JOHN - For the second day of school, we spent the first part of the day in a few more meetings but, again, did more classroom set-up. Mrs. Schiebel was showing me where things were located, how to maneuver around the NISD website, looked at the curriculum, etc. Texas, unlike Illinois, has a set curriculum which can be a good and bad thing. For new and first year teachers, it gives you a clear outline as to what needs to be taught, when and how many days are supposed to be focused on a particular topic. However, there is not a lot of room to go outside the box. Mrs. Schiebel explained that even though the curriculum is set by the state, it's up to her how she wants to teach that curriculum. Hence why she is able to be creative in her classroom and do a them like Survivor. I think that is just one of those things that comes along w/ experience. I realize that as a future first-year teacher, I will still be learning a lot about curriculum, teaching and what I want to do with my classroom. And I am quite certain that my view and actions will change a lot over the course of that first year.
That afternoon, the entire school went to something called a convocation. What it is pretty much a rallying session put on by the district superintendent. We all had to wear our Rawlinson t-shirts and each got our archaeological hats. I didn't know this at the time, but this is a big deal and schools try to outshine and out cheer one another. One of the new teachers had to dress up as a cheerleader, pigtails and all. I am sure he loved that (he didn't seem to mind). Once we got there, it was quite the scene. We went to one of the local high schools and the place was roaring. All of the different schools were being represented and it was quite the party. The superintendent came out and gave a great speech. In between, some of the marching bands performed along with a true Texas fiddling group, dancers and cheerleaders. It was a Texas hoedown, for sure!! What's funny was that some of the teachers said it was a little more calm this year as compared to previous convocations. Since I had nothing to compare it to, I thought it was quite the party!! It definitely gets you pumped.
A couple of more notes about the convocation. NISD is the 37th largest school district in the nation. It's adding new schools (elementary, middle and high) every year. My school went on Tuesday along with about 10 other ones. Jayma's school didn't have theirs until Friday. Plus, there were about 3 or 4 convocations each day. That just goes to show you how many schools there are in this district. The pictures on here are ones Jayma took the day she went. As you can tell, it was a lot of fun.
After the convocation, we went to another school where we met w/ all the other middle school math departments. There, we went over the TAKS tests, which is a test that all students are required to take once a year. We went over the six most commonly missed questions and discussed why we felt the students may have missed them. I really enjoyed this because it gave me an opportunity to practice my math skills and discuss with the other teachers where students had problems. It was great to see how teachers bounced ideas off one another and looked at the math from a different viewpoint. Many of the problems focused around either geometry or specific concepts. Everyone agreed that those areas would need to be focused on more. Another thing was that the students were broken down by grade, socio-economic status, and whether or not they had any form of learning disability. This really helped us get a better grasp on where we need to focus our attention. Even though I am not a big fan of meetings, I really took a lot out of this meeting because we were starting to dig deeper in to where young adolescents have difficulty in math. Oh, I also won a door prize for our department. You're welcome!
ROOM UPDATE: Room is done but the kitchen table is a mess!
That afternoon, the entire school went to something called a convocation. What it is pretty much a rallying session put on by the district superintendent. We all had to wear our Rawlinson t-shirts and each got our archaeological hats. I didn't know this at the time, but this is a big deal and schools try to outshine and out cheer one another. One of the new teachers had to dress up as a cheerleader, pigtails and all. I am sure he loved that (he didn't seem to mind). Once we got there, it was quite the scene. We went to one of the local high schools and the place was roaring. All of the different schools were being represented and it was quite the party. The superintendent came out and gave a great speech. In between, some of the marching bands performed along with a true Texas fiddling group, dancers and cheerleaders. It was a Texas hoedown, for sure!! What's funny was that some of the teachers said it was a little more calm this year as compared to previous convocations. Since I had nothing to compare it to, I thought it was quite the party!! It definitely gets you pumped.
A couple of more notes about the convocation. NISD is the 37th largest school district in the nation. It's adding new schools (elementary, middle and high) every year. My school went on Tuesday along with about 10 other ones. Jayma's school didn't have theirs until Friday. Plus, there were about 3 or 4 convocations each day. That just goes to show you how many schools there are in this district. The pictures on here are ones Jayma took the day she went. As you can tell, it was a lot of fun.
After the convocation, we went to another school where we met w/ all the other middle school math departments. There, we went over the TAKS tests, which is a test that all students are required to take once a year. We went over the six most commonly missed questions and discussed why we felt the students may have missed them. I really enjoyed this because it gave me an opportunity to practice my math skills and discuss with the other teachers where students had problems. It was great to see how teachers bounced ideas off one another and looked at the math from a different viewpoint. Many of the problems focused around either geometry or specific concepts. Everyone agreed that those areas would need to be focused on more. Another thing was that the students were broken down by grade, socio-economic status, and whether or not they had any form of learning disability. This really helped us get a better grasp on where we need to focus our attention. Even though I am not a big fan of meetings, I really took a lot out of this meeting because we were starting to dig deeper in to where young adolescents have difficulty in math. Oh, I also won a door prize for our department. You're welcome!
ROOM UPDATE: Room is done but the kitchen table is a mess!
PICS: Pics of the convocation Jayma attended
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