Finally, I received a verbal offer late on Thursday. I missed "new" teacher orientation, but was asked to report on Tuesday morning... kids don't arrive until Friday. Since the district office was closed on Friday, I came home with nothing but a list of classes I'll be teaching ,,, no curriculum yet! I am hoping when I meet coworkers/staff on Tuesday I'll be able to calm down some because I've been a nervous wreck since recieving and accpeting this offer. I'll be teaching 8th grade math, info-technology and sixth grade computers. Any ideas for opening day would be appreciated...especially the 80 munite math block! I hope to channel this nervous energy into productive planning.
Do you want to PM me with your email? I can send you my 7th grade math stuff from last year... it may give you some ideas. Also, find the thread on math penpals, and let me know if you're interested.
Opening day (for me) will be all about getting to know you. Your name, favorite something, what you did this summer (or one thing that was the BEST-maybe your favorite vacation spot or trip). Ummmm, since your kids are older, when the getting to know you stuff is done, you could have them answer about 5 questions dealing with the school year. (I had High School students so they enjoyed it) What do you hope to learn this year? What did you learn last year? What are your strengths? Weaknesses? What are you absolutely certain that you KNOW about this subject area? What do you think of this subject? What was your grade in it last year? What do you think your grade will be this year? What did you dislike about last year? What did you like about last year? This should eat up quite a bit of time. Have them write it down on looseleaf and collect it at the end of the period. In some cases, they feel as though they are contributing to their lessons. And make sure you read them and comment them, make it a topic of discussion for maybe the 2nd day (eat up more time). This way they know it wasn't a complete waste of time. Hope this helps! I wish you well..
thanks everyone wish the nervousness would die down though... Hate to feel this way ALL weekend long....after all... it's a very long weekend!
