Still Awesome

Stressful, nerve-wracking, but still awesome.

The school is just so positive. It's certainly stressful being coached (co-teaching has turned into more of a real-time coaching deal, through frantic hand gestures and occasionally verbal cues and once in a very long while, a smile), but I think I'll get used to it like I did with my coach in Bridgeport. It's done so positively. It's really overwhelming, in that every day I'm given a few new skills to work on, and sometimes I feel like I need to master these skills by the next morning, but I also get positive feedback. Today, I know I have to work on economy of language (me? Talk too much?), but I can do so feeling confident in my improvement in checking for understanding.

I graded my first exit ticket today, on making line graphs. My three class averages were 93%, 88%, and 80%. The first class, the 93%, was when I was being coached. It was certainly more stressful for me, but I can clearly see the results (probably not statistically significant, but if I wanted to be a statistician I would be). The second class was more fluid for me, but I think I dropped the ball on the checks for understanding. I should have asked more questions. And the third class, I don't know what happened. I guess I was tired? I need to pick it up more.  That being said, it's not so bad anyway. And I made a pretty exit ticket tracker that is posted on the wall, with every student's name and color-coded grades. It's so pretty. Once I figure out how to post a picture with the names blotted out, I will.


 I had my first parent interaction today, and it was a good example of how we're not in Kansas anymore (Hi Mom!). During one of my later classes, I thought I saw a pair of girls talking in the back of the room, but I was not confident enough to take away dollars. This is exactly what we were told not to do, and I need to improve for next time, but sometimes when I'm on stage I get a little gun-shy. That's why I never got a part in my high school plays. Anyway, I had a voicemail when I left school; it was a parent asking me to call. I called, a little concerned, but noticing that the student did good work, and the parent told me that her child didn't know she was calling, but was mentioned that she was sitting next to a girl who kept talking to her in science class, and didn't want to get in trouble. Really? Lessons learned: 1. Parents here care. 2. Be better about catching misbehaviors. 3. This place is awesome.

Later on in the hallway, I said to the principal that I love her school. "Our school," she answered.


I got a run in today. It was an easy 2 miles, but I felt good. Not great, but good, surprisingly, considering how much my feet are hurting. My time are improving, little by little, and my shin splints are entirely gone.


Have any questions for me? Sometimes I really do run out of things to write about. Comment below!