Nothing
like having a little spring break before spring break rolls around, isn't there?
Really though, it was interesting to observe some of the reactions by both the
teachers and the students last Wednesday as the snow was coming down. Obviously
the students were excited, as the snow was accumulating quite rapidly. What was
really amusing was how antsy all of the teachers appeared to be. At one point
during an advocacy period, some of the students poked their heads outside to
catch a glimpse of the snow as it fell. While my CT commented, “You act like
you all haven’t seen snow before,” you could tell that there was some level of
anticipation in her tone as well. I don’t know how many phone calls she
received, or how many other teachers came by to see what her thoughts were on
whether we would be getting the next day off. It was like they were all a bunch
of high school students waiting for a snow day or something (though I can’t say
inside I felt any differently). As we all know, the final product was one of
the biggest snow storms that we have seen in years, with yet another one on the
way. No big complaints on my end, however, there are some complications that
come with it.
The trick now is what this will do to the lesson plans. Due to homecoming and parent teacher conferences, my lesson plans already had to be adjusted somewhat. With the KPTP deadline, I think many of us feel at least something of a crunch in getting all of our main lessons and evaluations in accordingly so that we can either be good to go before spring break, or complete the last minute details over the course of the break. However, with this preliminary spring break it only seems to add to the crunch. I know that I will now have to swap, tweak and perhaps even remove some of the lessons that I had planned in order to not only keep my KPTP schedule on line, but to not get too far off for my CT’s final unit beginning a little ways through April. On the bright side, looking at some of these lessons, I have found that many of them will work just fine being condensed into one another. The book that my freshmen are reading, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, has been well accepted by my students thus far. This should make assigning some outside reading a little easier than it would be for, say Romeo and Juliet. I wasn’t slated to start my senior’s unit until this Tuesday, so that should, fortunately, not have to be adjusted by more than a day depending on what this next storm brings.
But back to the main point: It really is quite humorous to see just how little things change from high school to the professional level. The amount of rejoicing by not only teachers, but other professionals that I have seen on Facebook and the like has been nothing short of amusing. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I can’t say I was complaining too much. Stay safe in Round 2 everybody!
The trick now is what this will do to the lesson plans. Due to homecoming and parent teacher conferences, my lesson plans already had to be adjusted somewhat. With the KPTP deadline, I think many of us feel at least something of a crunch in getting all of our main lessons and evaluations in accordingly so that we can either be good to go before spring break, or complete the last minute details over the course of the break. However, with this preliminary spring break it only seems to add to the crunch. I know that I will now have to swap, tweak and perhaps even remove some of the lessons that I had planned in order to not only keep my KPTP schedule on line, but to not get too far off for my CT’s final unit beginning a little ways through April. On the bright side, looking at some of these lessons, I have found that many of them will work just fine being condensed into one another. The book that my freshmen are reading, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, has been well accepted by my students thus far. This should make assigning some outside reading a little easier than it would be for, say Romeo and Juliet. I wasn’t slated to start my senior’s unit until this Tuesday, so that should, fortunately, not have to be adjusted by more than a day depending on what this next storm brings.
But back to the main point: It really is quite humorous to see just how little things change from high school to the professional level. The amount of rejoicing by not only teachers, but other professionals that I have seen on Facebook and the like has been nothing short of amusing. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I can’t say I was complaining too much. Stay safe in Round 2 everybody!
My students were just as excited as yours! The teachers, however, were definitely getting worried by the end of the day because many of the districts around us had dismissed early and we were stuck watching what amounted to eight inches of snow accumulate in the courtyard behind our classroom. Our main concern was keeping the students level headed through the day so that they wouldn't be attempting to race home once they were released. Students were advised not to leave for lunch if they had a pass card and when 3:10 rolled around, roadblocks and a nasty wreck prevented anyone from traveling south on the main road back into town. I took the last several minutes of class to discuss driving conditions with the Juniors. Sadly, it was probably the most productive and orderly few minutes of my class as everyone was willing to join the conversation and offer driving advice.
ReplyDeleteI was also very worried about finishing the rest of my unit before Spring Break...I had already extended the unit a week when I realized the students were not able to go at the pace that I had initially set for them. When I looked at my calendar, though, I realized that it will fit perfectly into the remaining days. Hopefully I can just keep them on track so that we don't get behind! Maybe you'll get as lucky as I did and won't have to adjust too much!
I was also nervous about finishing my unit before Spring Break. Fortunately, I was able to tweak a few of my plans. The biggest adjustment that I had to make was rescheduling my observation date. Due to the snow days, I had to push back my unit again. Not only was my original date now falling on a snow day, but the lesson that I wanted to be teaching during my observation wouldn't be happening for another week. Fortunately, it all worked out.
ReplyDeleteAs for the snow days, I am glad that our school district showed concern for the safety of the students and faculty. Personally, I have to drive about 30 minutes to and from my placement and it's all highway driving. This morning was the first time I felt safe enough to venture out of town at all and even then, the bridges were frozen to the point that I lost control of my car a couple of times. Commuting kind of stinks in the winter months.