be working with those same students. Then I realized I was going to be teaching them too and I got to thinking "I DON'T want to be the guy that brings their scores down"! Ha!!
After that, we participated in some fun little activities after we split up into our departments. Each department was given a word and had to link and compare to archeology and education. The math department's word was "discovery". So, using only straws and sticky notes and toothpicks, we created a little pyramid and placed our pharoah inside it. I came up with the name for our pharaoh which was "King Ra....Linson". Get it? Ra was the Egyptian sun god. Rawlinson is the name of our school. Nevermind!! Anyway, when it came time for our department to present, guess who was chosen to talk? Yup!! I was!! I was little nervous but I always seem to work well under pressure. I said something like we need to discover our students true potential. I also said that each child is a mystery, much like a pyramid. And once you discover them, you will unlock their true potential and find a treasure inside each one of them (I proceeded to lift the pyramid and show the King Ra). Yeah, I was a little cheesy but I don't care and I said what I felt. Sometimes, as a teacher, you just have to ad lib and speak from the heart. And that's what I did.
The rest of the afternoon, I spent with the math department. Mrs. Schiebel went up to our classroom and did some more work in there. All the teachers were given a homework assignment and had to have our first week's lesson plans in by the end of the week. Mrs. Schiebel worked on that while I did some other stuff around the room.
After school, I headed home and finally started working on the room!! I think Jayma and I also took a dip in the pool around 9 or so. So nice to jump in the pool, at night, and it be warm!
ROOM UPDATE: Most everything has been put away and/or moved to the kitchen table!
PICS: The pics were actually taken on Friday, August 21. They are of our classroom, all set up and ready to. There was a lot so I wanted to spread it out throughout the week. As you can see, I have a ISU Redbirds football helmet on my desk. Mrs. Schiebel, a graduate and huge A & M fan, will not allow me to bring in my UT helmet. Out of respect for her, I agreed but she said anything ISU was fine. Plus, it had the color red in it.
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